Past Events
MEWN Cymru Commemorates the Abolition of the Trans – Atlantic Slave Trade
28th September 2007
Cardiff’s In Fusion Restaurant played host to MEWN Cymru’s luncheon held to commemorate the Bi-centennial Anniversary of the Abolition of Britain’s Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The afternoon was an opportunity to celebrate key achievements made by Black Women in Wales across various fields whose work span race and gender equality as well education, health and community development. It was also an opportunity to reflect on past and present contributions to the quest for social justice and equality in Wales and to learn about the history of the world’s first truly multi-cultural community – Tiger Bay.
Leanne Rahman BME Communities Officer for MEWN Cymru welcomed the delegates to the Bay’s award winning In Fusion Restaurant and Vernester Cyril OBE Chair of MEWN Cymru gave the opening speech commenting:
"It gives me so much pleasure to see such a diverse audience, fantastic speakers Gaynor and Valerie and not forgetting our men who have taking the time to be with us today. We as a community must not forget our history and the part that slavery played in bringing us together. We must celebrate our achievements that have managed to break through many glass ceilings but continue the struggle as there is no one else to do this for us. I’d like to thank Leanne for putting together such a well organized event."
Guest speakers included Valerie Romaine – Freelance Educationalist who was born and bread in Butetown, now working in London developing parent’s educational partnership programmes, Gaynor Legall – Director of Public sector Development at the Prince’s Trust also born and bread in Butetown whose main focus is around the role of women in society, the obstacles they face and how they can be overcome and Vernester Cyril OBE – Chair of MEWN Cymru from the Caribbean island of St Lucia; a tireless worker in the voluntary sector whose passion lies with race equality and disability.
The 50 plus delegates who attended the event were captivated by empowering and thought provoking speeches, feasted on tantalizing African and Caribbean cuisine, enjoyed smooth African rhythms and were invited to purchase local literature and African art; and finally to enjoy the screening of award winning documentary feature film ‘Sister’s in Law’ by Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto. One delegate commended the event and said:
“It was really great to see so many ladies of Caribbean origin who have brought so much hope to Cardiff and beyond.”
MEWN Cymru would like to thank In Fusion Restaurant for all of their hard work and support, the guest speakers, delegates, caterers, stall holders and all the staff who dedicated their time and effort to ensure such an uplifting and inspiring occasion!
International Women’s Day
8th March 2007
MEWN Cymru’s International Women’s Day event was an enjoyable & interesting day. The event was held in the centre of Cardiff in St.David’s Hall. We had an attendance of 90 women, mainly from Cardiff and some from Newport.
Hilary Hendy, Interim Director of MEWN Cymru, made a speech about the importance of International Women’s Day and why this day is celebrated all over the world. The speech highlighted the trials and tribulations of women both past and present.
Jane Hutt, the Minister for Assembly Business, Equalities and Children spoke about the inequalities faced by women all over the world and the Minister touched upon such topics as honour killing, Female Genital Mutilation & forced marriages.
Another speech was made by Aliya Mohammed about the Big Lottery funded Changing Lifestyles Project which is one of the 15 Mentro Allan Projects across Wales. Changing Lifestyles began on 1st March 2007 and the project aims to increase physical activity in the outdoors for sedentary BME men and women aged 18-64 in Cardiff & the Vale of Glamorgan.
The next speaker was Sue Hall who is a Yoga Instructor. She talked about the benefits of good exercise and how this has personally changed her own life. Sue did some exercises and got the audience to join in!
We had a troupe of Bollywood Dancers who encouraged some of the ladies in the audience to get up on stage and do a few moves with them.
The event ended with a speech from the chair of MEWN Cymru, Vernesta Cyril OBE. Vernesta won the Midwife of the Year Award 2006 and you could tell by her speech which reflected on the amount of difficult child labours she had witnessed in women who were physically inactive.
It was an enjoyable event which had lots of good food to satisfy everyone.
Black History Month
Black History Month is celebrated every October in Britain. Black History Month aims to promote knowledge of black history and to circulate information on positive black contributions to British History.
MEWN Cymru organised two successful events in October to celebrate Black History Month.
The first event was held at The Butetown History and Arts Centre and was in conjunction with The National Trust Wales. The objective of this event was to not only celebrate Black History Month but to show that History Matters and that black history is important to the history of Wales. As part of our wish to involve as many different people and organisations as possible in Wales we have produced multicultural posters and postcards in a variety of languages used in Wales as well as Welsh and English. These were available at the ‘History Matters to everyone’ event held in Cardiff and have been mailed out to all the delegates that attended including additional organisations that work with BME communities in Wales.
Throughout the event Judy Ling Wong OBE, Director of Black Environment Network (BEN) and Vernesta Cyril OBE, chair of MEWN Cymru were kind enough to provide speeches.
The second Black History Month event was held at The Senedd Building, National Assembly For Wales. Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Assembly Business, Equalities and Children was kind enough to make a speech on the day.
The publication materials including posters and postcards were designed with various languages used in Wales as well as English and Welsh to celebrate Black History Month in a diverse manner.
International Women’s Day
16th March 2006
International Women's Day (8th March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men.
For the women of the world, the Day's symbolism has a wider meaning: It is an occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change.
When the United Nations Charter was written 50 years ago, it included a farsighted promise of equality for women and men. But even now, more than half a century later, we see that women's wisdom and talents have not yet been fully given the appropriate significance and impact. Despite the role of women in promoting peace and progress much remains to be done to implement various international agreements and to ensure that women are seen as equal partners. The potential contribution of women to peace and security remains severely under-valued.
