By Leah McDonnell, 1st year MDP student
As a 1st year MDP student, I had the opportunity to
pick my first internship inside of Canada. Although my focus of study aims
primarily at trafficking and human rights, I decided to pick something that
would be a little out of my comfort zone and I wanted to make sure I was
working in Winnipeg. Thus, I decided to
intern at NorWest Community Food Centre in the community garden.
Freshly picked radish |
I have been working on contacting a traditional
knowledge keeper in order to help the organization grow a traditional medicine
garden. It is a very exciting project,
but must be undertaken carefully and gently.
As such, we are in the begging stages of consultation of the garden. However, I have been very busy with other
jobs around the community centre. I have
been thrown into the community kitchen as a chef’s assistant, I have gone to
various advocacy meetings at other organizations, I have been working in a
beautiful garden (everything from hauling dirt, to building an awning to
planting fruits, veggies and flowers) and much more. All in all I have been having a wonderful
time – which for me is the most important.
Leah with red lettuce |
The second most important aspect of my placement is
that I have been able to work in food security in a lower-income area with a
variety of volunteers. I feel this has
given me a much stronger understanding of what issues regarding food security
exist in Winnipeg, MB.
The centre I work with uses an alternative method to a
food bank – if focuses on a food centre model.
The food centre model creates a community centre that has access to
fresh, healthy and nutritious foods and food classes (i.e. learning to cook,
cooking while managing diabetes, etc).
The centre allows its members free access to healthy foods that are
imperative for a healthy life style.
Beans and peas |
Although, at first I was excited to work specifically
on the Indigenous Medicine Garden, I
have thoroughly enjoyed my other activities at the centre. I adore working in a garden; there is
something very calming about it. In
turn, the calmness allows me time to connect to my positionality and gives me
plenty of time for self-reflection – key aspects in Indigenous experiential
learning.
With the rewarding, but hectic lifestyle of an MDP
grad student, I really value my time spent in the garden.
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