Sankofa on BBC local news

BBC



It was a very cold morning when the BBC came to Sankofa looking to report on the vandalism to the project.
The most recent event in the years' catalogue of threats and vandalism, two weekends ago now, was when a group of ten supporters of the project came together to start the final phase of moving out of the space that we had occupied for two and a half years. This was to be the final sorting of recycling, rubbish, and usuable goods to go into storage until we found a new base. A man walked into the space and asked for me by name. He was very aggresive and stood too close to feel safe. After a couple of threatening statements he responded to my requests that he back away. However, in doing so he had challenged all the witnesses to fight him, and had pushed one person so hard that he fell roughly across the room. The assailent then started to leave the office but walked towards someone just coming from our removal van. Everyone was keen to protect this person but very soon the group were being assaulted, pushed, headbutted in broad daylight on a quiet Sunday morning. The police were called but arrived after the assailant had left.

The BBC had been interested in whether the police were acting quickly enough or with a serious intention to find out who was responsible.

On the day of the filmed interview, this was the first opportunity that some of the clients of Sankofa had seen the extent of the damage and the space almost cleared.People became very upset when they saw that the place had been cleared. They were shocked and concerned about where the new office would be. Their concern was pronounced. No-one can understand why Sankofa Foundation has been targetted in this way.

The BBC arrived and began the process of deciding who or what they wanted to film. At first their focus was on the vandalism. As we moved into the room in which the hot water tank had been stolen the floor didnt feel too great.The flooring is MDF and, of course, MDF doesnt do well in damp conditions. The water from the flooding had made the floor very spongy in parts. The television journalist asked me to explain to some of the visitors to Sankofa exactly what damage had been caused over the period since January this year. We had just finished filming this when someone from the Local Authority came and questioned why the BBC were filming in the building. The LA chap seemed bemused - he had come from the Court where procedings had taken place to evict tenants of the squat and the LA seemed to have no idea that the building had been delivering a trauma service from the building for two and a half years. The LA expects squatted premises to be occupied by sterotpical figures that are usually fitting some derrogatory image in their mind. They are not expecting to find an unfunded service to vulnerable people by professional qualified and ethical practitioners.



After the BBC had chatted to the Local Authority the journalist felt that he could not proceed with the original story in case this caused problems for their legal department. As reporters simply report it is difficult to see why this would be a problem, however, it was very clear that the BBC had come up against something that they had not planned for - yet their reasons for coming were partly to do with what had been openly discussed on the Indymedia pages.



Nonetheless there did seem to be some commitment to covering the story, and the story changed shape after I was overheard being questioned about whether I had actually been to Kurdistan this year. Generally I am asked by people from the region who are not sure to trust the rumour of my trip, and when they begin to believe it is true, cannot believe that I made the trip alone.



So the story became neatly put together as a trauma therapist, delivering an unfunded service from a squat which has been subjected to ongoing vandalism, who went to Kurdistan.


It was a very cold day and we were all shivering by the time the filming had finished, and I was surprised and grateful to the people who have used the service at Sankofa, who turned up to share their thoughts.

I didn't see the broadcasts, but was even more surprised when the BBC contacted me mid afternoon the following day to say that someone had come forward to offer us a place to continue the work. This was such a sudden and unexpected turn. The Sankofa Board will be investigating this over the next few days. Just as exciting, someone has come forward to offer the next four months of their time to investigate funding on our behalf.