What Does Minga "DO," exactly?

Over here at Minga headquarters we are going through a bit of an existential crisis….

Well, not exactly a crisis (that’s too dramatic), but definitely some serious deep thinking about what it all means, what we’re all about, and how we grow in a way that is true to our values (and what are those exactly?).

If you Google “Minga”, you’ll come up with a few things. First you’ll find us and our fantastic workshops. Then you might look for some literal translations of the word and find something like this (My personal favourite is the last one ;p):

Minga may refer to:

1. Minga (surname)Mink'a (hispanicized as minca, minga), a type of traditional communal work in the Andes

2. Munich (Minga in the Austro-Bavarian language), the capital city of Bavaria, Germany

3. Minga, a television character from The Gumby ShowMingə, a village in the Ismailli Rayon of Azerbaijan

4. Minga, (from the Italian verb mingere which means "to urinate"), an impolite Sicilian slang term used to denote frustration or as a derogatory descriptive term for a person

(Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/minga)

The Minga that is our namesake is actually the one about traditional communal work: people coming together to accomplish a task like barn raising or quilting; by coming together, the task gets done, people learn from one another, and community connections are forged. This is what we fucking love about the work that we do and the community that has gathered around Minga. We hope that you found a friend or two through the workshop that you took and we hope that guys get together and geek out and help each other with your new skilz.

But Minga wants to be more than food workshops (although food is a FANTASTIC way to build community). We want to be about wellness and resiliency and community building and empowerment. How do we do that kind of Minga? What’s inside our sandbox and what’s not? How do we build in a way that has integrity? We don’t have answers yet, and even when we do, they will probably evolve, but here is what we are thinking:

• Minga is about connecting learners with teachers, so let’s bring in some wicked speakers to inspire you.

• Minga is about community, so let’s make sure that people who participate in workshops have a way to connect to each other; a space that is animated by you.

• Minga is about self-sufficiency and resiliency, so let’s expand our notions of those things and see what lands in our sandbox and what our community (you folks) likes to play with.

As I say, no hard and fast answers, but ideas that we are working on. Let us know what Minga means to you by commenting on this blog or posting on our facebook page.