Outdoor Afro is proud to feature Viva Yeboah of Outdoor Afro Chicago! A passionate nature-lover, Viva joined our Outdoor Afro Leadership team in April. We welcome her and are so glad to hear her words about the OA Chicago kick-off event!

On a windy 90’s degree day, Outdoor Afro held its first event in Chicago. With the guidance from Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro Founder, and my sis, I organized a kickoff event at 31^st Street Beach in Chicago Bronzeville neighborhood.  This event gave folks a chance to hang out, find out more info on Outdoor Afro, meet the Chicago leadership, meet some cool people and express their ideas for future events. The location was excellent! It wasn’t too crowded, a great view of the city and a nice breeze from the lake. With the help of two good friends, we got the table, games, and snacks set up.

The event was a success! We had the 90’s music jamming, played a good game of volleyball and Twister and enjoyed some of great snacks and the best homemade southern sweet tea (lol). In total there were 11 attendees. We had a great diverse group with ages from 2 yrs. to 50 yrs.
This was such a learning experience for me. I am not an expert, so I was a bit nervous and worried about the success of our first event.  The idea of failure crossed my mind many times. But Rue, who shared her own experiences,  really helped me to focus on QUALITY rather than QUANTITY — that as regional leaders, our goal is to invite and organize exciting outdoor activities; provide a space for people to enjoy the outdoors, try activities they never would have considered, to learn more about nature and to appreciate and respect our environment.

I truly appreciate everyone that was able to attend our first event and those that expressed interest for future events.  Look out Chicago!!