Somali Bantu Community and Mi’kmaq Nation Build Ties with Inaugural Food Exchange

On a recent afternoon at Liberation Farms in the town of Wales, Muhidin Libah scooped up a handful of dried African flint corn from a huge plastic sack in the back of a cargo van.

A cascade of milky white kernels – tinged with yellow, orange, and purple – spilled from his cupped hands.

Libah is the executive director of the Somali Bantu Community Association, which runs the farm. He said flint corn is a prized food.

But Libah said he’s looking forward to giving this corn away — all 2,000 pounds of it — in a first of its kind exchange with the Mi’kmaq Nation.

“So the corn has been loaded,” he said. “So I will be driving tomorrow. That’s so exciting.”

He’ll drive back with 400 pounds of frozen brook trout from the Tribe.

Libah said he met representatives of the Mi’kmaq Nation through a grant program with the Maine Health Access Foundation, and saw a chance to collaborate.