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Seattle Gardening Program Pairs East-African Seniors With At-Risk Youths

Alison Marcotte /
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KPLU
Coty Fitzgerald and Mekonene Bihon take a break from raking the soil at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

On an eight-acre farm in the middle of Seattle, farmers shovel a mountain of compost as sounds of Somali, Amharic, Oromo and English sail over rakes and wheelbarrows.

About a dozen East-African seniors work alongside at-risk youth at the city’s largest urban farm in Rainier Beach. Seattle Tilth, an environmental nonprofit group, runs the program that pairs up the immigrant elders of the East African Senior Farming Project with the homeless and underserved participants of the Youth GardenWorks program. The two groups began working together on a weekly basis earlier this summer.

‘I Teach By Example’

Credit Alison Marcotte / KPLU
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KPLU
Mekonene Bihon and Coty Fitzgerald pose for a photo in front a community sign at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

On this farm, the young lead the old. Although many of the seniors farmed in their home countries, the youth are familiar with this farm’s needs. They direct the elders on what to do next, and both the young and the old seem to have embraced this arrangement.

“I don’t have any problem with them at all,” volunteer Mekonene Bihon said. “I respect them and they respect me, and I am very happy to be working with them.”

Looking at him, you’d hardly guess Bihon is near retirement age. He shovels just as much compost as the young guys, and rakes away woodchips with vigor.

Credit Alison Marcotte / KPLU
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KPLU
Mekonene Bihon empties a wheelbarrow carried by Tadesse Gabreiwot on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

“I teach them by example,” Bihon, 64, said with the help of coordinator and translator Michael Neguse. “When they see me working hard, they work harder.”

Bihon speaks Tigrigna, which is native to northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea. He came from Ethiopia almost two years ago after he lost his military job. His wife and three children are still in Ethiopia, but he hopes to bring them here soon. 

“‘Please send money,’ they [my family] say to me, so I am looking for a job here and there,” Bihon said.

Bihon had a security job in Bellevue, but his broken English made paperwork difficult. This program gives him a chance to practice his new language. Although working at the farm doesn’t pay, he receives fresh vegetables, job skills training and access to other services.

Communicating Through ‘Hand Gestures And Basic Words’

On a recent day, one of the elders tried to ask for a pickaxe, but couldn’t find the word. “Axe,” he said, but the younger farmers couldn’t quite get the meaning. Finally, the older man mimed the act, hacking through the air. That’s when Coty Fitzgerald, one of the young farmers, found him the pickaxe. Fitzgerald says the language barrier was their biggest challenge.

Credit Alison Marcotte / KPLU
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KPLU
Cody Fitzgerald waters the plants in the greenhouse at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

“We learn to work around it with hand gestures and basic words,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald’s family kicked him out of the house when he was 19. Since then, he’s been in and out of shelters for three years. He says his brother and father were both abusive.

“When he would start a fight, I would finish it,” Fitzgerald said. “Now when I need something, I go here. I don’t go to my family anymore, because they just won’t help me.”

A case manager at his homeless shelter encouraged 22-year-old Fitzgerald to apply to Seattle Tilth’s program, which trains at-risk youth as farmers, teaching them to grow food and to build a résumé.

“I’ve been in the city my whole life, but I’m a country boy at my heart,” Fitzgerald said. “My dream job has always been to work on a farm.”

Connecting Through Meals And Chores

Bihon and the other seniors volunteer at the farm every week. Neguse, who emigrated from Eritrea in 1984, says the immigrant community is very tight-knit, so they can get more volunteers involved just through word of mouth.

Credit Alison Marcotte / KPLU
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KPLU
Community members enjoy lunch after working all morning at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

“When you talk about East Africans, we come from different backgrounds, different languages and different religions,” Neguse said. “So what we try to do is get people to come together and work together.”

A few women also work at the farm, but they’ve chosen to volunteer on the cooking side. They make lunch for all of the farmers. The meal is a blend — Pacific Northwest ingredients made in an East-African style. Ethiopian Injera, a type of sour flat bread, shares a bowl with an olive loaf. Sides include spicy lentils or pasta salad.

At first, many youth farmers skipped lunch and continued working, says Fitzgerald. It was only after the cooks insisted they eat that they finally sat at the table.

Fitzgerald says one of his goals has been to have more respect for his elders.

Credit Alison Marcotte / KPLU
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KPLU
People involved with the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands gather after lunch on Friday, Aug. 1, 2014.

“I do work harder when I’m around him [my senior partner], and I notice that because I try to keep up with him or go past him,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald says he’s bad with names, so he makes a point of introducing himself every time he needs something from one of the seniors.

On a recent day, he approached a group of men and said, “Hi, I’m Coty.”

“Coty?” one of the seniors asked.

Fitzgerald repeated his name two more times for the seniors, then asked the important question: “Do you want to come rake with me?”