A Past Revisited, Connecting the Dots, part 18
My Kapwa Gardens story and reflections
On Saturday, July 16, 2025, I woke up at 3:30 am for my flight to Colorado Springs, where I was attending the unveiling of a six-foot-tall bronze monument of Dr. Jose Rizal on Sunday.
A friend drove me from my house to the airport and mentioned, "Kapwa Gardens is closing its doors with a celebration, and you are not there with the people who contributed to making it a valued Filipino space during the pandemic. I know Kapwa Gardens was significant to you."
Kapwa Gardens played an important role for me and others in the community, not only because of its function as a space but also for its purpose. It served as a cultural center in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas district, created during a crisis and developed into a site for community healing, creativity, and Filipino cultural engagement. Above all, it represented an aspect of our shared experience as members of the Filipino community in America and the Diaspora.
Kapwa Gardens was established in 2021 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the enforcement of Shelter-in-Place orders. Developed on a former city-owned parking lot located at 967 Mission Street, the garden served as a prototype for the pandemic era, providing a secure outdoor environment for community gatherings, wellness activities, and cultural expression throughout the lockdown period.
A Filipino proverb states, “Sakit ng Kalingkingan, dama ng buong katawan,” which translates to: “The pain of the little is felt by the whole body.” In the context of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, this saying can be used to understand both biological processes and social interactions during the crisis.
The idea suggests that the problem of one small part could impact the entire system, whether physiologically or socially. The pandemic demonstrated how individual experiences can influence larger groups; for example, a single exposure could affect families, communities, and nations. This proverb illustrates that individual difficulties are connected to wider consequences, highlighting the importance of considering collective well-being.
Kapwa Gardens, located at 967 Mission Street, is just steps from where I work at the Bayanihan Community Center. Although the center closed during the pandemic, local groups and officials invoked the Filipino value of bayanihan—communal unity and cooperation—to meet the challenges together.
Kapwa is the belief in treating everyone as equals based on shared identity, emphasizing interconnectedness, solidarity, and collective vulnerability.
Local organizations and volunteers held food drives and organized relief efforts. Filipino elders residing in SoMa’s affordable housing received regular wellness checks, meals, and supplies. Volunteers assembled care packages and arranged telehealth support. The Bayanihan Equity Center conducted weekly food distribution, while Kapwa Gardens served as an outdoor space for wellness activities, art, and Filipino cultural events, as well as offering accessible health services and acting as a Covid-19 station on a regular basis.
In the film Field of Dreams, the quote “if you build it, he will come” was particularly impactful for Desi Danganan of Kultivate Lab, inspiring the transformation of a parking lot into Kapwa Gardens. This phrase represents faith, vision, and the pursuit of aspirations, especially amid uncertainty, and is closely aligned with themes such as longing, memory, and intergenerational healing.
Under Marissa Macayan’s leadership, Kapwa Gardens has embodied the values of shared identity and mutual care inherent in the concept of kapwa. Instead of merely managing an event space, she cultivated a meaningful environment where memory, resistance, and celebration intersect.
Marissa welcomed my colleagues from Adult Coordinated Entry (ACE) to utilize Kapwa Gardens for team-building exercises and events. In San Francisco, ACE serves as the centralized system for assessing and prioritizing housing and support services for homeless adults according to their needs and vulnerabilities. As one of the managers of ACE Navigation, I found these opportunities essential for our team’s cohesion and effectiveness.
With Marissa’s approval, I initiated and organized an event at Kapwa Gardens in 2021. The event was marketed as follows:
We are proud to support Kapwa Gardens in SoMa Pilipinas by hosting our inaugural joint Gemini Birthday Celebration (Kambal Pagdiriwang Kaarawan) on May 23, 2021. This event offers our relatives and friends the opportunity to gather safely outdoors while adhering to health protocols, to enjoy communal activities, shared meals and beverages, and meaningful conversations. The twin themes—Gifted to Give and Ward Off Bad Spirits—are reflected in the celebration’s message: "Our Birthday, Our Treat, as well as Your Treat to Us."
Kapwa Gardens offers outdoor spaces for birthday celebrations. Holding events outdoors can have potential benefits for health and social well-being.
A birthday celebration provides an ideal occasion to acknowledge, recognize, and honour the milestone achievements and enduring legacy of the celebrant.
Over the past five years, Kapwa Gardens has developed into a cultural venue that serves the Filipino community and others:
• Hosted more than 264 public events, such as workshops, festivals, and performances.
• Supported economic activities for Filipino entrepreneurs, resulting in over $115K in vendor sales in 2023.
• Provided opportunities for wellness and art through activities like Filipino Martial Arts, live music, cultural storytelling, and the Ube Festival.
• Built and maintained by over 300 volunteers, demonstrating grassroots collaboration and regenerative design.
Kapwa Gardens wasn’t just a place—it was a living counter-marker, a poetic experiment in kapwa, kamalayang pangkasaysayan (historical consciousness), and festive resistance. Its closure marks not an end, but a regeneration.
Although Kapwa Gardens has ceased operations at its Mission Street location in SoMa, its admirable vision remains adaptable and can be implemented at any time and place within the Filipino Diaspora.
Kudos to the organizers, stakeholders and supporters of Kapwa Gardens.
(Facebook Series post 8/3/2025)