This winter, whilst frequenting a local Cornish christmas fayre we had the pleasure of meeting Olivia. Olivia is currently studying International Relations at the University of Edinburgh and went on to tell us about the work she’d done over in Kampala, Uganda. She’d been doing an internship with the African Prisons Project, an incredible organisation that are working hard to, in their words ‘place the power of the law into the hands of the poor’. We’ll be chatting with Olivia shortly, but first let’s take a look at the APP.
- Some of the prisoners studying hard for their degrees. APP offer both undergrad and postgrad education
The organisation's mission focuses on three key areas, first; Training. Many prisoners across Africa are unable to afford a lawyer, so this training enables them to study law with the University of London’s international programme. They can then represent themselves and other inmates in the court.
The second key area is the services they provide. APP delivers prison-based legal clinics and legal awareness sessions that are both affordable and accessible to those that need them most.
The third and final key area is the secondment opportunities they provide for senior prison staff and criminal justice personnel. Through training they can ensure prisoners rights are being upheld.
The whole concept and Andrew Macleans (APP’s founder) vision was to educate both prisoners and the prison staff in order to build great relationships between them and therefore create a much more positive, enjoyable environment to live and work in. Not only this, but the representation by those educated in law now means thousands of people that were/are imprisoned unjustly are able to get a real defence and integrate back into society.
Visit the website here: https://africanprisons.org/about to find out more about this extraordinary organisation, and even become a changemaker yourself.
Next, we hear from Olivia on her internship and her time spent in Uganda.
- Olivia on her beloved rooftop at her university accommodation in Edinburgh, wearing her flame red Kimono.
So tell us about your time spent with the African Prisons Project.
My internship was based in the communications department of the organisation and I spent most of my time managing their social media, writing up stories on the organisation’s work and doing photography. My favourite part of the internship was working with a Dutch film-maker named An making short movies based on the lives of ex-convicts, whom the organisation has fought to be freed.
The films’ goal was to convey what freedom means to these people after having been released from some of the most overcrowded prisons across the globe. This often took us to unexpected places: farms in Northern Uganda, suffering from the consequences of climate change, and to the Kampala roller skating group with a juvenile ex-convict. We found that the more we relaxed and went with it the more heart-breaking yet hopeful the stories became. The work was often really hard particularly as time went on and I was faced with the tragic stories of people I'd met being denied justice. I’d never had any experience in film-making before but working with An was the collaboration of dreams and he taught me so much!
Tell us what else you got up to whilst in Uganda?
Kampala is an incredibly exciting city. There are just so many people, Uganda has one of the fastest growing populations in the world. There’s constantly stuff going on. I even ended up making friends with some Ugandan fashion designers; Ibrah, Blaq and Brayo (IGC Fashion: https://www.instagram.com/igc_fashion/) who have a studio in Kampala. Through them I started making clothes using fabrics found in downtown Kampala which has since become a real passion for me. I loved using a fabric that Ugandan’s use for Gomesi, a traditional dress with amazing pointy shoulders. The dresses used to be made out of suuka, a fabric made out of tree bark, which my mates happened to be creating their designs from. I continue to make my own clothes back home in Edinburgh. I love chucking on some music and just working with my hands after a long day of reading journal articles.
My designer friends also run workshops called ‘The Fashion Cypher’ where they work in destitute areas of the country teaching children and women how to sew and make clothes. I was lucky enough to tag along to one of these which they ran in Eastern Uganda; where they taught a group of about fifty women to make kimonos! It was amazing to see the designers giving back to local communities and I asked the women to model the kimonos afterwards; they absolutely smashed it.
- A few of the women from the Fashion Cypher workshops modelling their gorgeous kimonos
How has your time spent in Africa inspired your day to day life now?
I started making earrings in Kampala using scraps of kitenge (traditional African fabric) the boys left in the studio. Kiera and I are hoping to start doing some earring-making workshops here in Edinburgh in order to fundraise for important causes. I guess what really sets my heart on fire whether it’s in Kampala or Edinburgh or Cornwall is having a community and creating. I am probably most excited when I am collaborating with someone.
What drew you to that particular Sailaway Kimono and, in three words, let us know how wearing it makes you feel.
I don’t know whether this sounds really lame but the fabric reminds me of fire. The red and orange colours combined with the way the silk falls seems like flames!