Why?
Kez Camps Black Camping Club emphasises the nourishing impact that nature has on our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being, as well as how grounding it can be in establishing a connected sense of home and at-one-ness. Campfires are often a central evening activity on our trips and we pay homage to traditional Afrocentric cultural practices of having an open-air fire for warmth, cooking, and as a focal catalyst for storytelling celebration, music, dance, ritual, and bringing together of community.
We acknowledge the presenting challenges of accessing natural spaces for Black, PoC and Black/brown LGBTQ+ communities living within inner cities, whether because of generational disconnect, urbanisation of culture, internalised racism, or disenfranchisement.
Often negative narratives from experiences of how BPoC can be received by white others when in nature have created a felt-sense that we are unwelcome or outsiders and so might be less likely to feel entitled to or at home in nature. This duality of being of BPoC heritage but living in an urban UK environment can create an uncomfortable irony as traditionally we might feel very connected to nature in our home countries yet separate from nature in Britain.
Our annual camping retreat draws on this healing power of nature as therapy; celebrating our collective yet individual experiences and identities as people of colour whilst engaging in more gentle, healthy practices of self-care. Ultimately unplugging, to reconnect.
