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| Lacie Williamson - Manger, The Minga |
Hi, My name is Lacie Williamson, I was born and raised in Dunnville, graduated from Dunnville Secondary School and now I am the manager of The Minga. Boy do I have a lot of work to do....
I thought the best way to introduce everyone to The Minga would be to take a linguistic angle.
Unfortunately for our culture, we do not have a word in the English language that translates to Minga. So, I will have to use a combination of words which nicely sum up the purpose of The Minga in Dunnville.
Minga is derived from Andean cultures, it is a verb meaning the "coming together for the common good."
Plants and animals Minga in order to sustain themselves, their families and future generations.
Take humpback whales for example. These intelligent underwater mammals will work together in groups of up to twenty using a technique called "bubble netting."
The whales push all their water out in order to sink deep and top up on their air supply. They dive below a school of fish and begin rising upwards while another whale below lets out a large feeding cry to help drive the fish to the surface of the water. While this song and dance show takes place two other whales swim in a spiral motion blowing air bubbles around the rising school of fish trapping them in the middle. As the fish break the ocean surface the whales take turns swimming through the bubbly area scooping up mass quantities of fish.
Just like animals, plants work together in nature on a regular basis, but our vegetable gardens offer a close to home example of a Minga in our own backyard and the benefits of working together.
By planting corn, sunflowers, soybeans, tomatoes and pumpkins together in the same garden, they will naturally work together and leave you with a little less work.
The corn stalks and sunflowers grow very tall, offering a perfect place to lean for growing tomatoe vines and an easy climb for soybeans removing the need for stakes while the pumpkin vines create great ground cover preventing weeds from soaking up the sun and nutrients in the soil.
People around the world, too, survive and thrive when they live, work and play together as a community.
The Minga, located on Queen Street will be a place to gather, to share ideas, to break bread, and most importantly, to grow our community from within.
The Minga will feature a cafe offering hot and cold beverages, a healthy menu of locally sourced and seasonal soups, salads, sandwiches appetizers and desserts with a warm welcoming atmosphere for all ages to enjoy.
Beyond the cafe, there will be a community centre space where we invite all ages and abilities to come and enjoy togetherness.
Over the coming months we will arrange workshops, classes and events in order to meet the needs of those in our community including an after-school study program open to students of all ages.
Minga means to come together, and we invite you to be part of The Minga, to share in our own story of the greater good for our community's greater good.
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