We Walk Towards The Water

​In the UK, they call it the Windrush Generation —
those who came across the water and helped rebuild a nation.
They are honored. They are remembered.

​

But here in America, there is another generation.
One that has been left unnamed.

One I know deeply, because I lived among them.
I was raised by them.
And I was loved by them.

​

They are The Quiet Generation.
The women who came from the Caribbean,
Jamaica in particular,
in the 1980s and 1990s,
to nurture, to care, and to love this country.

They left behind children, families, homes.
Not for ambition, but for hope.
For a better life.
For the chance to give their children something more.

And they did it through love.

They cared for babies, for elders, for families they had never met.
And in doing so, they became part of those families.

There was reciprocity.
There was respect.
There was mutual care.

They gave everything — and often, it was returned.

​

That era shaped me.
Though I came to this country under different circumstances,
I was welcomed into that quiet generation with open arms.

 

I didn’t need to be there.
But I belonged there.

I listened to their stories.
I stood beside them in kitchens and churches and grocery stores.
I watched strangers become family,
and families extend themselves so these women could care for their own.

I became a chef because of them.
Because of the cultures I witnessed, the food I tasted,
the care I saw passed through pots and plates and hands.
Everything I’ve become was influenced by this love.

​

This exhibition is not a gallery show.
It is a thank you note.

​

It is for the women who walked quietly,
who gave fully,
who were everywhere,
in homes, in nursing facilities, in hospitals,
from New York to Florida —
and yet rarely spoken of.

​

This is a love letter to them.

To the women who raised the children
who are now raising this country.
To the women whose care echoes through generations.
To the ones who made something beautiful out of sacrifice.

​

We came across the water with love.

And now we look back to it.
To remember, to give thanks, to say your names out loud.

We Walk Toward the Water
is for you.

The beautiful, quiet generation of women
who loved America into being.

Thank you.