by Azizah Muhammad
ATLANTA—“Ready Xpo,” a flourishing exhibition that teaches participants self-sufficiency and survival skills, recently hosted its first annual event in the historic city of Villa Rica, Georgia. Ghazi Muhammad, the owner of Kayaneh’s Sunset Ranch, hosted Ready Xpo at his 25-acre farm which is located only 20 minutes away from the city of Atlanta. The three-day exhibition was described by organizers and instructors as “an event for educating individuals and families, in areas that build stability, sustainability and freedom.”
Cheyenne Muhammad—co-owner of Kayaneh’s Sunset Ranch, certified financial coach and credit expert, and wife of Ghazi Muhammad—worked alongside her husband and friend, Brother Hakim Isler, to create a vision and atmosphere to learn about various aspects of self-sufficiency suitable to all participants.
Ghazi and Cheyenne Muhammad gathered a group of entrepreneurs and instructors to help make Ready Xpo an unforgettable experience for attendees, who came from around the country. Some of the keynote speakers and instructors included:
›Freedom Georgia Initiative president, Ashley Scott; Survive University president, Hakim Isler; Patrick Muhammad, owner of Your Faith Farms; John Bradley, alternative living consultant and Ralph Muhammad, solar generator and lithium-battery manufacturer, to name a few.
The multi-day exhibition of 22 different workshops began on Oct. 7 and ended Oct. 9. The name “Ready Xpo” was inspired by keynote speaker and Survive University president Hakim Isler. “He came up with the name for the expo and the idea was to have something to prepare our people for certain natural disasters that take place in our community,” Ghazi Muhammad told The Final Call.
Participants of the event were introduced to a variety of vital information and skills such as: self-defense, farming, financial literacy, HAM radio basics, canning and container home building. Ready Xpo host Ghazi Muhammad credits the vision of Kayaneh’s Sunset Ranch and the diversity of the Ready Xpo event to the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad as taught and exemplified by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“I always listen for the voice of Allah (God),” Ghazi Muhammad stated. “And it [God’s voice] comes through all kinds of people.” Muslims, Hasidic Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus have visited Kayaneh Sunset Ranch to spend money and participate in the many activities available at the 25-acre farm.
Alternative living consultant John Bradley enjoyed the various workshops available at Ready Xpo. “It was a lot of different groups of people doing different classes,” he said. “I gave a brief talk about container homes.” Mr. Bradley shared how he first began doing research on container homes and his growing desire to leave the current home where he resides to build a place of his own. “In my view, self-sufficiency is key,” he stated.
Cheyenne Muhammad was happy to see the vision of her husband, Ghazi Muhammad, and friend, Hakim Isler, come to fruition. For her, Ready Xpo was the beginning of introducing a vision of self-sufficiency that can continue for years to come. During the event, Cheyenne Muhammad conducted a workshop on land liberation and legacy.
She also discussed the importance of solving the cash flow problem of agricultural businesses. “I talked about the business structure, and I saw people taking a lot of notes,” she said. “We walked through how to actually structure your business to expand your business when you need to and then how to actually leave a legacy,” she continued.
Disaster preparedness was one of the key components of the Ready Xpo. Hakim Isler’s Survive University is an emergency preparedness and response training course. He believes the information shared during Ready Xpo was important to spread among everyone, especially Black people.
“When you look, Black people specifically are tending to get hit the hardest in these rural areas or these urban areas,” Mr. Isler explained. “And they’re not getting the knowledge, or the skill sets to be able to deal with these [disasters] or at least they’re not using that knowledge or skill sets, and so having something like the Ready Xpo, I thought it would be great!”
Ghazi Muhammad agreed. “We [Black people] are the most ineffective when it comes to disaster,” he stated. “We’re less prepared and resources come to our community less than any other community,” said Ghazi Muhammad. He said it is critical for Black people to be able to do something for themselves and to learn how to do things that will assist Black and poor communities.
Ready Xpo was a success. Keynote speakers, instructors, and participants shared that the exhibition should be an ongoing event and gathering.
“In order for us to continue it, we need support for us to grow,” Mr. Isler stated. “It’s one thing to have knowledge, but knowledge without proper application and execution is just meaningless. So being able to have that knowledge and then be able to apply it and execute it is really important in the grand scheme of being ready, being prepared [and] being able to self-sustain as a family and as a community, and that’s what’s really important.”
For more information, visit
www.readyxpo.com.
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