PYM Young Adult Friends (YAF) recently hosted a Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) Young Adult Friends retreat from October 8 – 10. The retreat was a space offered to BIPOC between the ages of 18 and 45(ish) from anywhere in the world who are Quaker, Quaker-leaning, or Quaker-curious for virtual and some in-person opportunities for community, empowerment, and fun.
Former YAF Coordinator Meg Rose wanted to offer a gathering in a safe BIPOC space with other Quakers and Quaker-adjacent folx. The interim YAF Coordinator Afroza Hossain and Community Engagement Associate Kimani Keaton took Meg’s initiative and led their first PYM event. The retreat had 14 attendees for the virtual event and six at the in-person gathering. Quaker artist Zeinada Peterson facilitated the online workshops.
Here is our conversation with Interim YAF Coordinator Afroza Hossain:
Q. What did the attendees share about their experience?
BIPOC Quakers want and need a regular space to discuss issues central to their experience as BIPOC Quakers. The attendees expressed gratitude for having a safe space and wondered why PYM had not created a space for BIPOC Quakers before and wanted to explore how we could hold regular spaces for them.
Q. What are your plans for YAFs next? Do you have any exciting projects coming up?
Leadership transitioning, identifying the next clerks, and figuring out what PYM can do to support YAFs in this unprecedented pandemic moment and create more safe spaces for them to gather both in-person and virtually that feel sustaining and supportive in their spiritual lives as Quakers.
Q. What were the workshops like?
The workshops were lively; the discussion around money and capitalism as it affects YAFs, particularly BIPOC YAFs, was very energizing. I am in the works of tentatively creating a series of workshops for next year around the spirituality of money for YAFs.
Zenaida was happy to be sharing their poetry and work as a Quaker artist and community organizer with other BIPOC YAFs. They expressed interest in seeing more BIPOC Quaker spaces being created in the future.
Q. What are some plans for BIPOC Retreat and YAF Events?
We want to make the BIPOC YAF retreat annual and plan some upcoming holiday gatherings for YAFs in general, including a BIPOC YAF holiday gathering.
Q. Share your vision of serving the YAF community and thoughts on being more connected.
I have a lot of exciting ideas for YAFs in the coming year as I come to understand better the needs of this community in my role as the YAF coordinator. The community is vibrant and has needs specific to young adult life that I hope to work collaboratively with Kimani and the YAF leadership to fulfill.
