A poem by Dr Peggy P. Warren

Ubele Time Capsule - 10 Years

Sankofa 

from a Ghanian tribe,  

look back to learn,   

teck de learning, 

den move forward.  

Yo’ catch my vibe? 

We are Ubele, visionary:  

a catalyst for systemic, social, economic change,  

through empowering the Global majority.  

We’re culturally rooted, intergenerational, 

innovative, collaborative, and experiential.  

Our mission:  

to support the hoist, 

Of diasporic people, in the UK and beyond  

strengthening our resilience, and voice.  

Ubele, from Swahili. 

Guided by ancestors, 

the admonition is clear, our people we must nurture, 

As we make demands for our rightful future.  

Since 2010 we’ve dreamed, we’ve schemed, 

Yet, we always want to do better.   

If you don’t know what we’ve been up to,  

please sign up for Ubele’s newsletter.  

We researched and published,  

We campaigned. 

We identified potential leaders and got them all trained. 

We knew so many systems didn’t want to talk about race. 

So, we went out, negotiated Wolves Lane, our own community space.  

Then in 2020, globally, all hell broke loose. 

And Ubele with its knowledge bank. 

Became a hot pursuit. 

A deathly health tsunami COVID 19 hit the world, 

It sent most western leaders into a great big twirl.  

Then, as we all looked closer, it was very clear to see, 

this COVID 19 was killing black people primarily.  

Then right in the middle of the pandemic,  

the world was made to see, 

the killing of our brother George Floyd,  

Well, folk all over the world rose up to demand racial equity.  

Ubele was ready, we had lots of important data. 

COVID 19 death rates were spiking. 

This time government couldn’t wait for later. 

Policy makers and funders, 

were willing to engage, 

our community knowledge was no longer under siege.  

Ubele works from the bottom up, 

We advocate for,  

groups who were forced to drink from white supremacies’ bitter cup.  

African history shows us how powerful we are.  

educators, builders, influencers, 

these are the pillars hewn as Ubele’s foundations so far: 

Community resilience and sustainability - We are building. 

Customised knowledge and learning - We are developing.  

Global diaspora connections. -  We are making. 

Strategic Policy and Practice. -  We are influencing.  

Our African roots demand that we are intentional about keeping it intergenerational. 

Hundreds of people, young, seasoned, and in between. 

Travelled to Europe, Africa, with a focus international, 

To share and learn from each other, as we transform our scenes.   

Once the dominance of COVID 19 abated. 

Partners joined to fund Majonzi, 

to support all the loss, it had created. 

In the midst of the mayhem, there was Bayo. 

Joy had found us, in the language of the Yoruba. 

We  

Collaborated, 

shared, 

published. 

We convene: 

The Phoenix Way fund,  

working with others, showing the hegemony alternative ways to get the work done.  

We argue: 

For funders to rethink their distribution as their bureaucratic processes reduced our efforts to acquire funding to: 

Competition, 

Confusion and disconnection. 

We’ve developed: 

Black Youth, 

A model for housing – Gilda, black roofs. 

Bayo –joy in tough times, 

Harakati – activist movement. 

Agbero –resilience and action.   

Supporting Enterprise,  

and centralising our ways of knowing. 

Black Rootz, 

We educate on our health. 

Paying keen attention to the NHS state. 

We are taking control from the earth to our plates. 

Erasmus had us learning and travelling, 

Ensuring growth in safety as the playing field we were levelling. 

Through Elevate, women of colour in universities escalate. 

Seasoned women are brought forth from silence, 

into prominence.  

We give thanks and salute all those who have been with us on our way. 

Our: 

Ancestors including those who started with us and transitioned along the way. 

Dreamers, Schemers, and agitators, 

Founders, 

Communities, 

Partners,  

Funders and Supporters, 

Ubele people, 

We celebrate a hundred and twenty months,  

coming this far, respect is due,  

but the future, my dear people is now over to you. 

Will you join Ubele investing whatever it is you have gathered,  

to support this amazing organisation, 

and those it advocates for, on the next rung of the ladder?   

By Dr Peggy P. Warren

Dr Peggy P. Warren's work can also be found here