Prossy's Story

On May 30th, Prossy, from Burundi, shared her experience in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre at the Dover Detainee Visitor Group's Ex-Detainee Conference held at Amnesty International's London office, and she shares it with us here.
 
I was kept at the Yarl's Wood Detention Centre for about a month and a half.  The night I was arrested, UK border officers came to my apartment looking for someone else.  They asked everyone for their identification, and when they didn’t find who they were looking for, they took me.  They brought me to the Tottenham police station where they kept me in a cell overnight.  It was so cold and it was a traumatic experience.  I didn’t know what was going to happen to me or where they would take me.

An Introduction to Capoeira

On Monday, July 2 a large group of us participated in the Capoeira workshop, sponsored by Big Dance in connection with Big Dance Week, and led by Goia and Noah from Kabula Arts and Culture.  Goia and Noah taught us that Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that blends music and dance with martial arts.  It rose out of slavery, with slaves using music and dance to disguise martial arts training intended to empower them to escape.  Goia and Noah had a non-threatening teaching style that encouraged us to set aside feelings of self-consciousness and to focus on gently moving in harmony and response to our partners.  We all had a chance to practise playing the instruments (some of them improvised with kitchen utensils), singing along to the soothing and uplifting music, and play-fighting with each other.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, even if they had initially been unsure what they were showing up for! 

If you attended the workshop, please

post a comment with your own impressions.