Mural celebrating pioneering African women in healthcare unveiled
Six pioneering African women have been celebrated for their contribution to healthcare with a new mural.
The artwork has been unveiled by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, on the outside of the recently refurbished Nuffield Theatre Suite at Guy’s Hospital, and represents a range of eras from current staff to historical health workers.
Metian Parsanka, an advanced clinical practitioner and highly specialist occupational therapist in the emergency department (A&E) at St Thomas’ Hospital, features in the artwork.
She was born in Kenya in a small village near Kilimanjaro, and came to the UK at 14 years old.
Ms Parsanka said: “I am honoured to be included in such a vibrant display of African women in British healthcare, highlighting the great work delivered by a diverse multicultural workforce.
“I am surprised, privileged and happy to be able to represent my culture and profession amongst such accomplished women.”
Curated by the Young Historians Project – a non-profit organisation formed by young people of African and Caribbean descent – the mural is part of a series of commemorative works created with heritage interpreter and artist, Dr Michele Curtis.
Kaitlene Koranteng, project manager at the Young Historians Project, said: “The achievements of African women, both in present day and historically, are under acknowledged.
“This mural is the result of research, listening and learning that history. I hope it will serve to teach others and allow people to stop, learn and dig deeper.”
The mural’s colourful background has been made from medicinal plants located on the African continent, including the mangrove forests.
Other women featured in the artwork include Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, born in 1910 in Lagos, Nigeria. Ms Pratt trained as a nurse at the Nightingale School at St Thomas’ Hospital from 1946 to 1950 and is often dubbed the Florence Nightingale of Nigeria due to her influence shaping nursing in Nigeria.
Matilda Clerk, born in 1916 in Larteh, Gold Coast – present day Ghana – has also been commemorated. She was the first Ghanaian woman in any field to be granted a scholarship abroad to study medicine at Edinburgh University and later became the first Ghanaian woman to earn a post-graduate diploma.
Other featured women include Blanche La Guma, born in 1927 in Athlone, South Africa, who pursued activism against the Apartheid regime and worked as a midwife in London throughout the 1960s, Dr Irene Ighodaro, born in 1916 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, who became the first West African-born female doctor in Britain, and Dzagbele Matilda Asante, born in Ghana in 1927, who trained as a nurse at Barnet Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital in Harlesden.
Artist Dr Curtis said: “It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with the Young Historians Project and the Trust on a subject so dear to my heart. I’m excited to see this project continue to grow from strength to strength.”
Pictured top: Metian Parsanka stands next to the new mural with a painting of herself (left) and Kofoworola Abeni Pratt (right) (Picture: Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust)