VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 323
AIR DATE: 03 22 2024
FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT

SHOW OPEN
((Animation))
((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Title))
The Last Meal
((SOT))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
What they did was fed them black-eyed peas and palm oil to fatten them up quickly. In our restaurant, you know, we try to tell that story, but also let the dish shine in its own way, because it's a very beautiful dish as well.
((Animation))
((Title))
All Are Welcome
((SOT))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
We really believe that anybody can be housed with the right supports, and with the right community around them, and with the affordability figured out, with people that can come in to make those other support needs.
((Animation))
((Title))
Pollinators
((NATS))
((Animation))


((TITLE)) THE LAST MEAL
((TRT: 09:31))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New Orleans, Louisiana))
((Main characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 0 male))
((Blurb: Chef Serigne Mbaye, chef and owner of Dakar NOLA, finds the connection between Senegalese Cuisine and New Orleans cuisine.))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
I came from a very humble beginning. My mother had a Senegalese restaurant in Harlem before I was born. And the reason for our restaurant was to give people, West African folks that live in Harlem, a sense of home. And as a kid, I always knew that food was meant to bring people together more than anything. When I was a kid, my mom, my parents took me to Senegal, where I was there for the majority of my childhood. And when I returned back, even though I was born in this country, I didn't speak the language because I was in Senegal for nearly a decade. But food was my inspiration for everything, for learning English, getting education, to do what I really wanted to do, which is to nurture people’s soul, you know, and I think food is the best way to do it.
((NATS))
((Dr. Effie Richardson
Co-owner, Dakar NOLA))
My name is Effie and I'm the co-owner of Dakar NOLA here in New Orleans. And tonight, we have one of our seatings where we'll welcome 30 guests. They come in around 6:30, 7:00, and our dinner experience begins around 7:15. Typically, we pride ourselves on the family style dining or communal dining, because in West Africa, that's typically how people will eat. So, through the family communal experience, people are getting to enjoy Senegalese food.
((NATS))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
Hello, hello. Bonsoir. Welcome to Dakar NOLA. Thank you all so much for coming into our home. I'm Chef Serigne. chef and owner, Dakar. I'm so honored that you guys get to chose us. You know, this restaurant is all about homage to how I grew up in West Africa, Senegal. So that's why anyone that when you go to someone's home in Dakar, they want to greet you, and then when they greet you, they expect you to greet them back before anything happens. So, I want to greet you guys into my language, and I want you all to respond back to me. So, if I say nanga def, I want you all to respond back saying mangi fi, mangi fi. It's like one word, mangi fi.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
Nanga def.
((Dakar NOLA Diners))
Mangi fi.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
Wow. That was awesome. Bravo.
I think for me, when I think of food, I think of a bridge that has been disconnected. And I think food helped to connect those disconnected bridges, you know. The bond and what the power it does…it has to create such a unique bond.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
When I first moved to New Orleans, I knew nothing about the history, you know. I'm just a young cook, and still I was a young cook then, and trying to figure out my way into this culinary industry. And New Orleans was a French territory, and Senegal was lastly colonized by the French, and there's a huge connection between the two. So, at some point, it used to be some Senegalese folks that were brought here. And the more I connect those dots and the more I realized how much we inspired Creole and Cajun food, right? Rice was found in West Africa, you know, first found in West Africa. So, you could see the rice connection between jollof rice and jambalaya.
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
Gumbo.
Perhaps, it might not be a Senegalese dish, but I would say it's definitely West African.
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
Gumbo is French by standard,
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
what people know of it, but it's actually from West Africa.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Zella Palmer
Director and Chair, The Ray Charles Program, Dillard University))
You have to remember that Louisiana was colonized by the French and the Spanish. And at some point, just like we call ourselves American, and we come from many different backgrounds,
((Courtesy: The Historic New Orleans Collection))
at one time, Louisiana was Creole.
