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The smell of garlic and ginger is inevitable as you walk through the room. Meanwhile, a line of fashionable children is looking at older women in blue plaid aprons in front.
“My mom made a lot of this when I was growing up,” she said, showing her stir-fried chicken.
Grandma is in charge of this “intergenerational summer camp” located in the suburbs of Southern California. Each week, they taught a group of 8-14-year-olds how to cook new dishes and how to make handicrafts such as sewing, embroidery, clay gems, and card making.
“Isolation and loneliness are something older adults are challenging and they love having young people around them,” said Zainab Hussain, program manager for Olive Community Services, which aims to bring together seniors who run camps.
The camp takes place at the Community Centre in Fullerton, an Orange County city that houses a large Arab population, and many of the campers and grandmothers come from those communities. In between activities the girls chatted and munched, and the small room was bustling with energy. Some of the volunteer grandmas were pleased to be just around the young people.
In July, during the final week of camp, Gianna Morten and her friends learned how to use a sewing machine and how to make a pouch.
“Slowly, slowly,” one grandma said, and Morten stomped the pedals on the machine and quickly moved the needle up and down.
She pushed her foot down again and pressed against the inger, somehow managed to sew a straight line.
“To be honest, I’m just here for food,” the 9-year-old said. Still, she glowed when she showed two fabrics that were sewn together and turned inside out to form rectangular pockets.
Morten said he is practicing hand sewing at home after learning embroidery last week.
“Sewing is very easy. It’s difficult to keep the lines straight,” she said. She added that her grandma is tougher than her summer camp grandmother.
Haqiqah Abdul Rahim, a sewing instructor, said that he is “filling the gap” as many children no longer learn these skills in school through home economics classes.
She stood in front of the room at the start of the activity, lifting up various tools and explaining what they were: sewing rollers, threaded snippers, rotary fabric cutters.
Rahim also does not live nearby and cannot spend much time with his grandchildren.
“It’s heartwarming to be able to interact with people who like to be around you,” Rahim said.
The kids learned about kitchen safety and how to cook with the touch of a grandma. For example, mix spices with water and add them to the dish to prevent them from burning or use fresh turmeric.
The summer camp was held last year by high school student Lina Albinari in collaboration with the Golden Connection Club to promote interaction between teens and elders.
The 14-year-old lived with his grandma, but he realized that he didn’t have the same opportunity for other students to spend the same time with his grandparents. She also learned about the ageism and other challenges that senior adults face in one of her classes.
At monthly lunch, they invite seniors to school and discuss topics that both groups can learn from each other, Albinari said.
“They treat us like our grandchildren,” she said. Teens share what they know about artificial intelligence and its impact on life, while elders share life stories and advice.
One of the most important things they shared with her is to live in the moment.
“The people we have now, they will not be with us forever,” she said.
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