Moira: So Black and CUTE started off as a girls group, an African girls group. I started having thoughts about this in 2013, when I had my daughter. It was such a reality check actually, because I had worked in schools and I noticed that African girls were isolated, African girls were a bit timid. They were not really living a wholesome life or experiencing childhood happily and showing off, you know, their talents or doing things that they seemed to like. They were hidden, they were invisible. So I thought in 2013, when I had my daughter, I realised that she is going to be a part of that. And I had to make a difference. So although it took me five years to come to fruition of this whole dream, in 2018, my friend and I decided to start that group. We wanted to give the girls a solid foundation of being a black woman, living in the diaspora.

Faith: Hi, my name is Faith Mutanga. We started this group with Moira, just seeing how the girls needed someone to guide them, like in a way that we would want them to go. And me, my field I’m into mental health and with Moira being a teacher, so I think the combination was really good then.

Sisonke: Empowering young black girls in the mining towns of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to embrace their heritage and their looks, might have seemed an impossible idea when they started out, but four years on and the benefits are undeniable. Courageous, unstoppable, tenacious, earnest is what the CUTE in Black and CUTE stands for. They are values that help to ease the pressures of growing up in an environment where ‘belonging’ is often equated with ‘looking like everyone else’.

Tinodaishe: My name is Tinodaishe Mudzimwa and I am nine and a half.

Rita: And how long have you been coming to this club?

Tinodaishe: Maybe like two years.

Rita: Why do you like coming?

Tinodaishe: Because it helps inspire people from different country, places, to be proud of themselves and where they come from. And don’t think about what other people think is going to hurt.

Rita: Why is that important?

Tinodaishe: Because then some people feel like they don’t want to go to school and the bad comments make them feel like really upset and they’ll think that their comments are actually true.

Anna: My name is Anna Mutanga Matandandyi and I’m 10 years old.

Rita: So can you tell me why you like coming to this club?

Anna: It helps me like knowing what to say when I like I feel like I’m different to other people. And it helps me to like, learn that I’m the colour of my skin is like good. And it helps me to love myself and learn more things about my culture.

Sisonke: For many young girls from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, feeling invisible due to a lack of relatable role models is part and parcel of growing up in communities where you are labelled a ‘minority’. But that is not the only issue. It can be difficult for migrant parents navigating the complex process of raising children in a new country. It’s part of the reason that Black and CUTE also welcomes parents, in particular mothers, for whom the weekly get-togethers provide a much needed support network.

Annie: My name is Annie Grace Chitendern Mahanhiwa. I’ve been part of this group by coming in, bringing in my kids for different reasons. First of all, I noticed that it’s a group that is trying to maintain and teach our culture to our children. And there’s a lot of other things that they learn like the language, and it has become a group where our kids actually push us to bring them. Cause they it’s that time when they are not doing schoolwork, when they are not doing any other business, except of playing and having fun with each other and teaching each other how to speak our native languages and so on. So our kids actually are pushing us to bring them here. It’s not us bringing them, just bringing them now, it’s them wanting to come because they look forward to a Sunday like this and play and play.

Sisonke: The weekly group meetings are packed with fun and engaging activities that place an emphasis on teamwork, self-confidence, cultural pride, as well as a sense of belonging and contributing to the local community.

Nokutenda: My name is Nokutenda Makanhiwa. I’m 15 years old and I’ve been coming to this group since late 2018. This group is important to me because it brings everyone together. Since I started coming to this group, I’ve gained more friends and I now know more values of, or what it is to be black.

Tanaka: My name is Tanaka Maponde. I’m 15 years old and I’ve been coming to this group since 2018. What’s fun about the group is you get to like, be with other people that you’re not normally around. And you get to like, learn more about each other, more about yourself, your culture, where you come from and basically, yeah. What it means to be black.

Tadiwa: My name Tadiwa Mutanga. I am 15 years old. I started coming to this group late 2018. The thing that I love about this group is that you’re able to just talk about anything. It’s a very friendly group where you can just have a laugh or just have a break from school or from social media or something like that. Because we’re mostly around Caucasian people, so you’re not able to relate to people or ask them about things about your hair or like skin products, and stuff like that. So it’s nice to be around people that you look like.

Trish: My name is Trish Maponde. I’m 11 years old. I came to this group in 2018. I came in this group because it brings a black community together and to just talk about stuff and like I made more friends coming here. Like it’s just it made me like, understand that being like, being different is okay. Like you don’t have to be like everyone else. The more we’re here, the more confident we become. We feel more comfortable talking about things within this group. And then I’d say that it makes it easier for us, for when we go back to school and stuff like that. We’re able to apply the skills we learned in here in the group into our day-to-day lives. And like, we’re able to like stand up for ourselves when we feel uncomfortable and things like that.

