For the second in our series of provocations we teamed up with Dr Erinma Ochu, Curator, Sheffield Doc/Fest Exchange and social entrepreneur Naomi Mwasambili of Chanua and NEUROLOVE.
Naomi Mwasambili, through NEUROLOVE, is working in partnership with Dr Erinma Ochu to curate a series of online filmmaking workshops, mentoring opportunities and to commission micro-docs from these young people, who will be supported by industry experts to provide mentoring, guidance and practical skills. Their emotional and mental wellbeing is supported throughout the process with access to social and psychological therapists. Raising Films is supporting a micro-commission.
NEUROLOVE is an online platform set up under lockdown to help vulnerable young people, specifically those who are care experienced, to stay emotionally and physically well.
To find out more, as the micro-commissions evolve, or to get involved in offering mentoring through a live or recorded session, visit the Sheffield Doc/Fest website. The films produced will be screened in conjunction with the Doc/Fest Rebellions film strand in October. Watch a selection of these docs, for free.
For our series of provocations Naomi composed this moving poem about the future of care and the #blacklivesmatters movement. My Child is a message to all children and young people to work for their freedom.
Written and performed by Naomi Mwasambili | Produced by Erinma Ochu | Sound by Mpegwa Mwakanga’ta | BLM Image from Elliot Johns | Protester Shaun-Pierre Deckon
My Child by Naomi Mwasambili
My child there is a world that you cannot see
Because the eyes you have been given
Are not the ones that allow you to be free
They start off very clear with no boundaries to be found
The kind that restrict you in thinking that light travels faster than sound
But as you grow your sight does too
Influenced by the things it sees and believes to be true.
The way you eat is not right they said
A knife and a fork is the proper way to be fed
That feeling you feel when your name is said wrong
And the class starts to laugh, so to silence yourself you smile and sing a song
When none of the textbooks look quite like you
So you beg to buy chemicals to straighten your hair because you believe your ugliness to be true
When you know all the answers to the questions that are asked
But you’re silenced again, called a ‘show off’ and develop the position of being masked
When you start to become embarrassed when people ask ‘but where are you actually from?’
‘Cause it reminds you that they never thought you belong
When you are the only one they see to break any of the rules
Most of which make no sense but result in enforcement tools
When you are forced to sit still for hours when your body needs to move
So you get distracted by everything, the only way you can self soothe
When you walk into a room and feel the power of the stare
So you work on being invisible to the pain caused by the glare
When ‘we’ becomes ‘I’ and you feel like you’re in it alone
My child, this is the time your eyes have stopped being your own.
However, we have the ability to regenerate our eyes
Yes, a skill never taught to us in school with its books and its lies
You have the power inside to turn ‘I’ into ‘we’
And come together with each other to create a brand new destiny.
But first you must see beyond what their eyes want you to see
To the ability you have and the power to be free
An unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty
That disorientates us from our current reality
But sit with it child and come together with your sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers
To join your eyes and create a vision that is not viewable without each others
One where you are valued for your divine energy
And where love and compassion is your first priority
Where you care and you share and you promote unity
Cause coming together and doing this will allow your eyes to be free.
About Naomi Mwasambili
Born in West Yorkshire and of Tanzanian/Jamaican descent, Naomi is the co-founder and CEO of Chanua. Chanua focuses on co-developing innovations, specialising in healthcare and education. She is passionate about creating safe spaces online and offline for people to tell their stories. For 12 years Naomi has been working in the area of social innovation, inclusive business, healthcare, mental health and research. She gives back to entrepreneurs through her role as Entrepreneur in Residence at London South Bank University, Fab Lab resident focusing on industry 4.0 technologies at Liverpool John Moores University and as a trustee at the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Follow Naomi on Twitter
About Sheffield Doc/Fest Exchange
A specially curated community exchange programme which lies at the heart of the festival, spanning films, talks and Alternate Realities projects. The Exchange is co-curated with local and international platforms comprising activists, filmmakers, researchers, scientists, community leaders and artists. The programme culminates in a three-day celebration of new work, conversations and workshops to share what has been collectively discovered through online exchanges. Open and free to all, the public celebration is presented and run in parallel and in dialogue with Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Rebellions strand as part of this year’s Autumn programme.
Sheffield Doc/Fest Exchange webpage
Follow Sheffield Doc/Fest on Twitter
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