Homegrown group grows through collaboration

Samantha Obeng is the co-founder of the Ghanaian Community Forum (GCF) in Hounslow.? After forming the group over four years ago, they are now regular collaborators with the Council and are set to co-host the?Celebrating Black Men in Hounslow?event at Brentford’s Musical Museum on Saturday 18 May from 10am to 4pm.

Here, she talks through the organisation’s rationale……

The Ghanaian Community Forum (GCF) was founded on 01 January 2020. At a time when many people would have been feigning commitment to getting fit, eating healthily and the like, my co-founder (Jessica Bondzie) and I finally decided to make our dream of nurturing a community group for ethnically diverse people in Hounslow borough a reality.

We are both mothers to two children. Jessica has a son (7) and a daughter (4) while I have two sons, aged 9 and 5. Now that we have dependents of our own, the need to cultivate a true sense of belonging for them (and others like them) in Hounslow borough was one that we could no longer ignore. Our rationale was that if it was a place that they felt a genuine affinity with then they would be motivated to reach their full potential and would successfully thrive.

With accomplished events such as our Ghanaian Cultural Showcase and the Digital Festival of Storytelling, being able to see the customs and traditions of our specific demographic represented in local events not only reinforced an authentic sense of identity for them and their peers but it also opened other Hounslow residents up to our culture and heritage – whilst allowing us to dispel any latent fear(s) of the unknown in the process.

This month, we have co-designed the?Celebrating Black Men in Hounslow?event with Hounslow Council. It is something that we feel is much needed to speak positively to the overall demographic as well as to challenge ‘self-sabotaging’ apathy within the black community. Furthermore, since the skewed lens through which the mainstream media often tends to portray ethnically diverse people is very narrow and negative by default, we are seeking to counter that narrative on a local, grassroots level at the very least.

To secure one of the extra tickets just released to an event that is close to an absolute sellout, go to:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/celebrating-black-men-in-hounslow-tickets-886089767347?aff=erelexpmlt