At the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, programs do more than serve the youth who participate in them. They also benefit the young people who come aboard as staff members, project leaders, coaches and interns.
Kailin Quam recently completed a summer internship with the ZYEP Food Sovereignty initiative. The internship was made possible by support from Akiptan, an Eagle Butte, South Dakota-based organization dedicated to transforming Native agriculture and food economies; it proved to be a life-changing experience for the 17-year-old.
Kailin says he had been involved in gardening at home for roughly two years when he saw ZYEP’s social media post about the available internship for 16- to 24-year-olds. It involved 320 hours of work, with opportunities to learn about food sovereignty, traditional foods and agricultural methods, and even financial literacy.
“I was intrigued about the opportunity to earn my own money, and I knew financial literacy would be helpful,” says Kailin, who was born and raised in Zuni. “It just seemed like a good thing, so I thought, why not? I went for it.”
Kailin started his internship in June, committing 25 to 28 hours per week to the nonprofit youth project. He was responsible for watering and weeding the gardens at Ho’n A:wan Park and Indian Health Service, handling the water pumping, and assisting with a variety of yard-work projects.
In addition, he learned about seed-saving and the differences between GMO and non-GMO seeds, and he was able to assist with the pea harvest before his internship came to an end. He also embraced the ZYEP Food Sovereignty team’s plant-based recipes.
“Heck, yeah!” he enthuses. “They fed me so much food. It was really good.”
Kailin says one particular highlight of the season was ZYEP’s 15th annual Summer Camp. He never attended the camp as a child, but he relished working with the campers.
“I helped teach the kids and worked with them on their journals and their drawings of their dream gardens,” he says. “They also each planted an onion bulb in a pot, watered the plant and took care of it, and decorated the pot with their own art. Hopefully I helped inspire the kids. Some of them are so shy, but they came out of their shells.”
Reflecting back on his summer with ZYEP, Kailin says he is more of a plant person now. Prior to the internship, he primarily grew flowers at home; now, he grows food, including cilantro, radishes and corn.
That’s not all, however. Kailin says he is ready to finish his high-school education and get his GED. He also picked up the drums again after a long hiatus.
“I like music, and I used to play the drums,” he explains. “I started thinking about them, pulled them out, wiped them down and started to play. It felt good.”
Kailin says he is also enjoying outdoor activities with his family, and cruising Zuni on his skateboard. Spending time outside and being active, he observes, are healthy ways to deal with negative feelings and thoughts when they arise.
“ZYEP made me a better person,” he reflects. “This was my first job, and I feel so much better about myself. It was really fun, and it was so cool to be helping… it’s something you don’t want to miss out on.
“Our youth in Zuni need something like this, because we don’t want kids going down a bad route,” he continues. “ZYEP provides a good route. It provides opportunities.”
While Kailin says he is sad about this particular chapter ending, he also knows it is just the beginning of the next one. He hopes that might even mean another role at the youth project, once he completes his education.
“My favorite thing about the internship was connecting with other people,” he says. “There are really cool people at ZYEP. I felt welcomed every day.”
