Ujima Friends Meeting Family Gathering was the meeting’s first in-person meeting. It was held in Oakland, California on the weekend of June 23 – 25 in 2023. The theme was: Living Into Our Declaration: Community, Witness, and Africanity.
Linked here is the Epistle “Word to the People”, a poem written to both inform and celebrate our cultural roots.
At the Gathering we revisited our foundational document The Ujima Friends Meeting Minute of Declaration and Commitment. We deepened our bonds of community, strengthened our Quaker witness to peace, love and justice while celebrating our Africanity and our common humanity. For those who could not attend we had an online worship session and the business meetings available through zoom.
Our business session was at Berkeley Friends Meeting which welcomed us at its modern and charming meeting house. However, most of our meetings were held at the Alan Blueford Center, a small but powerful community organization in the heart of downtown Oakland.
There was fellowship, fun, and even some time to enjoy the Bay Area. What most of us will remember is that we were finally being able to hug one another, sing, laugh, dance, play with one another and grow closer together as we shared in the Spirit of love, peace, power, joy and community.