garden
Villa African Colobo
Posted December 11th, 2007 by InternGrupo Motivos with Scribe Video Center
Production Facilitator - Michael Kuetemeyer & Anula Shetty; Humanities Consultant - Rickie Sanders; Post Production - Michael Kuetemeyer & Anula Shetty
This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.1 compilation DVD.
The African influence is rich at El Colobó, a garden in the Norris Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. Created by Grupo Motivos, an organization of women of Puerto Rican descent who formed a support network for the affirmation of their identity, El Colobó is the neighborhood’s first African garden. It is a place where community members gather to learn about their African heritage and celebrate the influence of African cultures in Puerto Rico and North America through art, dance, music and agriculture.
Las Parcelas
Posted October 1st, 2007 by Gretjen
Norris Square Neighborhood Project with Scribe Video Center
This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.3 compilation DVD.
Once a vacant lot, Las Parcelas is now a lush urban garden and community center in Norris Square. Founded in 1990 in this largely Puerto Rican neighborhood in North Philadelphia, the garden is a place where the dedicated women of Grupo Motivos tend a small piece of the island for their community. The garden's verdant vegetable beds "remind me of Puerto Rico," says one gardener, who was unable to travel back to her home on the island for 30 years.
