MAP Youth Rifat talks about being back on the farm!

MAP Youth Rifat talks about being back on the farm!


The whole pandemic situation made our lives a bit messy. While we were social distancing ourselves, during the remaining school year program, MAP held weekly video conferences to catch up with the youth and staff. I was particularly not a fan of this as I preferred face to face rather than screens. Obviously, I was excited to see my peers after a few months that felt like an eternity. My soul found peace after I saw my friends like Salman and Kay and the amazing MAP staff, Bethany and Diane. It was a ‘long time no see moment’. But our first meeting was more different than I expected. Instead of hugs we did elbow bumps, everyone wears a mask and has to keep a distance and there was a new youth coordinator - Neena! I knew that distance would be necessary but MAP made it more organized by setting specific seats for each youth. The situation may be different, and may not be that appealing to me, but the fact that I got to see this small family of MAP is enough of a motivation for work. Neena guided us the first 2 days. She is perfect for the job - fully natural and knows how to grab our attention while working.

MAP Youth (left to right): Rifat, May, Sara, Day

The first day we went through all the rules and regulations we needed to follow, for example, maintaining at least 6 feet of distance from each other (except for this quick photo taken), washing your hands for 20 seconds, and if you feel sick you should go home immediately. While these were important it became a bit boring going over these so to hype us all up Neena took us outside in the park and we all sat under the pavilion with a good distance and we could take our masks off!!! It was a relief and we all played the famous game Mafia! Mafia is a game in which players attempt to uncover each other’s hidden role or team allegiance, basically a social deduction game. Plus, I was the Mafia, I had the power crush all my friends in the first game making it more exciting!

On the second day we went through our schedules and what the days will look like for the farm and kitchen group. Made up some ground rules like - be a respectful listener, you can go to the bathroom without hesitation/permission, etc. And once again, we all went outside to play Step Up, a game where I got to know more about myself and my peers. Little did we know all of these activities would help us do our first job. We all came back inside the farmhouse where Neena gave us some tips to write our bio. While we were brainstorming ideas for our bio, background music was being played on a speaker and it was at this moment I said to myself - my current job, writing with my friends while hearing music, it couldn’t be more perfect. It was a grateful moment for me and once we were done with our first work we ended up with the game charades and a little bit more music.

Overall, it was awesome to be back at MAP with this small family and helping each other out, especially during these “quarantine” times. Now you may say your work life is different now too. For me, the reunion of this small family is worth the differences. This reminds me of a line from a song called “See you again”, by Wiz Khalifa: “...how can we not talk about family when family is all we got”. Glad to be back :)


Rifat, MAP Youth Communication Specialist