DETROIT—“Mommy, it’s the Children’s Village!” shouted eight-year-old Hakim Muhammad from Chicago, as he ran into the ballooned arched section of the Huntington Place convention center. “Wait a minute,” his mom shouted. “I have to register you.”
That scene was repeated over and over as if a magical spell was summoning children to abandon their parents and race with abandon into the Mother Khadijah Farrakhan’s Children’s Village during Saviours’ Day 2024.
This special section of the weekend’s events held Feb. 23 and 24 was the loving contribution of Mother Khadijah Farrakhan to the many families who traveled to Detroit. For more than 20 years she has provided a sanctuary for children. It was a child’s delight filled with bouncy houses, balloons, games, and gifts.
“This is my first time here with my children,” Sister Summayyah Muhammad from Atlanta, told The Final Call. “What I like about the Children’s Village is there’s a variety of everything for all different ages. It’s just a big space for them to roam free and enjoy themselves. I also like that there’s a lot of believers here with their children. We’re all here and we are a village.”
The Children’s Village is where parents can meet other parents, their children can meet new friends and play together. It’s also where strollers are welcome and can be found parked on the sides of the room so even babies can have fun. A new addition to the stroller brigade is wagons. They are the new carrier for multiple children. Wagons found their place too in the Children’s Village.
Activities for children included creating your own bear where children could stuff a bear and leave with a birth certificate. “I’m naming my bear Anwar because I have a best friend named Anwar and this bear will be my new best friend,” seven-year-old Humzah Muhammad from Detroit told The Final Call. There were also group games that excited even the most easily bored middle schooler.
The Children’s Village offered a tech free experience for parents looking to wedge their children away from phones and tablets. They could run to their hearts content, many until they just pooped out.
In addition to the bright lights, colorful objects and lots of space for children to run around, another factor parents loved was the security the space offered. “There’s one way in and even though there’s a door in the back, it’s guarded.
I feel safe and I feel like my children are safe too even though I do have a tracker on my children. I’m not worried about them being here and I can’t see them,” Brother David Muhammad from New York told The Final Call.
If you were looking for a quiet place to rest, the Children’s Village was not that place. It was full of children’s laughter, squeals of joy, the occasional tearful outbursts and music to lift your spirits. The Children’s Village for many was a refuge where a child could be a child. No worries about having children keep quiet in a workshop so people could hear the speaker or having them sit still so they don’t disturb anyone around them. It was freedom for the children to run and enjoy Saviours’ Day.
Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, her daughter Sister Maria Farrakhan and the Children’s Village staff worked diligently throughout the weekend to ensure that everyone had an enjoyable time.
