Unity and Community in Football: Celebrating Cameroonian Heritage
Ensemble ManchesterAug 2015-Dec 2019
Archives
Total copies: 1
This collection is composed of a selection of material created as part of the Unity and Community in Football: Celebrating Cameroonian Heritage project. Series one contains outputs (written and film) from Ensemble Manchester consultations with young people about the kind of project they wanted to participate in. Series two includes outputs from activities and events from the project including photographs, films and individual interviews (audio and film). Series three contains an oral history with Melanie Ngangen, manager of the Unity and Community in Football: Celebrating Cameroonian Heritage project undertaken by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust.
Title:
Unity and Community in Football: Celebrating Cameroonian Heritage
Creator:
Date of work:
Aug 2015-Dec 2019
Search dates:
16 Aug 2015 - 31 Dec 2019
Reference number:
GB3228.110
Level of description:
Collection
Includes:
Custodial history:
Transferred directly from creating organisation to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre
Arrangement:
GB3228.110/1 Project consultation
GB3228.110/2 Project activities and outputs
GB3228.110/3 Oral History with project lead Melanie Ngangen
Source:
Received from Ensemble Manchester
Access restrictions:
Restrictions vary
Use restrictions:
Restricted
General notes:
After her arrival in the UK in 2001 Melanie became passionate about providing opportunities for the coming together of the Cameroonian community in her area. She wished for her son to socialise and experience Cameroonian community, including learning and speaking French.
As a result, she established a supplementary school to teach French in 2007. The school was based in the St George Community Centre and was open to anyone from the community who wished to learn French. The closure of the community centre led to the closure of the supplementary school.
In 2013 Melanie redeveloped the idea of the supplementary school to support the young people from the Cameroonian community. The young people were keen on learning more than just French so the school included drumming, dancing and storytelling. In 2014 she received funding from the Miles Platting You Decide fund to finance a music project. In 2016 the school registered as a charity named Ensemble. Melanie co-creates the activities of the school with the young people which dictates the choice of funding she applies for.
Each year the Cameroonian community in the UK celebrate their National Day on the 20 May. In the UK each year a city / community is picked to host the event. In 2017 Manchester was the host community. Melanie encouraged the young people she was working with to become involved in the development of the celebrations. Often these celebrations revolve around a football competition.
The experience of the National Day in 2017 and the success of the intergenerational work between the organising committee and the young people from the supplementary school inspired Melanie to do more of this work.
Melanie undertook interviews and conversations with young people to find out what kind of a project they would like to do and what they would like to learn about Cameroon. A lot of the young people spoke about football and Cameroonian football. Melanie saw the value of using this interest in football to link with the history of Cameroon, its footballing history and how football has brought Cameroonian communities together.
These ideas coalesced into the Unity and Community in Football: Celebrating Cameroonian Heritage project. The project aimed to bring the young people together and through the medium of football interest them in the history of Cameroon and encourage community and self-confidence in the young people.
The Unity and Community in Football project was financed by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and was completed in July 2019. Oral history training was provided by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust in April 2018 for the volunteer community reporters. The volunteer community reporters from the project took part in two workshops on Print Power and Creative Writing (using objects to tell stories) at the People’s History Museum in April 2018.
National Day celebrations were held in May 2018 at a community centre in Miles Platting. An annual party for Cameroonian doctors (CamDoc) was held in July 2018 in Coventry. At this event the volunteer community reporters were invited to talk about their heritage project.
Michael Bisong, a project partner, organised the football training and encouraged veterans to meet with younger people. The youngsters and older volunteers took part in some intergenerational football training. The team was called 2-Zero Junior. The VUKA (Veteran UK Association) played in a fun football match against the Cambridge Police Force football team in Cambridge. At this event the project volunteers got an opportunity to interview several retired Cameroonian players who participated in the match: Cyrille Makanaky, Desire Job, Roudolphe Douala and Jaques Songo’o. This event and interviews were edited into a short film (GB3228.110/2/4).
In February 2019 an intergenerational interactive talk was held where community elders and leaders spoke including:
Dr Maurille Feudjo Tepie, Chair of Veterans UK Association (VUKA)
Rt Col. Dr Aloysius Mbako, North EasCatalogue created March 2024 by Jo Robson
Topics:
Record types:
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre
Language:
EnglishFrench
Record number:
16448434