African American women take on the burdens of their families and communities like no other group of people. They are caring, involved, supportive… even to a fault. Maybe that’s why in America they suffer from chronic disease at rates higher than any other demographic population.
When you travel on an airplane, the flight attendant always tells you to put on your oxygen first in the case of an emergency. That’s because you can’t help anyone else if you aren’t helping yourself. So it follows, if we’re going to help our kinfolk, we’ll be way more effective if we’re taking care of ourselves first.
And how to we take care of ourselves? Good nutrition, exercise, and lots of rest. But most important is our support network. We have to stay plugged into to those who love us. Isolation is a killer. The women in this painting take tea together. That’s why I call it, SAFE-TEA.