We Did It! -- With Your Help!

Hooray! Thanks to all of you who came out on a rainy, icy evening to support the creative endeavors of 7Adinkras! As the December 14 date neared, we raced to piece together our trailers from the past year’s footage and leap over the obstacles of lost footage, equipment shortages, and DVD system incompatibility. We all had our share of sleepless nights – Nadirah spent three days straight at Karen’s without a toothbrush to edit the Daddy’s Girl trailer; Akanke and Yanik jostled for editing time on Akanke’s computer; and I blended and baked up a storm to provide refreshments for our mini-screening. Sometimes we were desperate. Sometimes we were delirious. At one point we joined hands for a group prayer (which perhaps we should have done in the beginning) for the success of the event and to please, please, please let our finished trailers work on the DVD system at our venue.

Give thanks, give thanks. After last minute runs for extra DVD’s, catering supplies, and music for our trailers (with three cars and one camera screaming to be taken in for service), the food was made; our trailers played; and we received and continue to receive such magnificent support from our family, friends, and community.

I applaud my 7Adinkras sisters for how much strength and ingenuity we’ve discovered inside ourselves through this process. I wanted to give up several times when I couldn’t get my Hoo Hoo footage to even play on my computer system, let alone edit the sixteen hours of footage down to seven cohesive minutes -- but there was no way my sisters would let me fall under the illusion that it couldn’t be done.

And how awesome to see my grandmother and me huge onscreen and to hear the audience of some 70 people laugh out loud again and again as my Hoo Hoo scolded me in Chinese. To think I almost let this story slip away.

We each must value our voices enough to know that people are waiting to hear and love our stories. When we believe in our visions, the Universe opens up the pathways towards bringing our dreams to life.