By Adjoba Messam - Founder, Sistaz In Sound
I am a Jamaican born in Canada. When I left my hometown of Kitchener 19 years ago, I found Toronto to be rich in diversity, exciting and vast. However, I must admit I miss my beloved Grand River. I have lived in several neighborhoods across Toronto but Rexdale is by far a true favourite of mine. It is a wonderful microcosm of what Toronto represents and I am mesmerized by how Humber River weaves its way through the community.
I have spent many years playing and teaching music, and practicing as a doula downtown and I quickly decided to do the same here. In the summer of 2023, I founded “Sistaz In Sound” and was awarded the TO Wards Peace Grant by the City of Toronto and Delta Family Resource Centre. I was excited to launch “Peace S.I.S!”, a music program for Black mothers, caregivers and their families at the Rexdale Community Hub!
At the commencement of my program, my world was turned upside down. I received word that an unprecedented large group of African refugees and asylum seekers were sleeping on the streets in the downtown core. “What about the pregnant women?” was my immediate thought as I urgently looked for where to reach out to them.
My first point of contact was made when I began volunteering with churches and other Black organizations that had galvanized resources to provide food, clothing and places to sleep for our African brothers and sisters. At the start of this journey I was entrusted by 6 courageous pregnant women to provide them with care and prenatal support. Some had migrated from Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana. Some had arrived in Canada only to sleep outside subway stations with their unborn child.
I was blessed enough to connect with other dedicated volunteers and together we organized a community babyshower, found clothes for the mothers, and collected donations and baby supplies. I even had the honour of accompanying several of the women as their birth doula when it was finally time for their son or daughter to be born.
As of this writing, the group, now known as the “Birth United Initiative”, has grown to 35 families and I am happy to share 24 babies have been born! We continue to evolve as we spend time together, play music, hold babies and exchange food and words of wisdom from wherever we hail from within the Afrodiaspora.
We have found one another here in Canada, here in Toronto…and as I continue to enjoy my walks alongside the flow of Humber River, I am amazed and wonder what will happen next for me right here in Rexdale.
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