MEET GULABO

The Blossom Group: Why Colonial History Must Be Part of the National Curriculum

At The Blossom Group, we work with communities from every part of the world. Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Somalis, Eritreans, Syrians, Afghans, Moroccans, Algerians, Jamaicans, Barbadians, Brazilians, Colombians, Turkish families, Chinese elders, Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, Latin Americans, and long-established East Londoners all share our spaces. Our mission is simple: help people connect across cultures in a way that feels natural, warm, and human.

One of the strongest examples of our work is the Togetherness Vilages. It is not just a café. It is one of the most innovative integration projects anywhere in the UK. The moment you step inside, you hear stories mixing with spices, accents flowing into each other, and people who once felt invisible suddenly feeling recognised. Somali coffee brews next to Pakistani chai. A Jamaican grandmother swaps recipes with a Bangladeshi mum. A Polish neighbour learns how to wrap Moroccan msemen. Brazilian and Indian teens laugh over street food flavours that somehow make sense together.

Food breaks down fear. Stories build trust. And shared space creates belonging.

But for true understanding, something deeper is needed. Something our current education system often avoids.

This is why we believe colonial history must be part of the national curriculum, not as an optional module, not as a footnote, but as a core subject.

Because every community in our café carries history long before they walk through the door.

Colonialism shaped the movement of Indian and Pakistani families.
It shaped the journeys of Caribbean elders who arrived on the Windrush.
It shaped the borders and conflicts that pushed Syrians, Afghans, and Palestinians into new homes.
It shaped language, identity, and opportunity for Nigerians, Ghanaians, Somalis, and Kenyans.
It shaped the cultural blending and resistance of Latin America.
It shaped trade routes, labour patterns, and global inequalities that still echo today.

When schools teach history without its colonial chapters, students grow up with half the truth. They learn about kings, queens, inventions, and wars, but not about the power systems that built the modern world. They meet classmates from every continent but lack the context to understand why so many cultures intersect here in Britain.

This missing knowledge shows up in our work. Adults often tell us they reached their twenties or thirties before discovering how colonisation shaped their own family stories. That gap limits empathy, confidence, and identity.

Teaching colonial history is not about blame. It is about clarity.
It is about giving young people a full picture of the past so they can navigate the present with understanding instead of confusion.
It prepares them to engage with a diverse society respectfully and intelligently.
It builds the foundation for real integration and prevents stereotypes from taking the place of knowledge.

At the Togetherness Café, we weave these lessons into conversations every day. When a Somali elder shares what her village looked like before displacement, when a Caribbean elder explains why her parents came to Britain, when a Pakistani grandfather speaks about Partition, or when a Moroccan youth tells his story of language and identity, people begin to see each other not as strangers but as connected chapters in a larger story.

This is the kind of learning the national curriculum should support.
This is how a country becomes more understanding and more united.
This is how we build communities that thrive.

The Blossom Group will continue doing this work through food, storytelling, and shared spaces. But schools must meet us halfway.
A nation cannot understand its present until it teaches its past honestly.
Colonial history belongs in every classroom, because it lives in every community.

We are not just creating a café.
We are creating a blueprint for connection.
And honest history is the foundation that holds it all together.

Rafi Saab on Green Street — A Night We Will Never Forget

Some voices don't sing to you. They sit next to you. They remember your mother, your father, your first heartbreak, your first joy. That is what Mohammed Rafi Saab's voice has always done — and that is exactly what filled the room when Blossom Group brought his music back to Newham for South Asian Heritage Month.

Who was Rafi Saab?

Mohammed Rafi (1924–1980) is one of the greatest playback singers the Indian subcontinent has ever known. Over 25,000 songs. Six Filmfare Awards. A Padma Shri. Ghazals, bhajans, qawwalis, patriotic anthems, love songs — he sang them all, in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati and more, because music was the one thing he refused to let borders divide. When he passed away in 1980, India declared two days of national mourning. That is the kind of love we're still carrying.

And his grandson sang for us

At East Ham Town Hall, we were honoured to welcome Rizwan Rafi Saab — Mohammed Rafi's eldest grandson. And he didn't just sit with us. He sang for us. In his grandfather's own borough, in front of his grandfather's own people, Rizwan Bhai lifted his voice and gave us a moment none of us will ever forget. Not a guest performance. A gift. From family to family. The Rafi family have long had roots in London, and that evening it showed. He didn't come as a guest from far away. He came home.

A century of community — right here on Green Street

Then we did something we had never done before. We took the Rafi programme out of the hall and onto the street, to Summer Nights in Queen's Square on Green Street. First time. Rafi Saab's voice ringing out into the warm summer air, in the very square the community walks through every single day.

Because here is the truth: for over a hundred years, people from every corner of the world have come to Newham and made it beautiful. Jewish families at Queen's Market in the early 1900s. Caribbean families after the war. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali, Tamil, African, Arab, Eastern European families since. Nobody handed Green Street to Newham. The communities built it — with their own hands, their own savings, their own late nights. They nourished this soil, and something magical grew.

Newham's real music map — and why Green Street belongs on it

Newham has a rich tapestry of music and art that too often gets overlooked. Bhangra dhols from Punjabi weddings. Bengali baul songs drifting from front rooms. Somali oud. Tamil devotional music. Nigerian afrobeats. Jamaican lovers rock. Arabic qasidas. Gujarati garba. Sylheti folk songs. Grime born on these very streets. Every country. Every community. Every genre. All of it living side by side, sometimes on the same block, sometimes in the same family.

And yet Green Street is so often left off the map. The cultural conversation about London stops in Shoreditch, or Southbank, or Camden — and forgets that some of the richest music-making in this city happens right here, in the shops, the community halls, the back gardens, the mosques, the mandirs, the gurdwaras, and yes, in Queen's Square.

That is where Blossom Group plays our part. We bring music, arts and togetherness to the diverse communities of Newham — and especially to the ones who are too often forgotten, marginalised, or told their culture is not "mainstream" enough. Elders sitting alone. Families new to this country. Communities who rarely see themselves reflected on a stage. They belong on the map. Their music belongs on the map. And we will keep making sure of it.

What Queen's Square gave back

Aunties stopped mid-shop and mouthed every word. Uncles wiped their eyes. Young people finally understood why nani won't let anyone change the radio. Neighbours from every background — African, Caribbean, White British, Arab, South Asian, Eastern European — stopped, stayed, clapped, danced. Nobody needed a translation. The music did the translating.

That is the achievement. Not the numbers. Not the applause. The togetherness.

Thank you to Newham South Asian Heritage Month, to East Ham Town Hall and Queen's Square for opening their doors and pavements, and to Rizwan Rafi Saab for singing for us, sitting with us, and honouring us with his presence.

Rafi Saab, we listened. We remembered. We loved you back — right there on Green Street, exactly where you belong.

🌸 Blossom Group — powered by chai, community, and songs that refuse to be forgotten.

Thank you to Newham South Asian Heritage Month, to East Ham Town Hall and Queen's Square for opening their doors and pavements, and to Rizwan Rafi Saab for honouring us with his presence.

Rafi Saab, we listened. We remembered. We loved you back — right there on Green Street, exactly where you belong.

🌸 Blossom Group — powered by chai, community, and songs that refuse to be forgotten.

The Cinemas We Lost — And The Ones We Are Fighting To Bring Back