We made it, let share it! will be a 12 month project, supported by National Lottery players through the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The project explores the West Indian contribution to the First World War through the West India Regiment (WIR), which was comprised of mainly black African soldiers.
This project will shed more light on the important history of how the WIR hugely contributed to the defeat of Germany in Africa.
The WIR was deployed in East Africa as well as Togoland and Cameroon. Togoland (which now forms modern day Togo and part of Ghana) and Cameroon were German colonies with important wireless stations. The first two years of the war saw a multi-national force - including West Indians, Nigerians, Ghanaians (Gold Coast) and Indians capture Togoland and Cameroon from Germany.
This project offers a very good opportunity to make people aware of what happened and celebrate this with a festival at the end of the project.
In partnership with Gateways, the project will organise workshops exploring the soldiers’ recruitment process, the journey from West India to Africa and the role of WIR in the war in Africa.
The second workshop will inform young people and community leaders on the kind of pictures they would like to see displayed on the festival day; images that they think will grab the attention of people who will attend.
On the day of the festival, different groups from different countries will perform their traditional music ensuring that everybody who attends the event makes the most of their visit by having fun as well as learning from volunteers.
For more information about the project, please contact Barthe Ngoma via email bart@kongochild.com or give us a call on 07983436657.