((Courtesy: The Historic New Orleans Collection))
Creole cuisine is a mixture of many different cultures.
((Courtesy: The Historic New Orleans Collection))
It's African. It's indigenous.
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
It's French. It's Spanish.
((Courtesy: The Historic New Orleans Collection))
It's also Asian in many ways. And so, when we look at 1719, which was a pivotal time when about 6,000, over 6,000 Senegambians were taken in bondage to Louisiana, that period had a huge influence on
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
the food and the culture and cuisine that was founded in this state.
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
Also, if we look at fried fritters, and in West Africa and Central Africa, you will find people on the side of the road, frying fritters all the time, akara, acaraje in Brazil.
((Courtesy: Zella Palmer, The Story of New Orleans Creole Cooking: The Black Hand in the Pot))
((Zella Palmer
Director and Chair, The Ray Charles Program, Dillard University))
We have beignets. They also have beignets in West Africa and Senegal. You also have beignets in the Cameroon, you have beignets. So, there's definitely this rich culture that already existed way before they were brought in bondage to Louisiana. Chef Serigne Mbaye is such an incredible chef. Young, rising chef. He's really working hard to embody what the city, just the historical connection between Senegal and New Orleans. I think many of the dishes that he serves isn't any different from the dishes that we eat all the time.
((NATS))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
How's the soup? Is it good? That's awesome. That's awesome.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
And then we go into the second course, which we call it, The Last Meal. This dish is probably one of the most talked about dish in our menu.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
This dish, The Last Meal, I mean, as we sit here, you know, it is hard to talk about.
((Courtesy: AFP))
Not every dish that we eat has a pleasant story, and we need to really acknowledge it, and respect it, and know where it comes from. So, one of my last trip to Dakar, I visited an island called, Gorée Island, which is where the Door of No Return is.
((Courtesy: AFP))
It's such a small, beautiful island. And our ancestors used to be in these houses. They call them the La Maison des Esclaves, which means the house of slaves. And they were living in these brutal conditions.
((Courtesy: 1619 US Slave Trade TV))
But before they shipped them out of the sea
((Courtesy: AFP))
through the middle passage, they weighed them. They had to weigh 60 kilos in order to pass the Door of No Return, because if they weren't 60 kilos,
((Courtesy: Ondine Saglio))
they weren't going to make it through the middle passage.
What they did was fed them black-eyed peas and palm oil to fatten them up quickly.
((Courtesy: AFP))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
In our restaurant, you know, we try to tell that story, but also let the dish shine in its own way, because it's a very beautiful dish as well. So, we have a lovely black-eyed peas that's grown here in Louisiana with some palm oil. We do some beautiful fish stock that we did in house, kind of cooked that together, let it smother for hours. And then we have a beautiful Louisiana rice that we cook to perfection, dehydrated to remove all the moisture, and then we fry it just to puff up the rice, and we put it on top of the soup, and it gives it this beautiful, crunchy texture while you're eating this soft black-eyed peas. I truly believe that this dish is going to be probably one of the most talked about dish within the next decade.
((Courtesy: Dakar NOLA))
Yeah, it's powerful.
((NATS/MUSIC))


TEASE
((VO/NAT/SOT))
More after the break…
((Title))
The Last Meal
((SOT))
((Zella Palmer
Director and Chair, The Ray Charles Program, African-American Material Culture, Dillard University))
What I really appreciate about Chef Serigne is his intentional approach to not only telling his own story, which definitely needs to be elevated, but also telling the New Orleans story. I think he's on the rise. I think he's just getting started, but with all of what he's doing already, I mean 10, 20 years from now, it's going to be amazing.


BUMPER
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((SOCIAL MEDIA PKG.))
((TITLE)) THE MURALIST
((TRT: 01:00))
((Original Producer/Camera/Editor: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Social Media Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Blurb: Meet mural artist and activist Yehimi Cambron. She uses her painting to support DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a much-challenged government program that protects some young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.))
