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Africa Day at Cygnet Hospital Colchester

The team at Cygnet Hospital Colchester recently celebrated Africa Day. David Ebongue, the hospital’s Multicultural Network Ambassador, shares his reflections on the celebrations.

On Friday 24th May 2024 (a day before the official celebration of the Africa Day, May 25th, for convenience’s sake) service users and staff paid tribute to the African culture in a lively celebration at the Joy Clare Activity centre.

The event started at 11am with the arrival of service users and staff at Joy Clare which was decorated for the occasion in parade mode with colourful balloons and beautiful pictures of African flora and fauna, short notes about some African traditions including the story of “cola nut”, major landmarks, facts about turning points in Africa’s rich history as well as images of contemporary Africa.

Tables were laid with a variety of African cuisines which the attendee happily treated themselves to, accompanied by irresistible African rhythms in the background. This inevitably culminated in a joyous group dance that caught almost all the attendees in its wave.

One of the major highlights of the celebration was “the breaking of the kola nut” tradition that was demonstrated by Ifunanya Nwaforeyisi (Rufus) of Ramsey Ward and Ezra Jenkins of Larch Court. This was an interactive activity in which all the major continents were represented by service users or staff present. The kola nut was the unifying factor and reflected how Africans build pluralistic communities where everyone is welcome.

The particularity of this year’s celebration is the introduction of coproduction with service users on the wards. Ramsey, Highwoods and Oak Wards each received products and recipes for African jollof rice provided by the hospital. Following risk assessment for this specific activity, appropriate services users were then supported by staff to prepare this meal on the day of the occasion in their respective wards and the meal was brought to Joy Clare and added to the variety provided by volunteer staff as well as hospital kitchen.

Service users were proud to see that their meals were consumed at the same rate as all the others. Some of them commented that they felt they have added something to their cultural awareness and self-awareness as the whole process of preparing the meals was a kind of self-discovery for them. We hope to widen this kind of patient satisfaction in future events.

The Multicultural Network is just the tip of the iceberg of an enthusiastic team that worked together from preparatory meetings weeks before the event to keen participants on the day of the event who used their initiative to make sure tables were ready, everyone had something to suit their meal choices, music and dancing was ongoing and some even went to the shops at the last minute to get some indispensable items for the ceremony.

To that effect, I wish to acknowledge staff who volunteered to contribute African meals and those who came from home on their day off to celebrate this event, the ever-present Occupational Therapy, Sam from the Safeguarding team, the kitchen team, the coproduction teams on the wards, those staff who stayed on the wards to ensure continuity while their teams attended, and everyone that attended the preparatory meetings. Thank you for making a great day for our service users and staff and amplifying our diversity and integration at Cygnet Hospital Colchester.

‘One hair can’t braid a rope’ ~ Fulani Proverb.

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