[insert video here]
Transcript
Interviewer
So hello, if you could please introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about your passion?
Salome Asea
So my name is Salome Asea, and I’m the executive director at the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage. And my passion is helping the youth in our community be their best selves.
Interviewer
So could you tell me about how the idea for your organization came about and what prompted its start?
Salome Asea
Yeah. So the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage, acronym is CCACH. It started in 1985 with some elders who decided that there was a need for advocacy in our community—so bringing all the smaller groups together to be able to advocate for themselves as a whole. Instead of a separate organization.
With that, they started programs such as our tutoring and mentorship program, where we hire university or post-secondary students to become tutors and mentors to students from grades one to 12. So that’s been going on for 24 years.
We also have a program called Afro Quiz that has been going on for 31 years, and that is a program, it’s a Jeopardy-style game show where. So we teach kids aspirational Black history, so Black history that they can feel proud about and feel, feel really good in their skin. And when they’re learning this content that it’s not only going to be negative or just one-sided, so it gives them a real spectrum of about the story that they tell themselves about who they are. So, there’s that.
We also have youth programs that are for youth to gain access to scholarships and get ready for their careers, future careers, and just to be their best selves, really—so giving them skills that they may or may not have gotten in their home families, but reiterating it where they learn it in a cohort or in a group of other like-minded youth and helping them learn the importance of being part of a community and giving back to the community as well.
Interviewer
That’s really nice. I know that community is really important. Like when I was looking at the organization, the whole AfroQuiz was really interesting because I know when I was in high school, the Black history I was taught was very limited. Even so, for my history class, instead of learning the good things, we read 12 Years A Slave and we didn’t really focus on, you know, the positives of Black history. Right.
Salome Asea
And I think that’s really why it resonated and lasted for so long, is that it was really an initiative done by the elders who just weren’t seeing it changing in our school curriculum, and they decided to basically take power for themselves and create it themselves. It’s a lot of work. It’s been a volunteer-run for all these years and every year we have kids who come back and learn, and they compete. They get to win cool prizes like iPads and electronics that they could use for education, but they also get to network, you know, with other kids. So if you might not be the only Black kid in your class or what have you, but you get to learn with and it’s open to everybody in the community as well. So that is awesome. So kids who are just interested in learning can come and do so, but predominantly it is Black kids from all over Africa and the Caribbean who come and participate and just, you know, the real prize is the knowledge and the secondary prizes you get to, you know, win a point win some cool gadget.
So this year, we evolved it, and so now they’re competing in teams as well as individuals. So think of it like Wakanda Forever meets Harry Potter. They’re competing in houses to learn Black history, and it’s very exciting because you see little kids learning incredible content that they can use to share with their schools, and often they will do that.
So we have stories of kids going into their schools. So for Black history, they’ll do a presentation on what they’ve learned in Afro Quiz. They’ll be, there was a school that did Afro Quiz in the class, and the kids went on and did some more leadership. And they’ve done a heritage presentation. So they wanted to learn about all the different cultures in their schools and present it. So they have this big wall that the kids created and I think that’s really showing pride in heritage and appreciation for other heritages, which is really important as Canadians as well, right?
Interviewer
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It’s really interesting. So you said that this started in 1985. So I’m not sure if you know, but what were the challenges that were faced [at] like the beginning of the organization, [when it was] formed.
Salome Asea
Well, I mean, I wouldn’t be able to speak specifically about those. I was not around, but I think that just as general as a nonprofit, challenges are always around getting funding for your initiatives. If, when it’s volunteer-led, it’s managing volunteers and their time and you know how, you know, people’s commitment levels? But luckily, everybody who is part of this is really committed and they believe in the cause, right? So we’ve had people volunteer for ten years plus, right now, and we have the elders who started their kids, their kids who have been part of it. So it’s generational. And then also, you know, kids who started in their tutoring programs. So they received tutoring, and then now they became tutors. They’ve now gone on to participate as adults in our organization, and one gentleman in particular, he was able to advocate his workplace to get a contribution of $20,000 to our tutoring program. And so this is like long after he’s gone. He’s still advocating for it. So, although there are challenges, I think there are maybe even more benefits. It’s hard work, right? But when people believe in it and believe in the benefits of the cause, I think it’s definitely worth it.
