The Organic Afro community is a safe space where people who are blessed with Afro, curly and coily hair can embark on a true holistic approach to hair care guided by the wonderful Natalya. As the founder of this space however, Natalya has gone through some criticism by its own members, mainly due to colourism. In this episode we discuss the issue of colourism and how it is creating division in the black community.

Irene is the founder of Genesis Orphancare Foundation, an organisation whose mission is to look after orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania. She is currently living in Dar es salam were along with the government and other ngos, she working to ensure that unprivileged children have access to education and better opportunities.

Check out the episode to find out more about her project.

Coloniality vs Colonisation, do you know the difference ?

This week we discuss the importance of understanding what colonial power means in our fight against colonialism. To understand what decolonisation is and to disrupt colonialism, one must truly understand what The "coloniality of power" refers to.

Our guest Fez, is a student at Sussex university, currently doing her phd in education and exploring decolonisation in education.

What does healing mean to you ? Join us as we discuss what healing means to us in this truly intimate episode. This week’s special guest is my sister, and we discuss what healing is for us as the first generation of children being born in Europe, daughters of immigrants, and as black women.

This week we continue our discussion with Alpha and education and decolonising. We discuss how Western education cannot ask and answer fundamental questions about Africa. And why Western education cannot be the basis for developing Africa, supporting african youth and for reconstructing african identity. It’s time Africa stops waiting on Europe and America to plan for its future.

In this episode we discuss why western education needs to be decolonised, and why education needs to construct new narratives that overcome Eurocentric views. We explore the definition of decolonisation and what that means in an African context. How can Africans also support the work of decolonising education, and why their role is essential. Decolonisation is ‘the eradication of colonialist epistemologies and social practices in order to centralise Africa's own’ but it is also much more than this.

Meet Hannah, the founder of The girl advocacy development network, based in Free town, Sierra Leone. Hannah has been doing an amazing job at working towards improving the social economic well being of girls and young women through her project, as well as advocating on issues affecting them. The girl advocacy development network provides training and mentoring to young girls in their community to help them break the barriers they might face in reaching their full potential. They also work in raising awareness amongst young boys by teaching them the importance of respecting girls through school clubs. In this episode, she tells us more about their mission and vision for the future.

Summary of my trip in Paris where I met with asylum seekers that I was supporting back in Greece. From Greece to France their situation is not better, the struggle is just different. And they are still waiting for papers and for a better living situation. In this episode I discuss everything I have seen in my trip, from people sleeping in the streets to parks being filled with forced migrants to police brutality.

Meet Estelle, the co founder of Yoga and Sport with Refugees. Born in October 2017 on the island of Lesvos, Greece, in response to the massive need for healthy safe spaces, a sense of community and a place to work on mental and physical health in a crisis context. Yoga and sport with refugees aim to bring people together and foster hope.

This is the official first episode of COnversation with Ophelie Podcast. This is an intro episode where I discuss what inspired me to create this podcast. From my activism in Greece to me wanted to create a safe space and fighting for liberation of black people, I share about how Conversation with Ophelie all started. I talk about my previous podcast The unheard refugee voices and the unheard project, focusing on supporting and advocating for black forced migrants. Conversation with Ophelie is a podcast where we explore topics ranging from social justice, culture, politics and news through deep conversation with activists, humanitarians, and everyday people trying to making a difference