Inside the Pennsylvania Farm Helping Kenyans Preserve Culture and Wellbeing

A Kenyan couple living in Pennsylvania has combined mental health services and farming to support East African migrants by providing culturally informed care and access to traditional food.

As more Kenyans move abroad, many face challenges beyond finding work. Adjusting to a new culture, overcoming language barriers and coping with the demands of daily life can affect their mental wellbeing. For many migrants, maintaining cultural connections is also an important part of building a stable life.

Zipporah "Zippy" Onyimbo-Ngarama, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Behavioural Health Consultant, has focused her career on supporting immigrants and their families. Raised in Kenya before moving to the United States for higher education, she specialises in trauma-informed psychotherapy and family mental health, with particular experience in cross-cultural care.

Her work goes beyond traditional counselling. Through programmes such as Penn Medicine CAREs, she has helped expand bilingual healthcare services in Swahili, making it easier for immigrant families with limited English to access culturally appropriate support. She is also pursuing a doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy and promotes approaches that strengthen family relationships while preserving cultural identity.

At the same time, her husband, Joel Ngarama, has developed a farm that serves as an important meeting place for Kenyans and other East Africans living in the United States. By growing white maize, a staple food in Kenya that is not widely available in the US, he has created a reliable source of familiar food for the community. The family also plans to establish a posho mill to make authentic maize flour more accessible.

The farm has become an important destination for many members of the diaspora. Clarice, a Kenyan who moved to Delaware in 1997, said she regularly travels to Pennsylvania to buy maize for herself and friends because she believes no other farm offers the same quality and authenticity.

Another regular visitor, Kuria Mbatia, has visited the farm for the past five years. He said the trips help him maintain a connection with his Kenyan roots because he grew up on a farm. He added that his preference for yellow maize has personal significance.

During harvest weekends, the farm becomes a gathering place where visitors speak Swahili, share stories and spend time together. For many, the visits provide both familiar food and a sense of community.