Here we find out how the group organised drumming and music sessions at the library during June and how they produced over 30 costumes and took part in the Maindee Festival on Saturday 9th July 2016.
Newport Senegambian Association New Paths Project
Earlier on in 2016 The Newport SeneGambia Association (NEWSA) approached Maindee Unlimited with a New Paths project. Here we find out how the group organised drumming and music sessions at the library during June and how they produced over 30 costumes and took part in the Maindee Festival on Saturday 9th July 2016.
Photo (c) Mohamed Miah
The group was founded by people of Gambian and Senegalese origin in the west of Africa: interesting The Gambia is a country which is completely contained within Senegal apart from a small coastline with the Atlantic. The members of NEWSA are largely residents of Newport - based just around the corner from the library - and are friends and people of other origins and countries that are resident in south Wales. The group are focused on cultural education aimed at informing and encouraging members to embrace social cohesion and community integration. For this reason they wanted to participate in Maindee by organising a series of socio-cultural events to showcase the cultures and values of West Africa to the wider community.
Photo (c) Mohamed Miah
We were able support activities in the library during June – open sessions for the public to come and meet members of Newsa - and to help the group create costumes for over 30 people. Binako Touray, chair of the group, told us that:
“We are pleased to inform that our involvement in this year’s festival has been a great success. The turn out and contribution from our association members was tremendous and the support from the Maindee Festival organising committee was unprecedented. The event was a great success and we would like part of any future events organised by the community.”
There is no doubt that the involvement of the group in the parade – accompanied by their lively involvement with a stall at the festival –provided the promotion and performance of Senegambian culture which could only have come from a community-led approach.
Again, Binako told us that:
“Our involvement in the festival has given us an opportunity to meet and interact with people from different cultures and communities. It has also given us the opportunity to get involved in the community we live in as a way to form partnerships and build bridges between different societies that took in the festival.”
There is now a commitment from the group to establish relationships with the Maindee community and other organisations with Maindee and Newport. We hope that the investment form New Paths helped to make a difference and that we can all look forward to NEWSA taking part in other projects within the community.
Newsa www.newsanewport.org