Literacy at Its Fullest: Some of the Story Behind Ama's Love

Who is Ama?: The Story of Ama's Love

Ama is a name that came to me from my ancestors as I was writing a poem about self-love.  When I looked up Ama, I found that in some African cultures it means difficult birth or she who is born on a Saturday.  In some Native American Nations ama means water.  When Ama is used with a proper noun or as a noun, in Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds it respectively means to love or a wet nurse.   

My people are indigenous to Cape Verde, where the first ancestors were predominately West Africans with a relatively small number of Portuguese.  The ancestors, moons, stars, sun, and moon on this Earth came together after nine years of wishing from my parents and  after a difficult birth for my mother, I was born on a Saturday, under the sign and rising star of Aries.   With Aries as dominant part of my being, water is essential for balance.   It is of no coincidence that ama came to me as I was writing about self love. I love hard and deeply.  Though I have yet to physically give birth to my own biological child,  as a human being and educator for over fifteen years, I have cared for the critical consciousness of  children of others.  Ama became a part of my poet name, Ama DP Poet.  Because of my love for literacy and the way Ama came to me and the meaning of Ama in own my life, I carry it as the name of my first literacy organization.

Dr. Jessica Barros:  The Cookie Lady          

Many who enjoy Ama's Love cookies and have so generously bought my cookies and supported the cause, call me The Cookie Lady.  Yes, I am The Cooke Lady, the baker for and owner and operator of Ama's Love.   I am more than a baker.

Because sociocultural literacy is one of my areas of expertise as evidenced in my doctoral work, I see literacy differently.  While some see literacy in the traditional acts of writing and reading,  I see literacy as social interactions and spaces from which we learn communication and use communication in ways that are often discarded in schools.   For youth this means that much like I learned cultural stories and a way of sustainability from baking cookies with my mother and the stories and ways of doing and learning things passed down to me from my mother and father, my mother's sister, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather and elders literacy goes beyond reading and writing. Literacy is the myriad ways of learning and reading the world that involves the mind, heart, spirit and soul.  This is why I tap into each person's gift so that each one talks about, learns about, reads the world and manifests his/ her gift in  a loving, holistic, and positive way.  Moreover, literacy activities funded by Ama's Love prepare youth for a future where they sustain the community by becoming leaders.   

      What you put in these cookies?

To keep prices low, I use regular and some organic ingredients in my cookies.  I do accept pre-paid orders for some cookies that are not on my menu. These cookies because the ingredients cost more or are not ones I usually keep on hands, cost more than the others.  The most important ingredient is the love I have for youth and literacy.

NOTE:  Because so many people have nut allergies, I do not use or take orders for any cookies that call for nuts. Cookies are home-baked, packaged, and delivered on a regular basis.   For those who are highly sensitive to nuts, while I do not use nut or any nut based products in my cookies I do keep nut products in my home.  I am currently working on gluten free cookies.