Interviewer
So it’s kind of great that people will continue to go and continue to give to the community, that’s a legacy. You mentioned a lot about the community and learning. What would you say that you’ve personally enjoyed most about being a part of the Council?
Salome Asea
So I work with a great team of a board of directors. So I answer to a board of directors, and they’re really a dynamic group of people from their 20s to their 60s. We all get along really well, are really great communicators, passionate about being positive influences in their communities. So I love the work I do with the board. Or in consultation with the board, but probably the highlight is seeing the kids like either excelling in school, where maybe they had struggled, seeing them share what they’ve learned in Afro quiz competitions. It’s always super exciting, and when they encourage each other, I think that’s always super sweet to watch, kids yelling, “You can do it” to their friends on stage, and because they’re doing this in a group, they learn to chant. They have their colour. They wave their flag, and so they’re really supportive of each other in these groups. And it gives the teens a chance to be leaders and the young people a chance to have people who they look up to and just feel a sense of community where in Canada we are from all different parts, and we kind of come together, and I think our youth really identify with that kind of identity that comes from many sources versus just like you are. From this specific community and you, you organize yourself in that way so they could. So a kid from Africa would connect really well with the kid from the Caribbean with that shared identity. And I think that watching those relationships develop is very exciting and heartwarming to me.
Interviewer
So what personal qualities [do] you have that you think have brought you to this point in your life, like you, you being a part of this wonderful council?
Salome Asea
I think, well, I started off as a volunteer. I think being part of a or having a creative mindset and a problem-solving attitude, has been, I guess, one of my strengths. And so I always have. I dream up big ideas, and if I have a team of people who are excited with me and really ready to figure it out, I think amazing things will happen. And so I think it’s really creative because when you’re nonprofit, you’re not guaranteed any kind of consistent funding and all the kinds of things that you would expect from other larger organizations, you really don’t have. So creativity is really the thing I think that has kept me and allowed the organization to flourish in the way that it has over the years. So I think having people who are also good communicators around you is important and also doing my best to be a good communicator in return really has helped us kind of unify and move these initiatives forward.
Interviewer
And my last question is: what advice would you give to youths who want to get either involved with the Council or involved in something similar?
Salome Asea
Ah, so I would say for youth, I would definitely sign up for [our] Youth Opportunities newsletter. We have been a part of over 1/4 of a million in scholarships in the last two years, most recently, a young lady came to our session, and she got an $80,000 scholarship from UBC. And others got $40,000, and many others have gotten smaller scholarships. So I think definitely being in the Community Newsletter and being in that group.
I would say volunteering. I would say, if you are interested in this type of work, it’s definitely about networking and putting yourself in spaces where you might not feel comfortable, but like, believing that this is a safe space for community to come together so we have mentorship opportunities and leadership opportunities that really if they just reach out and say this is what I’m interested in, we can find a space for them to excel and I think youth have a perspective that nonprofits and other organizations are really interested in hearing, and we don’t often get that opportunity or we find it more, more challenging. And so youth who are willing to share their insights and willing to give feedback, those are really great ways to help and to be a part of, you know, something big in a small way. Giving your opinion helps us. That helps us help the youth and it also gives them a way to also. Give back so that. We can create progress in our community.
Interviewer
So that was my last question. Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
Salome Asea
It’s just very hard work. It’s a lot of work, but it is work that you can have a sense of pride around. It’s work that has an impact in the community. It’s work that involves other players who are also passionate. And so I would say that if anybody is interested in this type of work. It’s, I don’t know, it’s really something that you can feel good about and know that you’ve done something to impact somebody’s life in a positive way.
And I think that’s really something that everybody kind of strives for to find that meaning and to find that type of role in their lives. So yeah, no, I would encourage anybody to, you know, if they’re interested in working with us to come in and contact me. And we could have a conversation about how they could do so. And yeah, we’re just open to people who are creative self-starters, people who have skills around digital media and getting those connections into the schools and that sort of thing. So those are all things. Our ways that they can contribute as that I think would be important, yeah.
Interviewer
Thank you for participating in our virtual career fair and for doing this interview with me. I hope you have a great day.
Salome Asea
Yes, thank you.
If you want to learn more about the Council of Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage, you can visit their website here. You can also sign up for the newsletter Salome mentioned here.