Hello!

My name is Tinashe Verhaeghe and I am a Zimbabwean who has been living in Exeter for the last 12 years. I am an alumnus of the University of Exeter and have been working here for the best part of my career. I am currently the Project Manager on a Global Challenges Research Fund funded project that I love called Imagining Futures. I have a passion for social justice that has seen me active in the conversation around race and racism in the University of Exeter. I was one of the founders of the BME Staff, Students and Allies Network at the University and have proudly started initiatives such as the Let’s Talk series and the Anti-racist Exe Book Club. When the project manager role came up, I was thrilled as my personal values aligned closely with those of the project. The project team believes that practising egalitarian archiving now is key in creating an inclusive and equitable future. We see it in conversations around the absence of adequate teaching on colonialism and slavery in our schools - a lack of different perspectives in how stories have been recorded and are told has led to a callousness and ignorance affecting the inclusivity of our society. I am meeting incredible people with a passion for equality and inclusivity from various professional backgrounds and a common theme, I find, is a passion for telling the stories of people who have been historically silenced.

I have come across some incredible practitioners in the short time I have been part of the project and I am thrilled to introduce some of them to you here. I also invite you to visit the digital exhibition, THROUGH THE EYES OF SURVIVORS OF APARTHEID: Life despite pain and suffering which features the work of some of the individuals below.