Organisations involved in BBF
'Exploring the shared histories of Jamaica and Wales'.
Exchange visits for the 'Building Bridges of Friendship' project are currently funded by the Welsh Government under their Taith initiative, following applications from Learning Links International submitted in March 2024 to enable LLI’s team of non formal adult learners to support the development of links between the City of Bangor in North Wales and May Pen in Jamaica.
Learning Links International (LLI) is a volunteer led social enterprise set up in 2010 with support from Jamaican poet, Yasus Afari. The LLI Directors come from Wales, Jamaica, Nigeria, South Africa and England. During Covid times we started to run Black History Conversations on Fridays and continue – recently celebrating 150 recorded sessions – on www.blackhistoryconversations.com (new website soon!) Join us on Zoom - every Friday – we are currently focussing on this project and will be leading sessions from Jamaica.
The Bangor Community Action Team is being set up in Bangor ,hosted by Bwyd da Bangor, and supported by Rotary International, to enable those working on ‘Building Bridges of Friendship’ www.spanglefish.com/buildingbridges to be the anchor for the friendships that are developing and to monitor and support joint projects eg getting a Fire Engine to Jamaica.
The North Wales Jamaica Society holds monthly open online sessions, which includes a slot for Learning Links International’s ‘Exploring the shared history of Wales and Jamaica’ non formal adult learning opportunities – sessions are usually on the first Saturday of the month at 9am in Jamaica and 3pm / 2pm depending on the hour changes www.nwjsonline.com
The Jamaica Wales Alliance underpins our activities www.jamaicawalesalliance.com – this site gives the background to the range of activities done in past years which created the foundation for ‘Building Bridges of Friendship’
The Rotary International Clubs of May Pen, Bangor and Denbigh have also supported these initiatives of the years.
Learning Links International founder, Liz Millman, is founder and Secretary of the North Wales Jamaica Society, worked to develop the Black History Month Programme in North Wales with support from locals and Yasus Afari, before Race Council Cymry took over: www.bhmnw.com holds the archive. Garrick Prayogg is the Chair of NWJS and Lesley Evans in Treasurer.
Jamaica’s Cultural Ambassador to Wales is Dub poet Yasus Afari, and his website is www.yasusafarionline.com Yasus Afari will be supporting the delegation visit to Jamaica and is looking forward to visiting Wales again in 2025. Yasus Afari has visited Wales most years since 2007, working in schools and sharing his poetry and reggae music at events in the communities across North Wales over the years to support our Black History Month programme.
Bwyd Da Bangor is one of our main bases in Bangor - open during the day all week for meals and snacks