Company Information
Nyubani Wapi/Where is Home? by the company Afrocats emerged from a partnership between Afrocats, Community Arts Northwest (CAN) and Exodus. It was performed during 2006 in a variety of theatre venues in Greater Manchester. The project incorporated theatre, writing and dance in order to represent the experiences of young women in the group to wider audiences.
Afrocats is made up primarily of young British women from African/Caribbean backgrounds and young women refugees from Rwanda and Burundi , many of whom came to the UK as unaccompanied minors. Afrocats began as a dance group which combined several styles of dance, mostly traditional African styles with Caribbean influences. The Where is Home? project was inspired by the experiences of some of the young women in the group who faced the prospect of deportation to their countries of origin. The play itself explored the issues associated with coming to the UK as an unaccompanied minor and, once they turn 18, having to prove a reasonable fear of persecution in their country of origin in order for the young women to avoid being deported. The play was devised during the weekly Afrocats dance rehearsals and reflects the experience of some of the young women in the group who chose to share their stories. For many participants the project presented an opportunity to explore and express a sense of shifting identities, refugee, immigrant, second-generation immigrant, citizen, etc.
The project provided a space for young women to use an activity they enjoyed, dancing, to communicate stories about their lives to a wider audience. Where is Home? showcased both the young women's talent at dance and their precarious situation as asylum seekers in the UK, thus it had a artistic and educational aim. The project also solidified ties within the group, where young refugee women without families found a sense of stability and security within Afrocats and young women with no refugee experience gained an in-depth understanding of their friends' lives and worries. The project evolved in 2007 into a series of discussions in schools and colleges where some of the young women involved shared their stories with young people in the local area.
