Today we started our first morning in Chicago by visiting IMAN at one of their 63rd St locations. IMAN is an Islamic-informed organization which works within their community to improve the quality of life and access to resources to ensure holistic healing and well-being for everyone. We got a tour of the facilities and it was incredible to see the variety of spaces and resources IMAN has to offer. We learned about their evolving health clinic which serves the community to support the holistic healing that IMAN promotes. IMAN also integrates community building by having spaces for events and prayer, as well as art spaces such as their ceramic studio to offer the community a variety of healing practices in a safe place.
Along with the wonderful tour of IMAN’s campus we also got to speak to several of the organizers and staff at IMAN and they shared great insight regarding how much IMAN has grown and how beneficial this organization has been to the community. Finally to end our first visit at IMAN we enjoyed amazing food from a local restaurant!
-Christopher Karo and Yesica Ortiz-Ceja