Azizah Ali is the administrator of Islah Academy, a K-12 education center based in South Los Angeles. I was introduced to her by a young man, Jibreel Abdul Cader, an avid surfer who was instrumental in the staging of Dust and Tribe’s first ever surf camp, D&T Grom.

A weekend of surfing turned into weeks of conversation and over that time Jibreel made clear his passion for bringing new experiences into the lives of others. It’s at the root of what Dust and Tribe does, and he saw in our work an opportunity to create adventure programming that aligned with his personal journey of maturation and spiritual cultivation. We similarly saw the future of D&T in his bold and disciplined energy.

And the first thing he did was put us into contact with Azizah. From her we learned that Islah Academy is grounded in experiential learning.

Dust and Tribe’s motto, progressio quolibet veniet, translates from the Latin to “progress through whatever comes.” It became immediately obvious that Islah and D&T are brilliantly aligned, not only through a shared faith but also in our mutual conviction that much of what we need to know comes to us from outside a classroom.

And if it weren’t for Jibreel, we may have missed the opportunity to further explore that alignment.

We pitched a wilderness weekend for the students of Islah Academy: tide-pooling, paddle-boarding, basic marine ecology, local history, bushcrafting, hiking, and camping all through the foothills and coastline of Santa Barbara County.

Azizah was on-board from the get-go and shared some of her observations from years of working with urban youth:

“We take them to the park sometimes. You should see where we are, where they live. All concrete. No grass. Nothing green, nothing living. And then they get to the park, and their whole energy shifts. You can just see it. And we tell them to take off their shoes: get grounded, feel the earth. That’s where we come from.”

Azizah went on to state her belief that nature helps build important connections, to each other, to creation, and ultimately to God Most High, “It’s our faith, and you can see it with people who aren’t exposed to nature, the sickness and anxiety and fear. Being in nature is essential to our mental wellness and spiritual development.”

We’re incredibly excited to get outside with the young men and women of Islah Academy for our first-ever D&T(een) collaborative event, God willing.

And while this event is for Islah Academy students and alumni only, we’ve got another leadership expedition coming up in August for young men, D&T(een) Desolation Wilderness.

We encourage you to support the work of Islah Academy. Use the link at the bottom of this page here.

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