Who are we ?

A.H.W.A. is a heart driven community based initiative birthed in the mind of Ofonime Idiong. Ofonime is a community servant and artist living, lovin, and learnin in West Philadelphia. Ofonime has directed a number of community centered initiative from “Yoga at the Park” for birthing parents, Afro & Queer self defense sessions, and in 2023 Ofonime was awarded a grant, by the Philadelphia Office of Violence Prevention to put on a communal wellness event, which was held at the Conestoga Community Center at 53rd and Media.

Over the last 4 years, Ofonime has worked in both public, but mostly charter schools in a variety of positions from being an in-building substitute, supporting students as a 1 on 1, and serving as instructional support. Ofonime has worked with and supported students in every grade level. Ofonime started working with students during their undergrad career at The American University in Washington DC. Ofonime worked both as an after school instructor at the George-town school in DC, as well as co-instructed a freshman course on Power, Privilege , and Inequality, which ofonime also c0-wrote curriculum for.

Ofonime’s time in DC during their undergrad career, being a first-generation immigrant child, opened their eyes to the systemic inequalities that people who looked like them faced living in the system we call America. Their time in undergrad combined with their 8 years of experience in education is what has led them to this initiative. Ofonime aims to support and nurture their community, because if we don’t do it who will?

Ofonime lives by the principles of community, compassion, and care. Those are the building blocks of the work that A.H.W.A. engages in. Most of our services are free or donation based, because there should be no blocks when it comes to gaining access to the resources you need to live.

As the world continues to shift, we are being forced to remember that the point of being alive is not only making money, but also to be here present in our lives. It is our collective BIRTHRIGHT to live happy, healthy lives no matter what the “system”says.

A.H.W.A.’s main offering is dinner with a therapist, after 4 years in the Philadelphia School System, Ofonime has seen first hand the internal chaos that living in this system has created for the children that live in our city. Our children are dying and they are angry.

A.H.W.A. also offers family and birth support. We host bi-weekly sessions for parents in our communities, that supports BOTH mothers and fathers and provide the resources they need. We also offers pay what you can labor and delivery support for young mothers in the community.

A.H.W.A. finally is working towards hosting communal wellness events through the year. Follow us on our social media to keep updated on events, and find local support and resources under our resources tab.