Engage
Plant something with us.
Every gathering Pamoja has grown came from seed. Three ways in, and one first step for all of them: a conversation.
Volunteer
For neighbours and organizers
Help shape, develop, and deliver the work: hosting a tea gathering, roasting for a coffee ritual, carrying chairs to a park, writing up a gathering, or lending a skill you already carry.
Partner
For connectors, institutions and allies
Our partnerships are grounded on mutual relationships. Before any service, how we work together:
- Build trust first. Every engagement begins with coffee or tea, stories, and understanding, before agendas.
- Respect the process. Decisions based on mutual consultation, imbalances acknowledged openly, leadership and credit shared publicly.
- A financial We offer different arrangements for payment and we try our best to give back towards our collective prosperity.
What we offer
Each of these offerings are delivered by immigrant/newcomer knowledge holders to the institutions who engage them.
WorkshopsHands-on sessions led by newcomer knowledge holders — cooking, ethical engagement, cultural practice — for teams and institutions ready to learn.
What it is
A Pamoja workshop is a working session in which newcomer practitioners teach what they carry: a dish and the knowledge around it, a practice of hospitality, a way of holding dialogue. The community practises; your organization is the guest.
What actually happens
Sessions open with hospitality — tea or coffee, stories, names — because Ta’aruf comes before agendas. Then the knowledge holder leads: hands in the dough, ears on the story, a practice tried rather than described.
The session closes in conversation about what was learned and what it asks of the guests afterwards.
What to expect
Expect to be a guest in someone else’s practice. That means following the lead of the knowledge holder, some discomfort, and a pace set by the practice rather than by the clock.
What we need from you
- A space that can hold a circle, not a boardroom that holds a hierarchy
- A group willing to participate, not observe
- Fair honorariums for the knowledge holders, agreed before the session
- Time: at least half a day
- Decision-makers in the room
Cultural protocols
What this is not
- Not diversity training delivered to a checklist
- Not a performance of culture for an audience
- Not a service delivered to newcomers
- Not a one-off that substitutes for a relationship
Time and lead time
Sessions typically run two to three hours. Ask at least six weeks ahead — trust-building comes first.
Hospitality ritualsAncestral coffee and tea rituals, hosted by newcomer practitioners for your team, your gathering, or your public space.
What it is
The coffee ritual and the tea ritual are ancestral practices of hospitality carried by newcomer families from Sudan and East Africa. Hosting one for your organization means being received as a guest, at the pace the practice demands.
What actually happens
A practitioner roasts, grinds, and pours in the rhythm the practice demands — nothing is rushed. Guests are seated, served, and drawn into conversation; the ritual sets the terms of the gathering.
What to expect
Expect to relinquish control of the agenda. The host leads; your organization is the guest. The ritual takes the time it takes.
What we need from you
- A quiet space where a small fire or burner can be used safely, or an outdoor site
- A group of a size the practitioners agree to
- Fair honorariums for the practitioners
- Patience with the pace
- A clear reason the gathering matters
Cultural protocols
What this is not
- Not catering, and not a beverage service for your event
- Not entertainment at the edge of a program
- Not something that can be shortened to fit a schedule
- Not a photo opportunity
Time and lead time
A ritual runs one to two hours and cannot be shortened. Ask at least eight weeks ahead.
ConsultationPamoja curates dialogical intercultural events and programming for social cohesion, with the community leading and your institution learning.
What it is
For universities, municipal departments, and non-profits building intercultural programming: Pamoja co-designs gatherings, dialogue, and placemaking with newcomer knowledge holders at the centre.
What actually happens
Engagements begin the Pamoja way: coffee or tea, stories, and understanding before agendas. Then the collective and your team design together — the shape, the partners, the money, the credit.
What to expect
Expect collective decision-making, which is slower than a chain of command and sturdier than one. Expect leadership and credit to be shared publicly.
What we need from you
- Decision-makers in the room from the first conversation
- A budget that covers honorariums and operations
- Time for consensus
- Willingness to be taught rather than to consult
- A commitment beyond a single event
Cultural protocols
What this is not
- Not a vendor relationship — we do not deliver a community to a specification
- Not a consultation of newcomers about a plan already made
- Not a rate card
- Not a transaction
Time and lead time
Consultation engagements are scoped in conversation, not quoted from a rate card. Ask a season ahead.
Who we grow with
Organizations that build with Pamoja, and funders whose support made specific gatherings possible. Each is named with what they actually contributed.
- Community Permaculture Lab Gave space and roots. Pamoja has been hosted steadily every two weeks at the Community Permaculture Lab since 2023; the tea gathering there is the foundation of the relationships, trust, and shared learning that continue to shape Pamoja.
- The Apothecary’s Garden Co-created Two Row Citizens at Churchill Park. Julia Hitchcock, steward of the garden, provided both her garden as a venue and crucial access to funding, and walked side-by-side with Pamoja in this work.
- TD Park People Grant support for Two Row Citizens at Churchill Park in 2024 and 2025.
- City of Hamilton Downtown Placemaking Grant for the Coffee Ritual & Place-Conscious Dialogue at John Rebecca Public Park (September 2025), and support for Two Row Neighbours 2026.
- McMaster CCENA Supports Kandakas’ Feminism.
- Africa & Black Diaspora Studies, McMaster University Funded and co-hosted the Coffee Social at McMaster University.
- Black Student Success Centre, McMaster University Co-hosted the Coffee Social and opened its lounge to students, staff, faculty, community members, and children.
- East African Student Association Co-hosted the Coffee Social at McMaster University.
Support
Space · funding · capacity
This is not a donation request. It is an invitation to invest in a community you belong to — to put something into the shared dish that the whole city eats from.
- Space Free or low-cost venues where gatherings can root — a room, a yard, a hall that sits empty on weekday evenings.
- Funding Funding that trusts the people doing the work: multi-year, lightly restricted, sized to the work rather than to a funder’s calendar.
- Capacity Legal, financial, and administrative strength lent from organizations that have it — for example, a legal or financial team’s time toward incorporation.
The first step
We start with a conversation. And we don’t move fast.
Whether you’re a neighbour with something to contribute, a connector who can open a door, or someone ready to help organize, the first step is the same: sit down with us.
Prefer email? Write to us at [email protected]
This is not a booking form. Tell us who you are and what you’re imagining, and we’ll find a time to sit down together — coffee or tea first, agendas after.