The participation of women at senior levels of leadership nationally and internationally has been limited for far too long. Women have to definitely play a more important role where plans and decisions in matters of security and conflict management are made.
In recognition with this year’s theme “Women in public Life” MEWN Cymru aimed to plan and host an event that would reflect and adopt this theme in away that would recognize and acknowledge the fact that women are still excluded from the decision-making processes that immediately affect their lives.
In the spirit of partnership and joint work, the event was jointly held and organised by MEWN Cymru and the BBC Wales. The BBC kindly contributed by providing venue, guests catering, technical support and film making and editing. MEWN Cymru would like to sincerely thank the BBC Wales for supporting this event, without their invaluable contribution the day would not have been so special and memorable.
MEWN Cymru supported this event by taking responsibility of inviting and confirming the list of guests, recruiting some of the speakers, provision of transport from three different locations (Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea), arranging for the entertainment and the photography.
Women representing many voluntary organisations, Public Sector and from communities across Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Neath, Camarthen, Port Talbot and Aberdare gathered together on March 16th to celebrate the BME women’s achievements and their invaluable contribution to the Welsh society.
The day was open to all women and was well attended by about 150 women representing many BME community groups. Many voluntary organisations were also represented at the event.
The audience were entertained by a variety of dance and music performances including dances from the African Community Centre Dancers and a traditional belly dancer.
The attendances have been fortunate enough to have a chance to listen to the welcoming speech given by Clare Hudson, Head of English Programme- BBC Wales. “It is really a wonderful occasion to meet all of you today. International Women’s Day all over the World gives women a chance to acknowledge what has been achieved rather than stuck and get too depressed about some of the problems that facing women” she said.
12 women from different backgrounds gave presentations about their experiences and how they managed to achieve their goals.
The richness and the aspiration of the contribution of those women could only be reflected when knowing and acknowledging that each has got a unique and exceptional experience.
All speakers shared a common identity that is being a BME woman, and have certainly faced tremendous barriers. They have overcome these barriers and excelled acquiring different expertise and skills as they have progressed.
A hint of the flavour of diversity and richness is given by briefly mentioning what messages have been delivered by the women and what they are doing now, with great passion and determination, to carry on and achieve more.
The following is just a snap shot to these extraordinary unique personal stories:
“I have been fortunate enough to meet such a diverse people during my teaching career. I have never come any prejudice, the society was very welcoming” said Nushin.
“Being a minority is a great challenge; I always felt that I am a minority within a minority” “It is essential to acknowledge we need to be part of a community –celebrating a minority within a minority, think about sisterhood, collectively hold hand on hand and going from achievement to achievement” said Miguela.
“Before coming to live in UK, I always felt that I have a purpose of my life, I could contribute to the society. When first came, I lost my self confidence, It took me very long to regain that confidence. I am now more happy and accepting my identity” said Kaori.
“I didn’t feel strange; there is no barrier with the language” “Good things take time, you might have to make scarifies, but never loose you vision and will” said Basheera.
“I feel privileged to be part of that work and part of women’s life. The film about women’s issues in Africa, it tells stories of courage, hope and justice” said Florence Ayisi about the CAN award-winning film- Sisters in Law.
“Through out my life I have been faced by challenges, the challenge of going to University, to come and live in UK and to raise my children without any support. I have put my career on hold to raise my children”. “I have never regretted my decision to stay at home with my kids. What ever decision you have to make, never regret it, you have to make the right decision for yourself and your family” said Amna Dirar.
The women held the following positions. A Director of multicultural arts promotion company, a founder and executive director of an Internet service for young people, a principal Researcher from the Welsh Assembly, an online publication editor, a General Practice Manager, a Pharmacist, a Lecturer of foreign languages, a Politics lecturer, a Diversity trainer and consultant, a Radio presenter, a community school head teacher and a film producer.
In response to what have inspired the audience most, the majority have agreed it was the talks given by the speakers.
This event gave the BBC Wales, the voluntary organisations and the community groups in attendance the opportunity to relate and know about the barriers and the challenges that face women on one hand and the level of determination and the strength of will that were needed to achieve’ on the other. Most importantly, it brought together women from different backgrounds, each with unique experience and views, and allowed them to share the common goal of progressing women’s issues and celebrating diversity and achievements.
List of Speakers
- Marva Jackson Lord- Managing Director of Griots Productions, a multicultural arts promotions company based in the Brecon and Beacons.
- Sangeet Bhullar- based in Newport, is the founder and executive director of WISE KIDS Internet service for young people.
- Basheera Khan- Director of Ping Media Ltd and editor of online publication Ping Wales.
- Kaori Onoda- Principal Researcher, Office of Chief Medical Officer, Welsh Assembly Government.
- Farida Patel- General Medical Practice Manager from Port Talbot.
- Farzana Akram- Pharmacist based at The Royal Gwent Hospital
- Nushin Chavoshi- Nejad- Lecturer from Aberdare who teaches Welsh, Spanish and French as well as English as a second language.
- Bela Arora- Politics Lecturer and Comedy Workshop leader, based in Swansea University.
- Dr. Eve Howard- Diversity Trainer and Consultant from Carmarthen.
- Miguela Gonzalez- Trainee Researcher and Presenter on the Radio Wales programme ‘Good Morning Wales’.
- Amna Dirar-Head of the Sudanese School in Cardiff
- Florence Ayisi- Lecturer from Newport Film School, the producer of award-winning film’ Sister in Law’