Award-winning journalist Nadine White’s debut film, Barrel Children: The Families Windrush Left Behind, a five-year labour of love, premiered in London last June to packed audiences, with scheduled national screenings coming up places like Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester and Nottingham. (1)

The term barrel children was coined by Jamaican academic Dr Claudette Crawford-Brown in the 1990s, and is defined as those who, while waiting in the Caribbean to follow their parents to America and the UK, received food and clothing “in lieu of direct care”. (2) They are also considered the “forgotten” children of Windrush, often left out of celebratory and even “bittersweet” narratives. (3)

But even getting it to the screen was an ordeal, as she squared up against industry gatekeepers declaring the subject “too niche” and that “No one is waiting around to hear about this.” So she engaged in what Spike Lee would call “Guerilla filmmaking”: (4)

“You begin with an idea and you try to push it all the way through to its completion. The trick is to not go insane, go broke, or lose faith along the way… the ones who get their fims done don’t listen when everybody says, “Forget it, you’re waisting your time and money.” The ones who believe, have an unwavering faith in their films and ability and are almost, but not quite, willing to kill to get that ‘bad boy’ made, will prevail-’cuz dat’s what it takes.” (5)

Sis Nadine certainly demonstrated an unwavering faith, driven by the memory of her late father, to ensure that this important yet underaddressed story was told. Indeed, it’s rejection by the mainstream is instructive. In spite of pervasive overtures to “diversity”, the rejection of Afrikan stories is essentially a rejection of Afrikan humanity. Ironically their acceptance doesn’t necessarily indicate recognition of the same and some would even suggest that once the mainstream profiles such narratives they assume ‘ownership’ of it. (6) Nevertheless, as late playwright and academic Paul Carter Harrison suggests our stories (and other forms of collective ritual) help us realize our “fullest human potency” and arguably no mainstream institution is seeking to do that. (7) On the other hand, we might reasonably expect that services that we pay for or subscribe to show us some regard.

The story of the barrel children was often a conjunction of multiple traumas – the separation from parents at an early age; the separation from established carers when leaving the Caribbean; the challenge of adjusting to the new family set up in the the UK (or not as the case may be) and of course the pervasive hostility experienced at a personal and institutional level from British society on arrival. Similar patterns have been identified even when the destination is places like the USA and Canada. (8)

The consequence is a case study in generational trauma, compounded by the lack of public discussion not only in the larger public space but within the community itself. (9) Thus, for Sis. Nadine the documentary is a vehicle for challenging the widespread reitcence (most people declined to be interviewed when approached) and raising the profile of the issue as well the perspectives on it as “a tool to help with the healing within part of our communities, black communities across the UK, but also the diaspora who would benefit really from having open and honest conversations among one another about the effects of separation through the barrel children.” (10)

She is also clear about the wider context in which the phenomenon of barrel children exists:

“It isn’t possible to discuss the Windrush migration and its impact on black families in any meaningful way without delving into the complex and painful legacy of slavery. Centuries of captivity at the hands of colonialists prevented the formation of close black family relationships while also making stable, secure family life very difficult because enslaved Africans, who were bought, sold and viewed as property, lived with the constant possibility of separation through the sale of one or more of their own.” (11)

Consequently, there are many elements to reconcile wrapped up within the barrel children narrative. So it could be argued that by overcoming the reticence and engaging with this issue can help unlock many of the other issues the community currently faces.

(1) Courtney Pochin (22/06/23) ‘My dad was one of 90,000 forgotten ‘barrel children’ of Windrush left behind by parents’. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/my-dad-one-90000-forgotten-30294723; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-history-month-launchbarrel-children-screening-tickets-704462174327; https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/easton-community-centre/fri-13-oct-barrel-children-the-families-windrush-left-behind-96281#e96281; https://www.phoenix.org.uk/whats-on/programme/barrel-children-the-families-windrush-left-behind/; https://ticketing.broadway.org.uk/Ticketing/visSelectTickets.aspx?cinemacode=0000000001&txtSessionId=30660&visLang=1

(2)  Nadine White (27/01/22) Barrel Children: Windrush families and the emotional burden of migration. https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/barrel-children-windrush-black-families-b1958518.html

(3) Pochin. Op. Cit; Aine Fox (22/06/23) ‘Bittersweet’ Windrush 75th anniversary marked. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/caribbean-windsor-itv-news-james-cleverly-amber-rudd-b2361955.html

(4) Nadine White (26/06/22) Making a Windrush documentary showed me how the TV industry fails Black viewers. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/barrel-children-documentary-caribbean-windrush-b2109546.html

(5) Sike Lee (1987) Spike Lee’s Gotta Have It: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking. Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 17

(6) Marimba Ani (2004) Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African Spirituality in the Diaspora. Nkomimfo Publications. p. 36-7. She states: “We also know that coptaion by whites encourages our creative process, since once they take it we don’t really feel that we “own” it anymore.”

(7) Paul Carter Harrison (1972) Drama of Nommo: Black Theatre in the African Continuum. Grove Press. p. xxiii-xxiv. He states: “In order to realize one’s fullest human potency, one must be part of a whole community and participate in the beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and festivals that designate its preferred image of humanity. The product-image should affirm the reality of collectively achieved power, and transcend the vaporous imaginings of DO-YOUR-OWN-THING individualism. The individual who detaches himself from the spirit of the community, sacredly or secularly cuts off the roots of his foundation.”

(8) Sylvia Hui (22/06/23) Exhibition shines light on Caribbean’s ‘barrel children’ left behind by Windrush migrants to UK. https://apnews.com/article/britain-windrush-barrel-children-exhibition-caribbean-gifts-c9d217620f5929ec6015a41d0af37c28; Melissa Noel (27/12/17) Jamaica’s ‘barrel children’ often come up empty with a parent abroad. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/jamaica-s-barrel-children-often-come-empty-parent-abroad-n830636

(9) Sam Delaney(01/07/23) Barrel Children: The kids left behind by Windrush. https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/barrel-children-the-kids-left-behind-by-windrush/

(10) Pochin. Op. Cit.

(11) White. Op. Cit.

we ask the question:

Barrel Children Pt. 2: What is its Legacy?

1) Is there a reluctance to openly discuss this issue? Why?

2) In what ways to our stories help us “realize our fullest human potency”?

3) Should we petition the mainstream or do “Guerilla Filmmaking” to tell our stories?

4) Can engaging in the Barrel Children narrative help address other community issues?

Our Special Guests:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of almost 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

Sis. Nadine White: is an award-winning journalist and film maker and was appointed the UK’s first dedicated race correspondent at The Independent in 2021, having previously worked at The Voice , the Weekly Gleaner UK and the HuffPost.

Sis. Nadine’s work has been shortlisted for awards including, in 2018, the Hugh Cudlipp Student Journalism Prize, an Amnesty Media Award and was the first black reporter to be shortlisted for the Paul Foot Award, together with Emma Youle for their SPAC Nation Expose. Other commendations include a Mischief + MHP 30 To Watch: Young Journalist Award in 2020 for her Covid-19 coverage and the inaugural Paulette Wilson Windrush Award, from the Windrush Caribbean Film Festival in the same year.