((NATS))
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
My name is Yehimi Cambrón and I am an artist, an activist and a public speaker in Atlanta, Georgia. My work focuses on celebrating the resilience, the dignity and the contributions of immigrants.
((Courtesy: Beam Imagination))
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
I am a DACA recipient. I've been a DACA recipient since 2013.
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
So, this is my first major large-scale mural and I painted it to celebrate Atlanta’s legacy of civil rights and social justice. People in this mural are undocumented people that live here in Atlanta. ((Courtesy: Mick Hawkins))
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
I have painted close to a dozen murals within the city of Atlanta that celebrate these stories.
((Courtesy: HJ Parsons))
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
Being an artist is the skill that I have to offer to the world. ((Courtesy: Mick Hawkins))
((Yehimi Cambrón
Artist, Activist, Storyteller))
As long as there are inequalities and injustice, my artwork will have a role to play.
BUMPER
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((TITLE)) THE LAST MEAL…continues
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
So, I hope you guys enjoyed this experience, and thank y’all so much for coming into our home. We hope this food nurture your soul. We hope you guys leave here feeling inspired by West African cuisine. Thank y’all so much.
((Zella Palmer
Director and Chair, The Ray Charles Program, Dillard University))
What I really appreciate about Chef Serigne is his intentional approach to not only telling his own story,
((Courtesy: Dakar NOLA))
which definitely needs to be elevated, but also telling the New Orleans story. I think he's on the rise. I think he's just getting started, but with all of what he's doing already, I mean 10, 20 years from now, it's going to be amazing.
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
What I see for the future of New Orleans food is more accepting every cuisine, because I think every culture has a story that I think that every culture could benefit from, and I think through the food we all realize how much we all have in common.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Serigne Mbaye
Chef, Owner, Dakar NOLA))
I want to share with you guys my beautiful restaurant that is inspired by my early childhood cooking experiences in boarding school.
((NATS/MUSIC))


((TITLE)) OUR STOMPING GROUND
((All are welcomed here))
((TRT: 12:54))
((Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera/Editor: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Arlington, Virginia))
((Main characters: 3 female; 2 male))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 0 male))
((Blurb: Independence living for people with disabilities))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Friday chaos.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Friday chaos. Awesome. Thank you.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Our Stomping Ground came to be because there were a group of parents that had children with different disabilities. And as they were aging out, they recognized that there had to be some plan. So, we are very proud of the idea that we are housing people that traditionally would have been either institutionalized or in group homes.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Okay, Lisa. Do you want to share yours? And what did you title yours to be?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Happy thoughts with friends at Gilliam.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Happy thoughts with friends at Gilliam. Awesome. Do a little celebration. And then we have Huan. Huan, what did you title your piece?
((Huong Pham
Huan’s Mom))
Say it loud. Say it loud. What is it?
((Huan Vuong
Gilliam Place Resident))
Happy together.
((Huong Pham
Huan’s Mom))
Good. Right.
((Huan Vuong
Gilliam Place Resident))
Happy together.
((Hannah Bowen
Art Therapy Intern, George Washington University))
Happy together. Awesome.
Merrill, did you want to hold that up? Thank you, guys. I thank everyone. I thank all of you for sharing this space together.
((Paul Osgood
Gilliam Place Resident))
The meaning behind mine was that even though it's a mess, it’s pretty. And it’s just, even though it may look like that, anything could be art.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
And we are really not saying there is anybody that cannot be housed. With the right supports, and with the right community around them, and with the affordability figured out, with people that can come in to make those other support needs, we really believe that anybody can be housed. And you can see from the friends you've met in our community…our friend, Huan, he spells to communicate. You know, how can someone who spells to communicate live alone? What happens if there's an emergency in the building? How does he get his needs met? He is thriving at his building.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Our friend, Paul, actually did have his own apartment, but he was very isolated.
((Paul Osgood
Gilliam Place Resident))
All right. Come on in.
What I like about living here is that I get to be with such wonderful people like Donna, and meet such cool people like Huan, and like Ben and Emma and everybody. And the community is so inclusive because there's so much more to do here than there was in Falls Church. And it's such an open community, a welcoming community of people here for like people with disabilities. And, you know, over there I didn't do anything, and I didn't know anybody. I didn't know any neighbors. They
didn't…what they did, I didn't. So, I just spent my time inside. I was a couch potato. Here, I'm welcomed with open arms, and I feel like that is something I should express. And, you know, that's why I like it here.
I watch TV. I play on my tablet. I play video games. I'm a gamer at heart. So, I do a lot of like things that keep me busy. I feel like I have grown and matured a lot more since moving to Stomping Grounds, moving to Gilliam place and becoming part of this community.
And after moving here, you know, I was taught to be respectful, to be a good person, and to respect people and to respect myself. And I think that they've helped me with that. And I've grown to,
you know, just be a better person.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Ben is the same way, again an individual that doesn't talk. We just kind of relegate them to where they need to be segregated so they can be safe. This idea of safety and people with disability just having to be safe, and it really rubs against an idea that we love and that we pursue in the disability world. We hear it from self-advocates is that they deserve the dignity of risk. There is risk of moving outside the family home. There is risk in moving outside of the group home. But what is there for them to experience, that to live their fullest life, to have friends, to be able to have more say in the direction of their lives. I really think we can make the argument that that is going to be a greater chance of that happening outside of a group home or outside of the family home. And these are risks. I'm not saying there aren't risks, but it is that dignity of risk.
((NATS))
((Bertra McGann
Ben’s Mom))
Yeah, so Benjamin is a resident of Gilliam Place, which is one of the OSG [Our Stomping Ground] properties. He's been there for maybe three years, one of the first of these young adults to move in. As Ben said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.” My husband, Steve and I assumed Ben would be living with us the rest of our lives at least, and then would live with siblings. So, when Ben was able to communicate a preference to live independently in his own apartment, we were floored, and we weren't sure about how to make this happen. And thanks to the advocacy and leadership of OSG demonstrating to parents that this capacity exists, the facilities exist, and OSG brings the programs and helps build a community which nets this endeavor together. You know, you have horror stories of young adults moving into apartments. There's no furniture. They have no community. They're just sitting there in tears. OSG kind of wraps this thing up in a bow and makes certain that the resources, and the programs, and the services are there. You know, when you prove to yourself that you can do something, it manifests itself in so many ways including, you know, increased confidence, increased initiative. He certainly seems happy. When he has an opportunity, he says, “I love my life.” And what more can a parent ask?
((NATS))
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
Lisa spent many years in a group home, and it was a beautiful group home, and I'm sure she felt safe and loved. But she didn't have the type of control of her life that she now has. Like if Lisa wants to go on a walk at the end of the day, she takes her walker. She looks at the phone to see, is our group going out there? And she will go out and take advantage of having friends in a community that knows her. She also has all these opportunities that are available to her in her building. She loves the art therapy. She loves, you know, will do group dinners, get transportation now to her job site with the weaving. All of that is now available to her because she can access it.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. I wasn’t thinking right. Just, so I'm getting ready to go to work. Would you like to say something about that pet kitty cat pictures I made?
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
You did a good job with them.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah.
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
Your wall of art.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yes. You ready to roll? Ready to roll, Michelle?
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
Well Lisa, you wanted me to take you.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah. Okay, Miss Beautiful.
((Stephanie Sabin
Program Manager, Community Systems Incorporated))
All right, ready?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
I'm worried about my meeting. I'm worried about my socializing.
