National Museums Liverpool’s dementia awareness programme has expanded its dementia-focussed app with content specifically for the local Yemeni community.
The app, My House of Memories, includes objects and music to elicit deeply held memories that can “help people living with dementia to create personal connections with family, friends and caregivers”.
‘Memories of Yemen’, the latest addition to the app, has been co-created with organisations such as Liverpool Arabic Centre, Al-Taiseer Mosque and the Al-Ghazali Centre, as well as with support from the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre, the latest addition to the My House of Memories app.
It is specifically designed for those living with dementia within the Yemeni community to connect with their heritage through artefacts, stories, traditions and images collated by others within the community.
The Memories of Yemen app content includes objects from daily life on themes such as cooking, entertainment, rural life, clothing and jewellery. Examples include a jambiya – a curved dagger traditionally worn for ceremonial purposes – and a taboon, a clay oven used to make fresh bread.
Carol Rogers, Director of House of Memories, said the project is “about trying to keep people connected with families.”
“It’s a UK first, with potential to be adapted to more communities – it’s an integral part of our work at House of Memories to be in our city’s neighbourhoods, powerfully connected within communities.”
The project has been supported through funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund.
It will be supported by collections access and research from The Fashion Museum Bath and other online UK museum Yemeni collections.
