The Community Table Nakivale began in January 2022 when a small group of artists and art therapists from Art Refuge started meeting via Zoom with a teacher, mental health doctor and artist in Nakivale refugee camp as a result of the group reaching out to Art Refuge for psychosocial training and support.
Located in south Uganda close to the Rwanda border, Nakivale is the oldest refugee settlement in Africa with around 150,000 residents (and growing).
The conversations have focused upon what it might mean to set up The Community Table in the Nakivale context as a way to bring different members of the community together through a creative exchange.
Across borders, cultures, and experiences, we have learnt how to make paper beads in our different settings, which we as a team have taken to Calais snd Folkestone. We have come together each fortnight for exchange of ideas, skills and knowledge, thinking about community and context, displacement and mental health struggles, materials, ideas, and sustainability.
During Refugee Week today our growing online table collectively made bead bracelets together, with artist Joseph leading us on through a traditional pattern which he spoke of as the foundation for many creative processes and possibilities.