BEE Collective to host Maternal Justice event, Inaugural Summit – Charleston City Paper

Parents, caregivers and pregnant people can grieve alongside specialized doulas, engage in somatic healing and build community at The Beloved Early Education and Care (BEE) Collective’s events this weekend, which include a Nov. 3 Community Altar + Ofrenda followed by a Nov. 4 inaugural all-day summit. 

BEE Collective works to socially and emotionally prepare children for kindergarten, provide tools to navigate maternal health and early care systems, reduce mental health stigma and build resilient families. Both events are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required and can be found at justusindaba.com.

Fresh Future Farm, a North Charleston collective working to end food apartheid and address basic needs with ancestral farming practices will host the Nov. 3 Community Altar + Ofrenda starting at noon.

Attendees can meditate at a semi-private garden, which BEE Co-Founder Adrienne Troy-Frazier said is “co-designed to heal and nurture and feed community,”  or engage their creative side through art. Birthworker and healer Racquel Washington will lead a grief circle at 4:30 p.m. to provide community support and a mourning space for those who’ve lost an infant. Live musical performances begin at 6 p.m. along with another art-making opportunity and traditional Mexican cuisine. 

Friday’s set list includes Ohm Radio host and spoken word poet Abby Duran, musical healer and Native American flute player Delia Chariker and singer-songwriter Harlem Farr, who is also a member of local funk band The Psycodelics. 

BEE welcomes community members to bring an ofrenda — the Spanish word for offering. The ofrenda can be any sort of memento; drawing upon Día de los Muertos and other Indigenous traditions, it’s left on an altar as a symbol of love for someone who has passed away. 

“We were never given a chance really to do any kind of collective grief,” especially surrounding the racialized injustices of the pandemic, Troy-Frazier said. So the event, she told the Charleston City Paper, is about holding the space for grief. 

Source: BEE Collective to host maternal justice event, inaugural summit – Charleston City Paper