'Building Bridges of Friendship'
The Welsh Government is supporting links around the world and over the next 2 years funds have been granted to support links with Jamaica, however this project is at a very early stage. Learning Links International CIC, which is based in Bangor, made 2 successful applications which will enable a small group of young people spend time in Jamaica, welcoming back a group from Jamaica, as well as adults from Wales and Jamaica who will be exploring Wales links with Jamaica and Jamaica’s links with Wales.
Bangor City Council is supporting this initiative to explore options for the adult learning programme, identifying activities that organisations and services can be part of to ‘build bridges of friendship’.
A review was undertaken in early 2025 of the 'Building Bridges of Friendship’ project led by the Learning Links International Team, with support from our partners: the North Wales Jamaica Society, the Jamaica Wales Alliance, the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank, the Jamaican Ministry of Youth and Culture Region 7, the Pennants Rotary Community Corps, Bangor City Council and Clarendon Corporation. This was to provide the background of the development of the 'Building Bridges of Friendship’ project between Wales and Jamaica.
The idea of the 'Building Bridges of Friendship' project came over the past years, as links between Jamaica and Wales developed. The North Wales Jamaica Society’s management of Black History Month for North Wales was a starting point. Jamaican Poet Yasus Afari was a strength and support, spending time in Wales each year with the Learning Links International team and the North Wales Jamaica Society to explore ways that we could better understand our shared history.
In 2008, Yasus Afari, the descendent of enslaved Africans, took the opportunity to meet poet, Richard Douglas Pennant, descendent of Welsh plantation owners in Jamaica, and supported by the Learning Links International team they performed together at Moelyci in Bangor. Over the next years, Yasus Afari travelled from Jamaica to Wales to share his poetry and his strategy of building understanding of our shared history in schools and the communities of Wales during Black History Month: see www.bhmnw.com
A delegation of members of the NWJS travelled to Jamaica in 2017 and met up with contacts there, visiting the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission to explore the very significant influence of Eisteddfod in Jamaica.
Bangor Rotarian Liz Millman returned to Jamaica in 2018 and linked with May Pen Rotary Club to explore Rotary International funding to support the community in Pennants, and also met the Mayor of Clarendon Winston Marage, who asked if it was possible to obtain a reconditioned fire truck from Wales.
In 2018 LLI and NWJS members were invited to the Jamaican High Commission in London, by the newly appointed Jamaican High Commissioner and his wife, who were friends back in Jamaica with Dr Jonathan Greenland, a Welsh neighbour. We invited the Jamaican High Commissioner, His Excellency: Seth George Ramocan and his wife: Dr Lola Ramocan, to Wales, spending time meeting the Jamaican community in South Wales. The next day the Jamaican delegation travelled to North Wales to visit Bangor University Archives and Penrhyn Castle, before attending a Civic reception at Penrhyn Hall, Bangor. This visit created ongoing friendships with the JHC and his wife.
Yasus Afari was working with John Austin Primary School in the community of Pennants, Jamaica to build bridges through poetry with Ysgol Llanllechid, but Covid put all these activities on hold and the Learning Links International team started to explore using Zoom.
The North Wales Jamaica Society was supported by the LLI team to transfer monthly open meetings to Zoom giving non formal learning opportunities to explore our shared history. Then we started to run Black History Conversations engaging academics, authors and activists. We have recorded over 150 BHC sessions since then - helping us to learn more about Black History. Seth and Lola Ramocan also supported sessions when invited, maintaining the friendship that had developed.
Working to support the John Austin Primary School in the community of Pennants, Jamaica, proved difficult during Covid, as LLI tried to support the Douglas Pennant Family Foundation to transfer funds to Jamaica as they promised in 2007. However it was the formation of the Pennants Community Development Committee that provided us with a group to link with in Pennants, Clarendon and we started to get to know them in weekly Zoom sessions, but this informality was questioned by Dr Lola Ramocan, who said we needed a Committee, and she found a Chair - Coy Roach, a recently retired Senior Civil Servant, and agreed to be Patron to the Jamaica Wales Alliance. These first steps led to the formation of the Jamaica Wales Alliance Project Committee with continues to meet each we exploring our shared history and managing funding combining to the community from members of the Douglas Pennant family. So far we have managed several projects including the rebuilding of toilets in the Pennants Basic School and repairing storm damage to the Primary School roof.
But in October 2023, the LLI team were made aware of a significant opportunity to apply for Welsh Government funds through the Taith initiative which is 'an international learning exchange programme established to create life-changing opportunities for people in Wales to learn, study and volunteer all over the world’.
After failing our first application to Taith to develop and online training course to explore the shared history of Jamaica and Wales, in March 2024, the Learning Links International team were encouraged to apply for both an Adult Education Pathway and a Youth Pathway This was based on recognising the years of work done by the Learning Links International team working with local and Jamaican partners developing non formal learning opportunities to explore the shared history of Wales and Jamaica, more specifically the shared history about the Pennant Family in Gwynedd, North Wales and the areas where the family had plantations in Jamaica, mainly in Clarendon, Jamaica.
The successful outcome of both applications to Taith for Adult Learning under “Building Bridges of Friendship’ and Youth under 'Youth Activities', enabling both adult learners to start to undertake the first exchange visits of adult learners between Jamaica and Wales in October / November 2024 and for the LLI Youth Activities team to visit Jamaica to consider possibilities for exchange visits in 2025.
Two Jamaican colleagues visited Wales and met with Civic Dignitaries, key organisations and schools.
In September 2024 Bangor Council agreed to start ‘Building Bridges of Friendship’ with May Pen Council and the Mayors exchanged correspondence and the Welsh delegation was welcomed by the Mayor of May Pen at a Reception held after the presentation by local school children of a Jamaican Eisteddfod.
However the Taith team raised concerns in October 2024 about inappropriate social media put out by two Adult Learners which were to join the delegation and film the activities in Jamaica. This then led to further questioning about the planning and management by Learning Links International of the delegation visit to Jamaica and a ‘desk top audit' was instigated, and all planning for future activities planned for the Adult Learners and the Youth group are on hold. This was resolved after 3 months and support has been offered by Taith to address any issues or challenges we have.
However the exchange visits have proved very successful and the Jamaican Ministry of Education is now working towards linking Jamaican Schools with schools in Wales, the initiative is called ‘Widening Horizons’. Jamaica’s cultural lead - the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, Jamaica Memory Bank is linking with the People’s Collection Wales. The delegation of Adult Learners visiting Jamaica have developed various projects to work on with new friends in Jamaica - and we are assured that the delivery of 2 fire trucks will happen before the end of the year. The bridges of friendship have been built.
The 'Building Bridges of Friendship’ project is more than just exchange visits to Jamaica, we have laid the foundations over the years to address community reparation, and building trust has been an essential element in this.
The Jamaica Wales Alliance is now being discussed with representatives of the Welsh Government to take this community led initiative to a much higher level, starting diplomatic consultations and we don't want to jepodise this.
Adult Learning Wales has come alongside us in a partnership to support running a pilot programme of 'Exploring the Shared History between Jamaica and Wales' in May and June 2025.