Proudly dressed in African wear and surrounded by music, storytelling, and traditional food, the pupils of Maria Holder Nursery, Oldbury, capped off African Awareness Month on Friday with a celebration of shared heritage under the theme “Stories of Our Black History: Food, Fun, and Family”.
During the month, pupils took part in a series of sessions that concluded with a grand finale on the final day. According to the chair of the Black History Month African Awareness Activities and teacher at the school, Theisa Hurdle: “We were trying to celebrate the different ethnicities and the different cultural backgrounds that we have here at our school, not only of our students but of our parents.
“So we tried to focus on these different backgrounds and create activities that would bring awareness to our students about the different family backgrounds we have here and to show that even though we’re different, we’re still similar and you know we’re still one basically.”
Providing a diverse experience for the children, Hurdle added: “We had also a parent from Dominica, Mr Alexander. He came and he made accra which is a national dish from Dominica. And we also had a games afternoon where we featured games that were common across the different countries. Games such as tag which may be known as Sal Out in Guyana.”
“So we tried to find common features among the countries and introduce the children to these different you know elements within food, fun, and family,” which Hurdle said was the aim of the day.
Chef Tremaine Reece, a teacher at the Barbados Community College’s Hospitality Institute, Hotel PomMarine, and his apprentice Amanda Daniel, conducted a cooking demonstration of pholourie – an indo-Guyanese fritter made of split pea batter and spices.
A passion-fruit fusion demonstration was led by mixologist Shane McClean.
A lively musical selection of djembe drumming was performed.
There was also storytelling by Vana Williams from Mustard Seeds Inc. Parents, guardians, teachers and students enjoyed dance sessions with Carolyn Brathwaite, performed by the children. Finally, there was sign language instruction with Nikki Williams.
Hurdle said: “Our overall theme for this year is ‘Tell Me Your Story’. So we focused more on it for Black History Month and it shows that our stories, which is our livelihoods, our backgrounds, our families, our histories, you know, they all come together and they make us… and it brings that awareness and it shows us even now with our African heritage that we are linked in so many areas, you know, that we may not be familiar with.”
The day ended with pupils from all six classes — Busy Bookworms, Storytime Kids, Fairytale Friends, Magic Carpet Readers, Learning Learners and Disney Dynasties — modelling their African wear in the school hall as their parents, teachers and classmates cheered.
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