One of Mill Creek Alliance’s missions is to transform the Mill Creek into a recreational asset for people who live, work, and play in its watershed. That means for all people, including recent arrivals.
It’s estimated that there are around 1000 Mauritanians and other West Africans living in Hamilton County. They left their homelands to escape repression, violence, ethnic persecution, and even, in some cases, slavery.
They are asylum seekers legally waiting for an asylum hearing that could be years in the future. Most have Employment Authorization Documents and work at local meatpacking and food processing plants, warehouses, and light manufacturing factories.
Vincent Wilson, a Queen City Bike volunteer, who manages the Lockland Bike Kitchen, a bike recycling and repair shop, has put over 400 bikes into the Mauritanian community while repairing over 700 more since 2024. As he says, “The Bike Kitchen provides the freedom to move beyond how far one can walk and a cross-cultural space where folks can not only receive help but also offer it.”
Earlier this year, Vincent asked me if there was a way Mill Creek Alliance could provide some outdoor experiences for the Mauritanian immigrant community. He was looking for activities that would expose them to a broader community including more interaction with Americans. A Mill Creek Yacht Club Urban Stream Adventure seemed like a natural fit to meet that request.
With the reservation and purchase of ten canoe seats by a generous Mill Creek Alliance Board member for the next Yacht Club adventure, we were on our way.
The work schedules and other challenges facing immigrants in the current climate caused a number of logistical obstacles. But early in the morning of June 21, Vincent and I met a group of young Mauritanians at the Metanoia Center in Lockland, delivered a water safety lecture, and then transported them in the Mill Creek Alliance van to a Reading canoe launch site.
The young Mauritanians joined thirty other paddlers at the launch site and enthusiastically helped carry the canoes down a steep incline, and they were off on an exciting adventure paddling three miles downstream to Caldwell Park (a beautiful section of the Mill Creek with an abundance of wildlife).
Chip Skidmore, MCYC trip leader remarked, “The young Mauritanians were remarkably helpful, and the joy on their faces made me feel really good. They had a blast.”
At the end of the trip, they had the honor of being the first Mauritanians inducted into the Mill Creek Yacht Club by dancing their way under the traditional line up of ceremonial crossed paddles. Dance moves were exceptional.
On the trip back to the Metanoia Center in Lockland, the young Mauritanians bragged about being at the front during the entire trip and asked when could they do this again?
Benson Street Bridge from the creek.
On a beautiful summer day, two different cultures had a chance to be one community of Mill Creek paddlers.
We hope this is the start of the Mauritanians’ relationship with the Mill Creek. Next, we are planning a fishing workshop at a prime Mill Creek fishing site. And eventually our goal is for the Mauritanian community to adopt a section of the Mill Creek where they can fish, relax, and maintain its beauty.
~ Blog written by John Mangan, Mill Creek Alliance Board of Directors