THE NUMBER of black elderly is set to rocket, yet there are very few ‘memory’ materials which help African and Caribbean’s remember the past.

Step forward publishing director Tayo Idowu. He was asked by a friend whose mother was suffering from dementia if he could produce something that might help her, he was unsure about what to do. 

Then he hit on the idea of creating an adult reminiscence colouring and word search book. 

The book, called African and Caribbean Life: Adult Reminiscence Colouring Book features scenes from the 1950s and 60s which readers are invited to colour in. 

The idea behind the colouring and the word searches contained in the book is to help readers remember the richness of the African and Caribbean cultures and traditions they grew up with before emigrating to Britain. 

Through his company, Ebony Life, Idowu went on to create a series of similar books which recollect the people, fashion and music of swinging 60s Britain which many senior citizens will remember after arriving here during that period. 

Aubyn Graham, Centre Manager for the Southwark based Elim Community Association,  a day centre for African Caribbean elders to whom Idowu donated copies of the book, describes it  as “a brilliant idea”. 

“They will help our users maintain and remember their culture. We’ll definitely be using them at the Centre on a daily basis” he says. 

Angela Sandiford, a carer for her 90-year-old mother is another person who has keenly welcomed the series of books. 

Like most people living with dementia her mother struggles to recall recent memories.

However she can still remember things from earlier in her life. Experts say being able to recreate these memories through initiatives like reminiscence therapy is a key part of coping with the condition.  

Sandiford says Idowu’s books will play an important role in helping her mother to achieve that. 

“Culturally appropriate resources are essential for people from BAME communities because they are more likely to engage with these resources” she says. “They will help them to access earlier memories thus encouraging social interaction which is good for their well-being.”

However resources like this are few and far between at care homes and day centres around the country. 

Figures from the Centre for Policy on Ageing and the Runnymede Trust estimated that there were nearly 25,000 people with dementia from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities in England and Wales in 2011.  

That number is expected to grow to nearly 50,000 by 2026 and over 172,000 people by 2051 marking a nearly seven-fold increase in 40 years. 

This compares to just over a two-fold increase in the numbers of people with dementia across the whole UK population in the same time period. 

However it can be more difficult for people from this group to access the best care.

Currently, people from BAME communities are under-represented in services and are often diagnosed at a later stage of the illness, or not at all. 

Idowu fears that many care homes and other institutions are not geared up to deal with rising numbers of African Caribbean elders because of the lack of culturally specific resources.

“One of the key reasons I was asked to produce these books is that there’s nothing out there for senior citizens going through health challenges like dementia that reflects our culture” says Idowu.  

“They might go to Memory Cafes but the activities they take part in and the resources they use are based on Britain in the blitz or the songs of Vera Lynn. These won’t mean much to a black person who arrived in Britain during the Windrush Generation and after.”

He continues: “We came up with some ideas of the pictures we’d like to include in the book like someone stirring a cooking pot in an African village, or someone washing clothes by the river or playing steel pans in the Caribbean. 

“These kinds of books have been shown to work very well for people with dementia. They accomplish three important  things. 

“Firstly they keep the person with dementia relaxed and engaged. 

“Secondly, they improve hand coordination. 

“Thirdly, and what certainly it’s all about, is that they  trigger familiar and happy memories and conversations. 

“If you’re an elderly Caribbean or African person, and see a picture of someone washing clothes by the river for example that will evoke memories of doing this in the villages and towns they will have grown up in. It’s a conversation that they can start with their  grandchildren for example.”

Idowu is now in negotiation with daycare centres and care homes across the country to stock the reminiscence colouring books. 

“We’ve now expanded into African Caribbean themed jigsaw puzzles” he says. “We’ve just finished one called the African Market and we have another coming out called the Caribbean Front Room. For me this is a fantastic opportunity to help elders in our community.”

Others are taking a different route from Idowu and turning to technology to fill the gap in culturally relevant dementia resources.

Birmingham-based brothers Karl and Junior Wilson created the Culturally Sensitive Reminiscence Therapy tool for senior citizens of African and Caribbean heritage living with dementia as well as their families and carers.

The tool is an app which provides a collection of culturally specific memorable items and downloadable activities which have been built up and populated by the elders and their family members.

It feeds into a private family support social network which allows invited family and friends to provide and share reminiscence stories, music, videos, photos that the person being cared for enjoys.

The resource is also aimed at helping carers, who may not initially have any background information on the person they are trying to care for. 

The brothers, who both have backgrounds in IT and marketing, created the app after their late mother, Pearl, who lived with dementia for 15 years passed away in 2016.

They noticed that many of the Memory Cafes and day centres for senior citizens were using reminiscence resources based on mainstream British culture which was not relevant for people from the black community.

The need for culturally specific resources was even more apparent when they witnessed the problems their mother’s carers faced when interacting with her at the care home she lived at.

Karl said: “They [the carers] didn’t know what to do or how to interact with those that were from other cultures apart from their own. When we visited our mother we became more and more aware that this was largely due to a lack of culturally sensitive resources in the care home.”

Junior added: “The tool is designed to give carers, care workers and family members the tools they need to fully engage, interact and stimulate pleasant memories from the elderly person’s cultural background which will help to improve their well-being, self-esteem, communication and provide a good quality of life.” 

“There is currently a lack of relevant culturally sensitive support for people living with dementia and also those living in isolation which can very much lead to depression. Our app is a solution to at least some of the causes of these problems.”

 A 2013 report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia highlighted the need for high-quality services tailored to support people with dementia from BAME communities. It said these services do exist but too many struggle with little support from the NHS or local government. 

Among the recommendations it made was that the Department of Health should map specific services for people with dementia from BAME communities across England.