Why I Joined The Wake Youth Engagement Pilot – A Blog by Abdulkadir Aweis

Abdulkadir Aweis was one of ten young people who took part in The Wake Youth Engagement Pilot, a three-month project delivered in partnership with the Mayor of London and supported by DICE CIC and our Youth Ambassador Kianu Glasgow.

Together, they designed and led conversations with other young people across East London, helping shape how future generations will connect with The Wake — a powerful new memorial honouring the millions of Africans who were enslaved and trafficked during the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans, and their descendants. Here, Abdulkadir reflects on what the experience meant to him.

Seeing the call-out for The Wake, I did not need to think twice. An opportunity to work on a project regarding memory, history and identity based in East London sounded like exactly what I would love to get involved in.

Such projects are rare occurrences and even more rarely do they include a meaningful contribution from youth. Too often young people are called upon to provide their thoughts on some issue that has already been decided without their involvement. However, this was something new. Eight young people from all the boroughs of East London had an opportunity to contribute to the creation of something from scratch, which is quite an unusual opportunity.

What made me join The Wake Youth Engagement Pilot was the opportunity to be involved with engaging youth in the process of learning this history. We were not just attending the sessions but co-creating them. In addition to that, there was training in areas that I know are going to be of use outside this programme too: storytelling, research, facilitation, campaigning and digital skills. This is an investment, not a one-time workshop and something that does not come easily to young people who want to break into the industry.

What I have actually learned from the programme 

Taking part in this programme has taught me a lot more than I thought it would, both in terms of the content and in terms of how this type of project is actually created.

The very first thing is that I got to know about The Wake itself properly. Not just on a surface level, but in its true significance. This knowledge has provided me with the capacity to present it to other people in a meaningful way, from a short discussion with a friend to speaking to young people who haven’t engaged with this history before. Knowing how to convey that kind of message in a way that is going to be meaningful to a demographic as specific as mine is another skill entirely, which I do not believe can be learned from any book. You need to be there, engaging with the content, having questions posed to you and having your knowledge tested before you even begin to disseminate the information.

The other side of this experience has been learning how to conduct a consultation process that is properly suited to young Londoners like myself. In theory, that may seem quite easy, but in practice, it is actually extremely complicated. You need to think carefully about with whom you are communicating: their background, prior knowledge, things that could put them off, the format that will actually get them to contribute rather than simply sit back politely.

Some of the skills that have helped with that:

• Research and critical thinking: identifying which questions need to be asked, rather than obvious ones, and explaining why the particular structure of the session is necessary. This has involved interrogating our own biases about what young people want, rather than assuming.
• Facilitation: being able to control a room full of youth, keeping sessions flowing and creating an environment where participants are comfortable speaking their mind as opposed to saying what they believe the person facilitating wants them to say. This is more difficult than it sounds and has taught me a lot about reading a room and adapting on the fly.
• Communication/storytelling: presenting historical information in an approachable fashion that will allow it to connect on a personal level to the participant. It is very much an art form to present something as important as the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Africans without delivering it in an academic manner.
• Planning projects: breaking down a consultation process in stages, looking at timelines, logistics and what has to be done before the first participant steps into a room. It has really made me appreciate how much goes into a consultation process that seems relatively simple from the outside.
• Digital/social media skills: understanding how to reach young people where they are as opposed to using traditional means and ensuring the message spreads beyond the confines of the room in which it was first spoken.

In combination, the project has been a real shift when it comes to the engagement process overall, not just this specific engagement process. It has affected the way I undertake group tasks, give presentations, as well as just communicate with people outside the programme, since I became much more aware of the fact that I am communicating with them.

Overall, though, the reason why I decided to participate in this programme is that it made sense to me. Such history is not mentioned enough, and the ability to contribute to the process of getting in touch with it by young people from London was quite an easy decision to make, considering the fact that I would be gaining skills and experience at the same time. Right now, halfway through the programme, I can say that I got a lot more than I expected from this experience.

For more information about The Wake Youth Engagement Pilot, please see our website. For more information about The Wake, delivered by the Mayor of London, see the GLA website.  

About the Author

Abdulkadir Aweis is a young Londoner who enjoys working with the community and facilitating change for youth participation in projects that impact their lives. Abdulkadir has participated in various early-career programmes within industries such as insurance, logistics, and HR, and he is drawn towards people-centred projects.