UMOJA - A Black Heritage Experience

October 21-23, 2011
Green Lake Conference Center
Green Lake, WI

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Dear Friend,

For many of us, our children are the single most important part of our lives. We want the best for them, and make every effort to provide them with all the tools they need to become happy, healthy, productive adults who feel good about themelves. These are important goals for everyone, but for children adopted into families of a different race, this can be especially important. In my own family, I have two children who joined our family through adoption. My daughter and son are African American. We have been so blessed by adoption, and feel that our multi-racial, multi-cultural family is special. Together, we can celebrate and learn about our diverse backgrounds, while growing together as a family. Families like mine are becoming more and more common. The most recent surveys show that nearly 120,000 children are adopted annually and of those 21% are adopted across racial lines.

Along with the countless joys, transracial adoptions bring special challenges. My children do not have many African American Adult role models in their lives. They do not get a lot of opportunities to see families who look like ours. We often receive questions and unwanted attention in public. Even daily tasks such as hair and skin care can be challenging. To address these issues, a group of African-American community leaders, transracial adoptive families, African Heritage Inc. have joined together to develop a very special retreat for transracially-adopted youth.

UMOJA is a Black Heritage Experience created for families who have adopted or are fostering African American children, bi-racial children or children from the African continent and the diasporas. Our camp provides an opportunity for children of all ages and their families to examine, explore, reflect, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse traditions of Black identities and culture in the United States. The program takes a family-based approach by providing a fun, nurturing, celebratory, positive and safe environment for all its participants. Umoja is committed to helping children and their families experience a sense of pride about Blackness in American society. For the last four years between 30 and 40 families have joined us on this journey into their children's birth heritage. We shared joys and struggles. Many of the children made their first friend that looked like them and came from a similar family. The experience made a difference in all the participants’ lives. So much so, that some of the families have attended all four years. From My own experience, I have made lifelong friends, learned a lot and I can look at my children and see their pride in who they are. The whole experience has been a blessing to my family.

Umoja is committed to helping children and their families experience a sense of pride about Blackness in American society. Our next camp will be held in October this year. I hope you join my family in this unique experience.

Thank you,

Julie Ryno
Founder