M/Othering: Help Us Relocate

In June 2016, I visited a health center in South Boston, and received news that I refuse to see as anything other than joyous - I was pregnant. And like most soon-to-be parents, I was stricken with uncertainty and fear.

My former partner had left the country to do political organizing in Greece at the anarchist squat, Prosfiyka. He was elated at the news, but refused to return home to America so we could figure out how to co-parent our child together. Eventually, my partner returned home as he promised, but only for a brief amount of time, to inform me he would be leaving again to continue his work with Rojava's YPG (People's Protection Unit). Our relationship, mired in disagreement over how best to change the world, feels like a suspended breath. Due to the nature of his work, I have no further information on his whereabouts, and pray daily for the safety of him and his comrades.

In February of this year, I welcomed my daughter (with members of my current intentional living community) to this world. And I think the world is much better for it. As Sister June Jordan once wrote in her essay The Creative Spirit, "Children are the ways the world begins again and again." As someone who has always volunteered in Youth Services, and served two terms in the Corporation for National and Community Services' AmeriCorps program, I firmly believe the old adage about children being the future, and I have chosen to make them my present by laboring to grow all children into the best and most authentic version of themselves. 

I believe in raising children to be the best version of themselves. I believe no one is disposable, and every person on this Earth was created with a divine purpose that it is our collective duty to unearth. Around the time my current living community learned our landlord was not renewing our lease on the community's home of 5 years, I happened to strike up a conversation on a bus ride with a member of Boston Community Cooperatives. BCC, as described on their website (http://bcc.coop/)
is "a non-profit organization formed to build community through cooperative living, member education, neighborhood improvement and collective action." I am excited to begin the next stage of my life as a parent and caregiver within the amazing community at The Canopy.

However, I need your help. As the BCC is still young, and I have been out of work the past 6 months, I don't have the capital to move in and make the place Home for myself and my daughter. Additionally, I am enrolling in a Web Design/UXUI course with a tech bootcamp, so I may better develop my tech talents, and shift into a much more steady career that will allow me to look to giving back and funding more intentional living communities.

This fund will pay for first ($575), last ($575), and my member share ($650) to move in. This is the main funding we need, as our lease ends on the 31st of this month, and without it, we will be homeless. (I have reached out to several Boston aid organizations, but many are out of emergency funds and awaiting grants indefinitely.) I am also asking for rent for October - January, so I may focus on my coursework and community building. The additional funds will be used to pay off some of my credit card debt from some larger baby purchases (diapers, her crib, car seat, etc.)

Other mutual aid we need would include a few tasks, such as moving and painting. We also need leads on affordable daycare, and part time work until I complete my course.

“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”
― Booker T. Washington

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”
― Maya Angelou