Ginhawa Para Sa Lahat: A birthday reflection and action for collective wellbeing and co-liberation
Collective care doesn’t have to come at the depletion of self-care; care for self can be gained in co-liberation with others. Here's how you can take part.
My birthday is not typically something I make a thing out of, but I wanted to do something differently this year, and use the birthday card as a chance to: 1) share some of my evolving thoughts around wellbeing (how much that’s tied to the collective), and 2) invite you want to take part in collective action that may just contribute to your own wellbeing too 😊 more specifically, to support Good Food Community’s Food Today, Food Tomorrow initiative, by accepting contributions from February until the end of March 2024.
If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
- Aboriginal activists from Queensland, Australia in the 1970’s
Part 1: Reflection
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more about community and collective care.
In the face of multiple crises around climate, covid, press freedom, inflation, hunger, and war, privileged people like myself can afford to buffer ourselves from the effects of those problems.
We can choose to stop the doom scrolling, get a dose of happy cat reels and hunky chef reels, get therapy, coaching or counseling, go on retreats or vacations, with the banner of self-care and mental health. It’s tiring to care so much in a world that doesn’t seem to care for itself. Compassion fatigue is real.
***
Rest is resistance, I hear myself and other people say. But that rest is not an isolation, or shielding one’s self from the pain of the world.
I think that rest is in reclaiming our personal and collective power beyond our “productivity”, and finding our way back to ourselves, to one another, and to nature.
In my bones, I believe that collective care doesn’t have to come at the depletion of self-care, and that care for self can be gained in co-liberation with others.
***
For the past year or so, I’ve been feeling inner unrest or disquiet in my soul.
As I began re-integrating myself with friends and communities that I associated with that dream of a mindful, equitable, livable world, that resistance, I felt myself cracking open more and more.
This happened for me very slowly, languidly oozing back out through the cracks. I credit many people and many conversations I had with them, reflecting on where I am now and where I was before. If you and I have spoken in the past year, consider yourself having a hand in this. And if you and I have spoken a lot in the past year, then know that you’ve played a pivotal role in this pagbubukas.
Today, I still don’t know all of the pieces to this puzzle yet. But there are things that are clear enough.
I exist to cultivate connection with myself, others and the world
Learning, community and contribution have always been important to me.
Creating space for collective wellbeing enhances my own wellbeing, so long as I bring grace and joy with me in that space.
Part 2: Action
More recently, I’ve been more engaged with Good Food Community1 once again — one of the constant collaborators of Muni2, when we were more active. I’m so on board with their revitalized mission to create cultures of collective care, through “community-shared agriculture” and “solidarity shares” for “mutual aid”.3
For my birth month of February, I would appreciate if you pledged your solidarity with Good Food Community’s Food Today, Food Tomorrow initiative. With your help, we will be able to establish food gardens in urban poor communities, allowing them access to healthier food options.
Here’s my Ginhawa Para Sa Lahat “gift registry” (wow bride yarn?).
You may choose to contribute any amount, not limited to the values below. You may contribute multiples / partials of different ones if you like. I’ve just included the below information so you know the potential impact of your contribution.
P150 - Pamilya - Help feed 1 family a meal made with fresh produce sourced directly from Good Food’s frontline farming communities, prepared by a group of women leaders in a community kitchen in Payatas. You can opt to donate for more than 1 family.
P500 - Pamayanan - Allowance for the volunteer-led community mobilization
P1,500 - Anihan - Contribute netting, gardening tools and journal
P5,000 - Bayanihan - Bring the community together for kusinang bayan (community kitchen)
P10,000 - Pamana - Buy seeds, seedlings and living soil from Good Food’s organic farmers to bring life to urban poor communities
A transparency report with funds raised and transaction codes will be share with all contributors in April 2024, after the fundraising drive ends in March.
In the spirit of mutual aid, I’m also happy to exchange energy and provide you some ginhawa for your Food Today, Food Tomorrow contributions.
The idea of collective care is better experienced than read. And so, the ginhawa I offer is a call to community and connection.
Ugnayan Tambayan - for a suggested minimum contribution of P300 (though you can opt to give more), get a slot to join an Ugnayan Tambayan (dates TBA). Guided by Ugnayan Cards, this gathering aims to highlight how we can provide care for each other by truly listening and meaningfully connecting with one another. Limited slots only. Will open up alternative dates if it gets filled up.
Reconnect & Regenerate - for a suggested minimum contribution of P800 (though you can opt to give more), get a slot to join Reconnect & Regenerate (dates TBA). This gathering is for those who may be struggling with feelings of anxiety, fear, grief, or anger about our social and environmental crises, while balancing the need to pay the bills, as we hold our hopes about the future of our planet. It aims to provide a space for you to check in with where you are on your own journey, and help you move forward with more courage with community. Limited slots only. Will open up alternative dates if it gets filled up.
1:1 coaching session - for a minimum contribution of P1,800 (though you can opt to give more), get a 60-minute 1:1 coaching session with me; schedule to be determined by you. Coaching is a thought-provoking conversation that supports the client or coachee towards awareness and clarity on their own situation, blockers or pathways forward. Read more on my coaching profile here.
Team coaching session - for a minimum contribution of P10,000 (though you can opt to give more), get a 120-minute team coaching session with me for up to 15 team members; schedule to be determined by you. In team coaching, the team sets a share intention and goal for the conversation, and works together on that intention, goal and ways forward coming from the coaching conversation.
I write and I gather people because it is something that my soul calls me to do. I can only hope my writing and gathering occasionally move something within you too. If you’ve read this far, I hope it means that my words have resonated with you somehow, or that maybe you appreciate some of the things I do or the work I’ve put out into the world.
And if they do or have done, you can take part in Ginhawa Para Sa Lahat here.
Power and joy,
Jen Horn
You can check out their website and support community-shared agriculture (prepaid gulay that supports organic farmers).
A lot of terms, I know, so I’ve added some links in the notes below, and will be writing more about mutual aid in future posts.
Community-shared agriculture is when we pre-buy veggies from farmers so that they’re guaranteed a market for their harvest. In that sense, you’re more than just a consumer of the veggies. You’re also a co-producer enabling the farmers.
Solidarity shares are pledges that you make in solidarity with whoever you want to be in solidarity with. With Food Today, Food Tomorrow, you can pledge your solidarity with farmers and urban poor communities and help fund the set up of food gardens and community kitchens.
Mutual aid is the “collective coordination to meet each other’s needs, usually from an awareness that the systems we have in place are not going to meet them.” (from Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity Through This Crisis (And The Next)) And it is about cultivating new social relations where people give what they can and get what they need, outside of unjust systems of power. It is not an act charity, but of co-liberation.