((NATS))
His car is up here. Good morning, Janet.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
So, here I go. Thank you. This is Peter and he's really helpful. He's really nice. Here I come. This is one of the bags I did, right? Right here.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
And so everything's cool with me and I’ve been doing a lot of stitching. I just made, finished making a cat. This is what I made and I'm going to put it like in a show. I’ll be weaving and I do tapestry. I do stitching. Everything else.
Coffee. Please, please can you do that?
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
Yeah, do you want it with creamer?
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah.
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
And two sugars.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Two sugars, please.
((Emily Wroten
direct support professional, Service Source))
Okay. Coming on up.
((NATS))
You're a very important person.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Yeah, I am very important. I am also going to be doing…tonight is art group. That means at the Gilliam, and then I have book club.
This what I'm working on.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
Emily, need your help. I don’t even know what I just did, but it fell through.
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
You know what? It's a good start. You can put your shovel down and get your beater down. Your beater. And then get your weaving materials in the crank. And after that, I can come over and tighten. But you got it from here.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
But I made a mistake and it's supposed to be a cross body bags. I followed the iPad, but I followed the numbers. I picked out the pattern, and we both picked out the colors. So, this is what I do all day like that.
((NATS))
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
This is complicated but I'm hanging in there. And then we bring, once we get it done, we bring it back in the back, then get it ready. Right, Emily? That's how they’re going to look when I get it done, right Miss Emily? And it's going to be really nice and then we do, we also do tote bags, and we do…these are...what are these? Are makeup bags?
((Emily Wroten
Direct Support Professional, Service Source))
Yep.
((Lisa Good Hughes
Gilliam Place Resident))
These are makeup bags. These are cards that we sell. End of August will be my fifth year here. So, been working. Somehow I knew how the weave is because I wanted to try it, and I learned it with training here. This is my first tapestry. It's been, this is what I do. All day weave or do tapestry. It's just been really, really nice to have…I love working here and these are my favorite friends.
((Donna Budway
OSG Director, Programming and Community Outreach))
One of our missions, we hope with OSG, is that we're going to be able to get funders and governments and bureaucracies to understand that this very sustainable, very affordable, very inclusive, very replicable model could have better outcomes for people, not only throughout our state, but throughout the country and in other countries as well.
((NATS))


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((CONNECT AMERICA))
((TITLE)) NATURE: POLLINATORS
((TRT: 02:00))
((Camera/Editor/Producer: Jeff Swicord))
((Location: Washington, D.C.))
((Description: Pollinators gathering pollen along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.))
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IN COMING WEEKS
((VO/NAT/SOT))
In coming weeks…
((Title))
Kids Give Back
((SOT/NATS))
((Title))
Rejuvenating Urban Forests
((SOT/NATS))


BUMPER
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((SOCIAL MEDIA PKG.))
((TITLE)) ARTFULLY JOE
((TRT: 01:02))
((Original Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Original Producer/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Social Media Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Blurb: Meet Joe Baker, a 21-year-old artist with autism who, with his mother, runs a successful online business selling his drawings.))
((NATS))
((Joe Baker
Artist))
My name is Joe and I am 21 years old. I did a lot of good arts, like animals and insects and all that.
((Colleen Baker
Joe’s Mother))
He was diagnosed with autism
((Photo Courtesy: Colleen Baker))
when he was just turning four.
((NATS/MUSIC))
As he got a little bit older he was diagnosed with epilepsy in middle school, he started to use drawing not only for,
((Photo Courtesy: Colleen Baker))
for fun, but I think it was also a way to cope, a way to process maybe some feelings he was having.
((NATS: Colleen))
Might be a tiny bit too much water. That's okay. Put a little bit more paint.
((NATS))
((Colleen Baker
Joe’s mother))
I thought, “Okay, let's take a hobby. Let's take Joe's passion which is drawing and make it a job.”
((Picture Montage))
((Joe Baker
Artist))
When my friends and other adults see my art, they say, “Way to go, Joe.”
((NATS: Colleen and Joe))
Good job.
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SHOW ENDS