Sisonke: And it’s providing this space to be able to share everyday experiences that has really allowed the group to grow, for the kids as well as the parents.

Mercy: I’m Mercy Mayombo. I bring my kids here. I started bringing them when the group started. And I think when the group started, it was more like pushing the kids so they can come and meet other kids and discuss their issues and all, but it was also a time for me as a parent to integrate with other parents. And it was more of it was helping to me because during that time I was a bit low. So coming here, it was more like, it’s my time to go talk to other ladies and it made me feel better. So from then I just keep coming. We help kids together.

I also found it quite therapeutic for myself. Like others were saying, it’s a time where we share jokes. We don’t, at times, we don’t talk anything sensible. It will be just funny things that we talk about and laughter and laughter and laughter. And it’s something that I can’t have at home by myself, even with my husband, I can’t have that kind of laughter, it’s that laughter that I can only get from these ladies. When we talk about anything, anything. Womanhood, our husbands, our cooking, our backgrounds, and we sort of come from almost similar backgrounds. So we are so connected and we find, we find it really worthy being here and being part of the group.

Mrs Masengi: My name is Mrs Masengi. I’m very new in Kalgoorlie. I was in New South Wales for 15 years and we decided to move here because Sydney is getting expensive and very, very hard to work and look after the kids and know that you have to work, work, work, work, and no time with kids. And I believe that it takes a village to raise kids. That’s why, as soon as I came here, I knew Annie Grace in Sydney before, so when, as soon as I came here, I went to her house and I asked her how I can connect with other Africans, with other Zimbabweans and she told me about this group and I’m always keen to get my kids, to learn our language, to learn our African culture and everything. It is very important to know their roots, to know where they come, where their parents come from. I know they always say, “Oh, I’m Australian, but my parents come from Africa, we come from Zimbabwe.” But it’s very important because we still have our parents back there. We still have our uncles and sisters and brothers and their cousins are all in Zimbabwe. And my parents don’t speak English. So it will be beneficial for them to speak Shona. When they go to Zimbabwe, they can speak to their grandparents in, in our language. So it is very important for them to have a background of where they come from. Even though they’re Australians, even though they’re here, they live here, but we still want them to know where we come from and how important it is to maintain that and to know their background.

Sisonke: This question of identity, cultural and country affiliation is one that most migrants and their children juggle everyday.

Interviewee: I would really say that I’m both, because I can’t really just say I’m Australian because that doesn’t, cause I’m basically like African, but like I’m in Australia. So if I was to say I was in I was in and then like, it just wouldn’t make any sense. So I basically, because I’m just both cause yeah.

Interviewee: I’d say that I’m both because I claim both at the same time, like sometimes I’m more connected to my Zimbabwe side and then sometimes I’m more connected to my Australian side. So basically I’d say I’m from Zimbabwe, but I live in Australia. It just honestly depends on the situation. Cause sometimes I do have times I’m like, oh yeah, I’m Australian. But then sometimes I’m like, yeah, I’m Zimbabwean, like sometimes I just mix both. But most of the time I say I’m Zimbabwean, but I’m living in Australia.

Moira: We want them to embrace their, you know, African Australianness. They can’t separate, we can’t separate that actually. They’re coming from African homes where I think, you know, each child should be empowered to love their identity in their African heritage, for them to be able to express themselves freely and happily as in adult out there. So if they don’t have much knowledge of what in African is, really their adulthood is not going to be as successful because they will have to go back and look, trace those, you know, trace back to see what they missed out as an African. I have a number of boys and girls who come and approach me to teach them Shona. And now they’re in their twenties, “Teach me proper Shona. I can’t even speak.” So they’re in uni and their friends, Australians included, are asking, “how come you’re African and you don’t speak an African language?” So we want to avoid that, in our African group, we are trying, we have some language lessons as well, where we try and equip them with their language, be proud of their heritage and connect them to their roots and embrace their Africanness and be a proud African Australian.

Sisonke: Courageous, unstoppable, tenacious and earnest. This is the next generation of Africans in Kalgoorlie.

This podcast was produced by the Centre for Stories with funding from Lotterywest Centre for Stories is an organisation based on Whadjuk Noongar Western Australia. It believes in storytelling as a way to build more inclusive communities. Head to centreforstories.com to listen to more stories or to make a tax-deductible donation. Special thanks to our storyteller for this episode, Moira and everyone from Black and CUTE, and to our production team, executive producer Kara Jensen McKinnon, audio engineer Mason Vellios, scripting interviewing and production by Rita Saggar.