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MINING MEMORIES is a program/project dedicated to remembering those who lived and contributed before us; keeping them relevant....and allowing them to contribute to the present and the future by telling the past as THEY remember I, honouring our ancestors....Honouring OURSELVES in doing so. Preserving legacies.... REPAIRING hurt...healing families....Unearthing BURIED treasures.
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_________________________________________________Storytelling
is an African tradition carried over to the ‘New World’ by my fore parents when
they were brought to the Western world as slaves. Trapped in foreign lands and
forbidden to speak their native/mother tongue, storytelling developed as not
only a way of coded/guised communication but in determined attempts to keep
their African cultures alive and relevant in to their children born in far flunf
countries/islands with no knowledge or recollection of their RICH past on a
Continent from which they were snatched
Surrounded by the threat of death, beatings and mutilations, women huddled around firesides trying to keep warm, cradled their babies in their laps and spoke in low tones to them about Brer Anancy and Brer Tukuma, and tried to pass on morals and codes to live by in countries and systems that had erected different standards of living meant only to make sure they functioned as slaves but made no room or space for their humanity.
Black
people in the Western Hemisphere have not been slaves in the real sense for
hundreds of years but we have slowly lost the tradition of oral storytelling as
we become more of a homogenized community in attempts to adapt and adhere to
‘multi-culturalism’ and other modern social constructs. Because of
this, many ethnic cultures are lost in the attempt to have everyone fit in. As
well, black families have largely adopted western cultures of dress, family
life, speech and dialect etc and progressively lose themselves in an increasingly
cacophonic global culture that lacks specific definitions in a largely fluid
and increasingly abstract world.
Progress is important, but it was Marcus Garvey who said: “A people
without knowledge of its past is like a tree without roots,” and I
firmly believe that the past is a firm place to anchor one’s self as we exist
in the present and move towards the future. It is on this belief that the idea
of this project was born.
Mining Memories aims to be a video production entity that
respectfully tells the stories of families and the key people in them who would
otherwise be forgotten and or misunderstood. As one of the projects of umbrella
company, Sankofa Start Ups, owned and operated by Andrea
Downer-Ashley and her husband and business partner, Nicholas Ashley, the
program will adhere to the principle of the African concept of Sankofa, which
literally means to go back and take. Reaching back for lessons from the past to
guide us as we move into the future.
Sankofa is an African
word from the Akan tribe in Ghana. The literal translation of the word
and the symbol is “it is not taboo to fetch what
is at risk of being left behind.”
The word is derived from the words: SAN (return), KO (go), FA (look, seek and take). the Sankofa symbolizes the Akan people’s quest for knowledge among the Akan with the implication that the quest is based on critical examination, and intelligent and patient investigation. The symbol is based on a mythical bird with its feet firmly planted forward with its head turned backwards. Thus, the Akan believe the past serves as a guide for planning the future. To the Akan, it is this wisdom in learning from the past which ensures a strong future.
The Akans believe that there must be movement and new learning as time passes. As this forward march proceeds, the knowledge of the past must never be forgotten.
Mining Memories intends to tell the stories of persons who are still alive but might be suffering from memory loss, (dementia/Alzheimer’s) This can be done by the recollection of the persons themselves (as much as they can remember) as well as via use of photos juxtaposed with the recollections of family members, friends, peers, etc. Often, younger children and successive generations (grand and great grand kids) might have been born after the person is past their prime and heyday and have no or little knowledge of what their elderly relatives were like before being affected by aging and its sometimes-associated degenerative illnesses.
When this happens, there can be alienating generation gaps which affect the
ability for persons from different generations to bond. This can then
negatively impact the kind of end of life treatment and care that these elderly
relatives are given or have access to. The stories told by Mining
Memories will help successive generations gain a better
understanding of each other and assist then to develop healthy appreciation for
the efforts, challenges and achievements of their elderly relatives.
We also intend to tell the stories of persons who might have died. This will
help spouses, children and other relatives and friends of the person; come to
terms with their loss. There is sometimes something cathartic or healing about
‘telling’; an unburdening, a letting-go. Sharing, that frees us to mourn, cry,
ADMIT and can help give us insights and gain perspective. When handled
appropriately; with the right amount of sensitivity and support, this kind of
sharing is very valuable. It will also help younger generations within the
family develop a greater understanding and appreciation for their older
relative/s who passed on. This will help to preserve their legacies while
acting as an effective memorial for the person lost.
The videos produced will be disseminated, published, shared, used in a number
of ways. They will be commissioned work strictly for private use by clients who
will share them with whom they desire and will not be shared, published or
referred to by the creator: Sankofa Start Ups without expressed and informed
consent of the families which will have absolute ownership and publishing
rights.
Some will be shared via various online platforms, Youtube, company website, and
or via national television and or radio stations or print publications based on
arrangements arrived at with Sankofa Start Ups and
those entities. However, none of the video productions will be shared via these
public media and forums without the expressed and informed consent of the
family/family members concerned.
Mining Memories, as the name suggests, will go DEEP,
to uncover treasures buried beneath the surface. Anything worthwhile takes
effort. At times the process of ‘telling’ will be painful but most times it is
even more painful not to tell, not to share, not to open up and dissect how we
feel. SILENCE does not always mean PEACE.
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