This last weekend, my wife and I were part of a team that helped Menbere (Menbe) Aklilu pack up her closing Richmond California restaurant, Saluté e Vita Ristorante. The restaurant had been quite successful, but disputes with the landlord led up to her decision to leave. It was a sad day – she and her restaurant have become a fixture in Richmond life. Her Thanksgiving dinners (free to around a thousand of the local homeless) and her many other contributions to the community have made her a Richmond favorite. And her life story (born in Ethiopia, escape from an abusive marriage in Italy, transition from restaurant employee to owner with a passion to give back) has earned many awards and much press.
I probably can’t improve on the news coverage, being no closer to Menbe’s history than the reporters that generated these stories. Instead I’d like to give some personal impressions of Menbe and of the volunteer efforts that I’ve observed over the last few years.
When you get out on the road, you see so much bad behavior from drivers – sudden lane shifts, tailgating, aggressive tactics – that you can sometimes feel that people are selfish and unkind. And while the local TV news is sprinkled with “feel good” stories about kitten antics and such, the bulk of it is stories about bad behavior in the extreme; not only violent confrontations, but even such petty unkindness as people stealing packages from doorsteps. And then there is the current national administration, which seems to focus on cruelty, especially towards those who can least defend themselves.
But there is also a very different side to the public. We’ve seen this in the selfless and self-endangering behavior of citizens helping one another in emergencies like floods and fires. And in the case of Menbe and Saluté, you can see the best of humanity in the actions of enthusiastic volunteers, not only to help the homeless one day a year, but also in appreciation of Menbe and all that she does.
She had ultimately found it impossible to work with the continuing demands from her landlord. So, on Saturday, a core group of volunteers worked to pack up decades’ worth of much of what had been Saluté. It was sad, of course, but it was also hopeful – not only because there is likely to be a rebirth of the restaurant in another location next year, but also because the spirit of the volunteers was so positive and so appreciative of what Menbe had done – and not what she had done for us, per se, but what she had done for others.
Menbe herself has a delightful veneer (smiles and hugs for customers), which covers an inner self that is just as delightful. I can say that without being privy to her personal life, because who a person is can be seen from what they actually do. She lifted herself up from poverty to owning an extremely successful restaurant; but while she worked to keep the business going, she put in effort after effort to help others. She not only did big, visible events like the Thanksgiving event (which not only fed homeless folks, but also provided them with flu shots and warm clothing); she also added individualized, personal acts of altruism, like bringing abused women into the U.S., getting them surgeries, and empowering them as much as she could to move forward in their lives.
We are divided in this country, and many of us are (rightfully) appalled at the actions of a government that claims to be for the common man, but that actually implements policies that hurt the weakest among us. But we need not be in a continual state of depression about our country, when so many acts of kindness are all around us. Rather, we need to accentuate those volunteer acts, and also work to bring them to the political sphere, where we can potentially improve the lives of so many, and in the short term, slow the worsening of our country’s condition.
In Richmond, you might be tempted to think that a landlord’s attitude defeated Menbe and her good works. But this would be short-sighted. Menbe’s attitude and actions have spread good will and community engagement in ways that will affect many lives. And her story is not yet over.
It may be the ex-flower child in me, but I still think “Love is all you need” is not far off – as long as the love is expressed in action. And Menbe has shown us how well this can work. She’s applied the energy from years of painful experience to active, productive love.