Your Heritage programme
Grant awarded £45,000

Summary
This oral history project captured the lives and experiences of three refugee communities in Manchester. The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust works with young people and educators to celebrate and share black history, culture and experience. They identified that the experience and lives of refugees and refugee communities in Manchester had largely gone undocumented.

The project recorded interviews with members of the Kurdish, Somali, and Afghan refugee communities, about their experiences of fleeing their own countries and making a new life in Britain. An exhibition using material from people’s life stories, and a pack of teaching materials based on the interviews were created.

During the project the Trust was supported by Refugee Action, the Manchester Refugee Support Network, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Working Class Movement Library.

The aims of the project 
The two year project had three main aims which together met HLF’s strategic aims for participation and learning:
• To record, catalogue and archive life story interviews with members of three refugee communities in Manchester
• To produce and promote an exhibition of material documenting refugees’ experiences in Manchester
• To increase understanding about refugee experiences, and challenge negative stereotypes

Benefits for heritage
• 44 interviews were recorded, catalogued and archived
• Undocumented experiences and lives were captured, making a valuable addition to the history of minority ethnic communities in Manchester and the NW
• A publicly accessible archive was created as a study resource.

Benefits for people
• The project placed value on the lived experiences of people who have arrived in this country, sometimes in very difficult circumstances.
• It explained the realities of refugee experiences, and presented an alternative picture of refugee lives.
• Members of the three refugee communities carried out interviews, and loaned photos and artefacts for the exhibition.
• A learning pack was created for use in secondary, further and adult education, and distributed free to schools throughout Manchester.
• 8,000 people learned about refugee lives on visits to the exhibition, which toured 12 venues in and around Manchester.
• Exhibition posters have been loaned extensively to community organisations working with refugees.

Lessons learnt
• It is important not to underestimate the time it takes to do a project of this type.
• Working with vulnerable communities means trust has to be developed over an extended period.

Long term benefits
• Education resources are still available via the internet.
• Panels from the exhibition were given out to schools and refugee organisations for permanent display.  Posters are still in use.
• Ongoing access to the archive is provided via the Race Relations Resource Centre.

Created 28/07/08