Skip to main content

It’s Like Looking Up To A Mountain

Multimedia spoken word.

Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana in collaboration with Priscilla Mandona (People of Colour in Education Scotland).

On Screen: Aurelie Mpiana, Anotida Matindenya, Priscillia Mandona and Omowale Koukpaki.   

Music by Omowale Koukpaki and Conor Wells. Mix and master by Andra Black, Video edit Omowale Koukpaki and Mitchell Frost.  

It’s Like Looking Up To A Mountain is a multimedia spoken word project that highlights the work People of Colour in Education (POCE) Scotland.   

The social action was sparked in 2021 after a child was racially attacked within the school setting.  Responding to this incident the parent’s and community experienced the shortfalls of institutional systems in place.  They responded by creating POCE, in 2022.  It is led by Priscilla Mandona.

Priscilla’s mission is to help empower young people of colour in Scottish Education and enable them to reach their full potential. POCE conducted community-led research by collecting stories from individuals who have experienced racism within school, college and university settings in Scotland.  Currently, POCE are involved in engagement within communities in Glasgow through community groups and networking events to spread the word about POCE and to collect stories.  

This storytelling piece highlights what assists her or obstructs her on her journey and the impact on her mission.   

 

Poems featured in this storytelling piece

Poem 1

She didn’t want to fight
She didn’t want to go to war
She just wanted life
And for her son to live more
But she gotta fight
Fight for more
Fight for the youths place in the world

She just want peace
She just want access
Why must She teach
Why must she practice
Why can she just Be?
Instead of stopping people attack us

You not listening
It seems okay but you don’t get it
Everything that’s glistening
Isn’t gold
Sometimes you have to be effected
To understand the toll
Please listen
There’s a story to be told

Poem 2

Priscilla Mandona
1997 she touched down
A life in Zambia
Left for new grounds
Hope for More prosperity
And a new life with her family
First it was London that she knew 
And they moved their happily
Where she learned and grew
Still young with barely a clue
Qualified in Africa
Qualified at home
With the world to pursue
Priscilla chased her own
Proved what she had got her education
And worked onwards.
In a world that’s unrelenting
Filled with frustration
That’s a huge achievement
Gotta be relentless
To keep working and keep breathing
Cause in life you gotta burst the ceiling.

Priscilla fell in love had kids
Then moved to Glasgow
Where life is still fast
But a little more slow
Diversity is less
Which doesn’t seem to matter much
Unless it’s Where the kids grow
Cause kids are curios
And kids are mean
Kids can’t understand
How much it hurts
When they inflict words
Or pick their hand up
To someone who doesn’t deserve
Cause we’re all the same underneath

But as adults we gotta see
That if someone is defending themselves
They cannot be held accountable
Or at least not persecuted equally
But that happened to priscilla’s boy
So she made POCE

Poem 3 – What Hinders?

Ever changing horizon but education has barely moved forward.
37 years of goal post moving.
The same degrees.
The same universities.
With more diversity.
But no more opportunities.
So what good it it
And why is the way it is?
Who actually knows?
But that just makes it harder for priscilla.
Cause an invisible opposition
Is much harder to oppose
Who makes decisions
Decides what rules to impose?

And when it’s just you
And your all alone
What do you suppose you should do?
Cause priscilla will always fight for good

What do you suppose you do?

1. Working all alone.

It’s like looking up to a mountain.
A task so big you wonder if it could ever be completed.
Changing a simple system is one thing bur battling a heard of elitist to ensure that those who need help receive it.
Without the support of others is more than just a wee thing.
It consumes your life and takes your old friends.
Cause being the one on who others depend
Can often by a lonely road with little dividends
To stop this hindrance priscilla needs more than a lend or friends
She needs a system to help her defend he mission her mission her action

Poem 4 – What she does and what hinders her in the process? Also how she combats these hindrances.

