In today's episode, Momma Kai speaks passionately about her mission to eliminate the outer and inner causes of homelessness. Momma Kai (aka Kara Lynn Sanders) is Chief Bushel Blaster and Chief Emancipation Officer at L.U.V. Enterprises Presents, LLC.
This isn't a theoretical conversation; Momma Kai and her 7 and a half year old son are currently unhoused, living out of their car in North Carolina.
The conversation starts with me asking about what that's like. Momma Kai shares her personal experiences, both sublime and infuriating, and explains how the system is set up to make those who need its services feel "less than," of lower worth than others for lacking secure housing.
We spoke both about policy solutions and the resources needed by the unhoused to deal with their own past and ongoing traumas. We talked about how behaviors that are often criticized -- drinking, doing drugs, being "promiscuous," and engaging in violence -- are all attempts to regulate a nervous system that is pushed to the brink by the trials of housing and food insecurity.
Momma Kai emphasized the need for empathy and understanding, and the importance of providing tools and mental models to the unhoused so they can "weed" the dysfunctional patterns of thought and emotion that are choking the gardens of of their brains.
And she reminded us that in order to solve the crises of poverty and housing insecurity, we have to be willing to view every person as having been born with infinite worth, a value that does not diminish one bit no matter what happens to them or who they become as a result.
Finally, we spoke about Momma Kai's vision of a network of off-grid homesteads where the unhoused can be sheltered safely, be free of monthly utility bills, learn to garden to achieve food security, and receive paychecks for their work so they can more easily enter the job market.
I hope you're as inspired as I am by Momma Kai's grit, love, vision, and heart.
Links
Momma Kai's online business card
Momma Kai on Instagram
The Need to Grow documentary