Resist, Assist, Inspire!

Poster for Resist Assist Inspire event without description and joining details

Heena Patel, talking about some of the work she has done as part of Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre’s Covid-19 collecting project.

Last month, AIU RACE Centre held its first online Collecting During Covid event as part of our Covid-19 activity. Since March 2020, we’ve been collecting stories from Black, Asian and global majority people about their lockdown experiences. Resist Assist Inspire highlighted the outreach work carried out by grassroots groups Wai Yin Society, Dynamic Support of Greater Manchester and Dr Charles Kachitsa from African Council UK and Flames Heritage Malawi to meet the needs of their communities. Less than a year ago, marginalised people were forced into an increasingly frightening and uncertain times, but local organisations responded quickly and creatively, organising culturally appropriate food parcel deliveries, socially distanced activities and celebrations. They met basic needs and beyond at a time  often with very few resources at a time when the state has needlessly exposed us to wave upon wave of a deadly virus.

You can watch the talk again on Facebook here.  

Heena and the three guest speakers


All three organisations above donated material to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Centre’s Covid-19 collection, which serves as a repository for memories and stories of racialised people. We are still collecting material from Black, Asian, and migrant community backgrounds, so if you have a story you’d like to share with us, get in touch.

The second in our Collecting During Covid series, Global Pandemic, Global Manchester is on Sunday 27 May, 11am until 1pm. Here, we will be talking about the impact of Covid-19 on marginalised migrant and international communities in Greater Manchester with: Fereshteh Mozaffari from Sheba Arts, a women-led community arts organisation based in Manchester working alongside migrants and refugees; Sanaz Raji from Unis Resist Border Controls, a national campaign supporting non-EU international university students and workers; and Kush Chottera from Europia, an organisation supporting Eastern European nationals in Manchester.