Priscilla Mandona, a trailblazer of our time,
In the fight against racism, always ready to shine. The organisation she
spearheads, a force to reckon,
People of Colour in Education, fighting to lessen
The burden of racism carried by every young soul
In the schools of Glasgow, a place they call home.
A place that’s supposed to be a blessing.

She stands tall, with courage and grace
A symbol of hope, in this perilous race
To end discrimination, bias and hate
To create a just society, a land of equality so great.

What happened In the classrooms, she listens with care
Embracing diversity, ensuring fairness is always there
And that although people may stare
Cause they do not think in this place we belong
We pays our fare and keeps moving along
Cause priscilla is there to ensure that we can grow strong
She there For children of different races, ethnicities and backgrounds showing us we aren’t wrong, and that our memories of new environments can actually be fond.

Poem 5 – She helps by.

She helps by Providing a space, where they can thrive and be proud.
A much better place than allowing ourselves to be kicked when we’re down.
We can finally make a stand.
We can finally make sound.
Cause there is someone who listens
Understands.
And to our young people she is devout.

Her tireless work, is seen in the hearts and minds Of young people, who are empowered to shine To break free of
discrimination, and rise above To become the people, they truly dream of.
Priscilla Mandona, a hero to all
A true embodiment

Poem 6 – what helps her

There is help for everyone
Just need to find the things we all need
And we can live
Your not alone in this place
There is unity somewhere in the human race

Although it might seem lonely priscilla marches on
Cause there is light at the end if the tunnel
There is hope in her song
She is helped by her family
Her loved ones and her kin
She helps people by listening
But is helped that their gave their story in
To further the point
That it doesn’t matter what skin
What creed or religion what matter is within
But you can’t see that till you start digging
So she dig ins

Thank you Priscilla for making a difference

Sharing this story

Social Media Posts

Here are some suggested posts to promote this story.

Instructions: Copy and paste the wording below and download the images attached below to add to the chosen social media post.

Post 1

Engage with this multimedia spoken work project, It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain, which showcases what #HelpsAndHinders social action for the community fighting against racism within the education system @people_of_colour_in_education

Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with Social Action Inquiry Scotland @social_action_scotland

https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

Post 2

Isolation from working on your own hinders the social action of @people_of_colour_in_education

Find out more about what #HelpsAndHinders social action for the community fighting against racism within the education system in this multimedia spoken word project, It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain.

Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with Social Action Inquiry Scotland @social_action_scotland

https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

Post 3

Inspiration from personal stories helps the social action of @people_of_colour_in_education

Find out more about what #HelpsAndHinders social action for the community fighting against racism within the education system in this multimedia spoken word project, It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain.

Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with Social Action Inquiry Scotland @social_action_scotland

https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

X (Twitter) Posts

Here are some suggested posts to promote this story.

Instructions: Copy and paste the wording below and download the images attached below to add to the chosen social media post.

Post 1

It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain, showcases what #HelpsAndHinders social action for People of Colour in Education – who are flighting racism in education.
 
Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with @Soc_Act_Scot
 
https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

Post 2

Isolation from lone working hinders People of Colour in Education’s social action.
 
Find out #HelpsAndHinders in It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain.
 
Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with @Soc_Act_Scot
 
https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

Post 3

Inspiring stories helps People of Colour in Education’s social action.
 
Find out #HelpsAndHinders in It’s Like Looking up to a Mountain.
 
Storytelling and poetry by Omowale Koukpaki and Aurelie Mpiana. In partnership with @Soc_Act_Scot
 
https://socialaction.scot/its-like-looking-up-to-a-mountain/

Image for Social Media Posts

  1. Download the following image.
  2. Add the following to the post, or Alt Text, [image description: A head shot of Priscilla, in a street lined by flats. Below it reads ” what helps and hinders social action? socialaction.scot/stories”. Social Action Inquiry Scotland’s logo is in the bottom right corner, it is a sound wave that turns into a fist moving upwards.]