By Leroy Adams

The Journey of Rediscovery with Boyz N The Wood

Last Sunday, Boyz N The Wood, the restorative outdoor retreat program, headed to the Everglades National Park in Florida, bringing 15 men (most from Broward County) to paddle through the mangroves in Everglades National Park. For many of them, it was their first time on the water.

Boyz N The Wood paddles through the Everglades National Park.

As we shared in our story on the Boyz N The Wood program from our experience with their inaugural cohort in North Cascades, Seattle, the program is doing a tremendous job of allowing brothers to reconnect with themselves and their brothers through exploring nature and deepening that relationship. What I loved about the program was that it allowed me to feel like a boy again. The numbers don't lie, and the personal experiences only validate them; black boys are more likely to have their childhoods stripped away from them by a biased justice system.

Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared to 1 out of 6 Latino boys and one out of 17 white boys?

One out of three Black boys will never have a childhood.

Boyz N The Wood offers brothers a four-day experience where they dive deeper into nature and outdoor recreation and an encouraging space to connect with brothers for personal development.

Boyz N The Wood gather around a campfire at the North Cascades, Seattle to learn the history between Black people and the local outdoors.

In Seattle, at the North Cascades, our cohort kicked the weekend off with a campfire where we learned more about the origins of the program and heard from the eldest of the group about his long efforts to create safer outdoor spaces that were welcoming to Black people, we hiked the mountains and paddled onto the (name body of water). It was the most fantastic weekend. One of the most excellent parts was sharing, staying up all night in the dorm lobby playing dominoes, just talking with your fellows, getting to know new people, or deepening your friendships.

Embracing Brotherhood and Healing in Nature

One of our values at Culture Travels is intention. Be intentional and authentic in everything you do. Founder of Boyz N The Wood CJ Goulding has personified that with the creation of this program. Our group had a licensed therapist also attend our weekend trip. He was our peer. He led us through breathing meditation and group discussions on our welfare over the weekend. That intention to a Black man's needs can reach our deepest gratitude levels.

As said in their newsletter, one brother put it this way:

Whenever you do anything authentic that speaks to a soul's experience, you create spaces for liberation, even at a micro-scale. It's like the water: it ripples, it goes.

To care, support, and love a Black man authentically is to lessen the invisible pain he never speaks of.

I'm happy for those 15 brothers who had that experience last weekend. From the pictures, I can see the peace and fun they shared. It doesn't take long to feel that sense of relief when you realize you're not "the only one" going through what you're going through. There is peace in that feeling, and that emotion is amplified when you're around peers who embrace the shared experience and collectively find ways to navigate through it. Since returning from Seattle, I have reached out to some of the brothers from the trip during my downtime.

One of the men on the Florida trip put it perfectly:

For as long as I can [paddle or carry my responsibilities], I will. But the peace of mind of knowing that I'm not alone in this; we will make it. If I can push through, I'll push through. If at some point I can't, we're gonna make it… because I have my brother with me.

To the outdoors, to brotherhood, to every Black man finding his way back to nature and himself.