Victoria Nyanga-Ndiaye

Victoria Nyanga-Ndiaye is a Black British woman with diverse identities (Zimbabwean born (Southern Africa), Senegalese by marriage (West Africa). She has always been keen to explore and address the complex legacies of colonisation and enslavement, fostering a deeper understanding of historical injustices and their enduring impact on race relations in contemporary society.

Her family has direct lived experiences the complexities of migration in the UK. Some of her family migrated to European lands to study in the early 1970s when the environment was more hostile towards migrants than what is observed presently. She is the founder of Project Esperanza, a migrant support charity based in Edinburgh. The organisation has afforded her a unique insight that enables her to offer and unparralled perspective on the migrant experience in Scotland as her staff deal with issues migrants face on a daily basis under the current climate. – that is why the development of safe healing spaces for migrant communities is of utmost importance to her and why she emphasises on integration activities as part of wellbeing and belonging. She has successfully led and managed Project Esperanza using the diverse experience that she has acquired around migration and systemic racism; and brings many skills from that context. 

As someone who is well travelled, she also holds international perspectives on community and culture that feed into and compliment her practical experience in the local community therefore she evidently has the ability to adapt to a wide range of contexts in her capacity as a community facilitator. The Edinburgh community, in Scotland, also benefits from her unique perspective and experience in her capacity as an anti-racist educator and cultural competence educator who imparts knowledge to organisations seeking to foster an inclusive work culture and environment mainly through offering Critical Friendships.

She is dedicated to exploring and dissecting historical narrative, confronting the nuanced historical narratives, acknowledging the role institutions may have played in perpetuating systemic inequalities and amplifying voices that have been historically marginalised, as well as transforming historical awareness into actionable change. She has been involved in public exhibitions that confront race based narratives. In the beginning of 2023 her organisation worked with Alberta Whittle in creating a quilt for public exhibition as part of a wider exhibition that was exploring racism, police brutality and anti-blackness; and addressing the harm caused by colonialism and the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. The exhibition sat at the National galleries of Scotland Modern One Gallery for one year in 2023.  

She has contributed some of her own insights and knowledge through researching and writing for other public exhibitions about racism in Scotland’s Schools.  Through working this way, she hopes to help foster an environment of open discourse, encouraging conversations that pursue historical truth, bridge historical divides; and promote  justice and reconciliation that will bring individual and community healing. 

As a seasoned writer and poet her work focuses on the Black Experience and explores African women’s issues. She draws from many places for inspiration; firstly from her own upbringing where there is a strong presence of resilient women, secondly from the matriarchal communities in Africa that were before colonisation and slavery – they inspire her sense of pride as a Black and African woman; thirdly from the lived experiences of the women around her within her work context.

She uses her poetry writing craft as an empowerment and wellbeing tool, as well as a therapeutic outlet, to unpack, build emotional resilience and release trauma through workshops with women in her community. Her creative practice has evolved over almost two decades and she uses it to positively impact women; inspire change and to lead creatively.

Her recognition as a poet came as a direct result of the unprecedented success of her poem ‘Unpolished and Black’. Her work appeared in PENning Magazine in 2016 and in the Scottish PEN anthology to mark their 90th anniversary celebration in 2017. She has been invited to read ‘Unpolished and Black’ at the Edinburgh Book Festival severally and at Solas Festival also in 2017. She is always humbled that her work has been published alongside the work of some leading names from Scotland’s literary community. 

Victoria is a womanist theologian. Her educational background not only underscores her commitment to driving transformational change, but equips her with analytical and strategic thinking. She is a strong community service professional with a demonstrated record of working in non-profit organisation, development and management.

She has proven leadership skills that have been demonstrated by her ability to take her own initiative, make informed decisions and drive projects to successful outcomes. Over time, she has managed to create great relationships with several organisations in Edinburgh, and has demonstrated the importance of working with integrity and building trusting supportive relationships across partnerships to achieve transformative change. 

She is skilled in recruitment, staffing management and coordination, mentoring staff, volunteers, placement students and trustees, proposal writing, report writing, crisis intervention and crisis management skills and negotiation skills. 

Victoria is also an experienced panellist, mentor, mental health first aider and she enjoys volunteering and travelling.  She empowers African artisans through her Scottish based social enterprise Machuma Tribal Arts and Crafts. She is passionate about wellbeing, rest and driving change creatively.

She is a military wife who lives between Scotland and Senegal with her husband and three daughters. 

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