Chinwe Osaghae

Chinwe Osaghae was born in June 1965 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She came to the UK to visit her mother after graduating and stayed. She moved to Milton Keynes with her husband in August 2012. She’d known about the green spaces – but not the concrete cows – before she moved. They settled in Oldbrook and she got involved with Christ the Cornerstone and made friends through its ‘Meet & Greet’ after Sunday services. In her first year in Milton Keynes she became an artist with Arts Central, based above the train station. Milton Keynes brought out the artist in her.

She works in a school for young people with severe behavioural needs. She is a community artist. Her current project is sustainably-based rug-making and storytelling. She does storytelling events where audience members come on stage as characters. She also does cultural dance where audience members are tapped by a special fan and come on stage. She’s been teaching dance techniques to young people for Black History Month. She did storytelling and dance at Africa Day. She will be doing Igbo language workshops on African Diaspora Day. She’s done exhibitions in the library. She is working on collaborations.

There is quite a large west African community in Milton Keynes which meets and holds festivals to help the younger generation be part of the tradition. There is a festival in August to celebrate the yam harvest. It involves praise and dance, a blessing by the oldest person and eating yam dishes. It’s easy to source Nigerian and other cultural food in the market. She lived in Swindon during lockdown and it wasn’t so easy to get Nigerian ingredients there.

Her favourite place is the centre because of its points of interactions. She loves the green spaces for their foraging opportunities and walking in nature. She did a storytelling workshop in a nature wood in Simpson.

Her special memory is of having a dream-vision of the minister at Christ the Cornerstone before she first saw him. She’s made many amazing connections there and had many amazing things happen to her in Milton Keynes.

The morning of the interview she’d been teaching young people Igbo, a course that includes drama and shopping in the market. She showed the interview camera an Ayo game, made from a wood carving and Nigerian seeds. She teaches the game to the young people and uses it to teach counting.

She loves the Museum for the artefacts. She did an exhibition at the library where people brought in artefacts and told their story. She would like the new exhibition to do that with cultural artefacts so people can come and gain more understanding.