On the evening of Saturday 24 September African and Caribbean Elders in Scotland (ACES) hosted an online event offering a sneak peek at stories collected as part of their oral history project, One Life, Two Cultures.
Twenty-five people attended the session. Nine different speakers shared their stories of life in Scotland and what it was like to move to the country from Ghana, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Jamaica, the Gambia, Uganda, and Nigeria. Participants joined in from all over Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Dumfries and Galloway, and Ullapool, along with participants tuning in live from Kenya and Ghana.
ACES members have been working hard to write and edit their own oral histories for a publication that will come out at the end of 2022. As one speaker, Kay, eloquently put it, ‘everyone has a story to tell, but putting it down on paper takes hard work and determination.’ During the event speakers reflected on a variety of topics, from love, education, and parenting, to immigration, pursuing career paths, the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement and fighting injustice. As one speaker, Chief, remarked, ‘when we listen, we find solutions to challenges’. Sharing their experiences and knowledge with new listeners reinforced a sense of community while recording this important part of Scottish history, heritage, and culture for future generations.
One Life, Two Cultures is funded by a European Heritage Days Stories grant, administered by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, and an award from the Year of Stories Community Stories Fund, administered by Visit Scotland and Museum Galleries Scotland.