Introducing our new digital training for 55+
Words by Keziah Wenham-Kenyon, Community Engagement Coordinator
It’s an honour to join the St Pauls Carnival team as the Community Engagement Coordinator. My role is part of a broader programme, Carnival 365, and I will work closely with older generations in the Caribbean community to offer digital training, capture and preserve their stories and improve accessibility so they can play a more active role in the 2022 event.
Walking in a procession of any given Carnival across the world you inadvertently retrace the footprint of those who set us on our course, in doing this, the past survives in us all. This daisy chain of knowledge passed forward to each generation is not too dissimilar from the belief of the ubiquitous spirit of ancestors, which is prevalent in a lot of African spirituality. Similarly, as Carnival progress’s and reflects the changes in today’s world it’s important that the traditions of Carnival are embodied. To better inform the given direction we must first seek council from our elders and forebearers who gave us what we know today as St Pauls Carnival.
In 2020, the pandemic highlighted how digitally excluded older communities are fast becoming. As the world shifted to a virtually exclusively digitised way of living, a lot of elders were left less equipped to navigate this increasingly online world. This not only made it harder to access their support networks but greatly impacted their general mental wellbeing. In the face of Covid –19 St Pauls Carnival also had to adapt, hosting the first-ever digital Carnival in the UK. Although the event was a success, again a lot of elders weren't able to join in the festivities.
It is for this reason we are offering a series of free digital training workshops for elders aged 55+. This will be carried out across several workshops covering; laptop & tablet basics, setting up an email account, social media & privacy and staying connected using Zoom. We have chosen to focus on these areas as they are the tools most commonly used to stay in contact with friends & family, access vital services and keep in the loop of events happening in the community.
Another side to this project will be to capture and preserve the traditions of Caribbean Carnival for future generations. This will be done through a series of short films looking into the past traditions of Carnival and the lives of the Caribbean communities that brought it to the UK. In doing this we will ensure the trajectory of Carnival doesn’t go astray.