Black women’s health conference sounds alarm, offers solutions – The Philadelphia Sunday Sun

A conference guest shops for a Het Heru dress at the health conference.” Photo: Constance Garcia-Barrio By Constance Garcia-Barrio The Black Women’s Health Conference sponsored by the Ausar Auset Society, a pan-African spiritual organization, occurred on August 31 and September 1 at the Nile Café complex in Germantown. “This conference sounds the alarm bell on Black people’s health,” said Am Tehuti Khamau, chief priest of the Ausar Auset Society’s Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Jersey region. In 1973, the Ausar Auset Society was founded to provide Afrocentric spiritual training to the African American community and diaspora. The organization has members in 37 U.S. cities and other countries. “The stress of being Black in America takes a toll,” Khamau said. “We’re at zero population growth.” The conference aimed to nourish the whole woman and provide tools for critical self-care, Khamau said. The gathering’s location at the Nile Café, Philadelphia’s oldest vegan eatery, which features scrumptious vegan versions of traditional soul food, emphasized the importance of a plant-based diet. “I’m a science teacher, and I know that the body does better with a vegan diet,” said Samher, a member of Ausar Auset. Conferees browsed the African market in the Nile’s spacious patio and...