Photo: Some fantastic Adinkra Prints by our Year 9 pupils following their workshop with Kwame Bakoji-Hume from African Activities. 

On Friday 11th December pupils at Risedale were treated to a fun-filled day of African workshops provided by the cultural-educational company African Activities.

Ghanaian born, African Activities founder, Kwame Bakoji-Hume, spent the whole day at the school sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for African culture and history. Risedale pupils were treated to a series of workshops including; traditional Adinkra Printing in Art; storytelling in the Library; talks on Fairtrade/Slavery in History as well as African drumming in the hall and a dance session for the GCSE Drama pupils.

Hoss Ahmed, Head of House and KS3 Science at Risedale, organised the day of culture to highlight the importance of BAME culture and Black History positively and engagingly.

Mr Ahmed said: “It was absolutely amazing to have Kwame at our school. His energy and enthusiasm were exhilarating and inspirational. I can’t believe he was able to deliver so many diverse activities and workshops crammed into just one school day benefiting so many of our pupils. What better way to expand the cultural capital of our pupils than by bringing inspiring educators like Kwame to our school. I felt truly blessed.”

Kwame said: “It was brilliant to visit Risedale. I had a fantastic day and the students were up for anything. The drumming session in the school hall was a particular highlight for me. We had 90 kids all drumming together and the acoustics were fantastic - we had a great time!”

Risedale Headteacher Colin Scott said: “It was an absolute treat to have Kwame at Risedale. I visited the hall whilst our year 8s were drumming and I could see that they were loving it; totally losing themselves in the activity and having a great experience. The school has been a very strange place since September due to COVID and it was great that we could offer this day of culture positively and safely.”  

African Activities CIC is a collective of African artists sharing African arts with schools and community groups across the UK with the aim of deepening an understanding of African culture and history.

For more information about African Activities go to www.africanactivities.org.uk, Facebook and Twitter.