Esther Jones Creates Everything at Ulimi TOC
The soulful call of the African drum reached out and touched Esther Jones’ heart as she was driving home to Chicago from Evanston. She followed the call of the drum on a Monday night to Ridgeway Park where she met Guinean artist Abdoulaye Camara, an African performer, dancer and drummer. Camara now provides the heartbeat for the inaugural community workshop taught by Jones’ non-profit organization, Ulimi TOC. Here, children ages 7-12 years old learn about African culture, and language through drumming and dancing.
Ulimi TOC is a non-profit organization founded by Esther Jones in 2021, with the mission of educating the next generation about African culture and language. According to Jones, Ulimi is a Zulu word that means to speak, and TOC stands for tongue of culture. As a black woman in leadership, Jones is fostering artistic expression in the next generation, as Andrea Change is doing at the Guild Literary Complex. Jones’ aim in creating Ulimi TOC is to give African American children the opportunity to feel pride in their cultural roots. The workshops take place from 4-5:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Kamen Park, 1111 South Boulevard in Evanston, Illinois from August 11th through September 16th.
Abdoulaye Camara is an African performer, dancer, and drummer from Ghana, West Africa. He is also the first instructor for Ulimi TOC’s workshop at Kamen Park in Evanston. 
Abdoulaye Camara demonstrates an African gourd Kalimba Mbira thumb piano. 
The David Wood Fieldhouse at Kamen Park is where Ulimi TOC, a 501-C3 non-profit created by Esther Jones to connect children with African American Culture.
The strength and clarity of Jones’ vision have proven vital to the reputation that Ulimi TOC is developing as a new nonprofit organization. Jones, a forceful artist in her own right, is a singer/songwriter, the author of the book The Poems of Esther, has an MBA and raised three children as a single mother in Chicago. She has much in common with Andrea Change, as a artist, single mother and executive director of a non-profit organization. The idea for Ulimi TOC came to her while she was working as a substitute teacher in a Spanish-speaking kindergarten class in Oak Park District 97.
“Not only were the children learning Spanish language, they were learning about the culture. I thought, there is so much more to African Americans than slavery. African culture is so rich. African American children need to learn about the language and culture of Africa.”
She said in an interview with WZRD on August 24th. Jones went on to explain how Ulimi TOC is designed to engage minds by connecting young African Americans with that culture. Her goal is to eliminate black on black crime by giving young people knowledge about the common bond they share.
As her idea for the organization took root, Jones researched the closest African cultural and language studies program in the Chicagoland area, and discovered it at Michigan State University. So, she reached out to them with her idea, and has been collaborating with them ever since. She also partnered with Northwestern Illinois University’s Segal School of Design whose students are responsible for Ulimi’s new website and marketing materials. To find out more, visit the Ulimi website, email Ulimitoc@gmail.com or call (773) 410-6602.
Poetry in Chicago 