A local group is recording the history and culture of Black women in Liverpool thanks to National Lottery funding.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded a grant of £38,005 to Women and Digital Inclusion (Wodin), a community interest company aiming to reduce social and digital exclusion among Black immigrant women in Liverpool, many of whom are single mothers or live in some of the city's most deprived areas.
Wodin is using the money to run an oral history project "the good, the bad, and the ugly" parts of cultures of 10 women from 10 different "Pan African and Commonwealth countries". Sylvia Kalungi, chair of Wodin, said the idea for the project came after members of the community died during the Covid-19 pandemic, taking their history with them.
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She told the ECHO: "The loss to their families is a huge tragedy. To the community, these people died with their knowledge. We don't know what we have lost. They were solid members of our community, not just the immigrant community, but from multiple communities.
"Lots of people working in the medical industry lost their lives due to covid, and many of them had interesting lives. Something could have been done to have something of their story recorded, and it's not going to happen for them. But, for at least 10 women, that's going to happen now."
Wodin, which runs training, business mentorship and a cultural foodbank, is buying recording equipment and hiring a manager and assistant for the project named Somo Sisters - 'somo' means 'learning' in Swahili, a language spoken by more than 200m people, mostly in East Africa.
The project, which won the grant earlier this month, is already oversubscribed with more willing participants than they can afford to record. Sylvia now has to whittle down the candidates to ensure a wide variety of cultures are included.
Each of the final 10 women, from 10 different "Pan-African and Commonwealth countries", will tell the story of how and why they left Africa, along with "their dreams and expectations", to create a "legacy" younger members of the community can "tap into" to "appreciate where they come from, which could help shape where they are going".
Five minutes of each story told in their native language, with the rest in English, which Sylvia hopes will be "something unique". When the oral history project is complete in a year's time, Somo Sisters will have a launch party, and the audio records will be stored at Liverpool Central Library, where anyone can hear women from different national and ethnic backgrounds speak about "their journey, their experiences and their culture", Sylvia said.
She feels like they're "breaking boundaries and bridging gaps" with the project gaining "a deeper insight into this previously under-researched" part of history. "You should have seen me", Sylvia said of the moment a previously unknown man called to announce the grant, "I was shouting and screaming and I said, 'Well I'm glad I've got some good news, oh my god, that's amazing'. We were dancing and laughing. We really were excited."
Louise Sutherland, the National Lottery Heritage Fund's head of engagement for the north of England, said: "Inclusive heritage is very important to us at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is why we are proud to support Women and Digital Inclusion with their Somo Sisters project.
"Women of Black and African heritage have made a significant contribution to the city of Liverpool in many ways, but their stories are often overlooked and untold. We're thrilled to be supporting this important project that will acknowledge and share this lesser-known aspect of Liverpool's heritage and broaden understanding in the wider community, especially for future generations."
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