In C3SC’s newest venture, the team had the pleasure of inviting two different guests to the show on two separate occasions as part of South Asian Heritage Month which runs from 18th July to 17th August.
The theme for this year is ‘Free to Be Me’, drawing attention on the areas that make up who we are such as having community, faith, family, and the positive impacts this can bring to your heritage.
The Mentor Ring
On Monday 15th July, Sujatha from The Mentor Ring joined the team at the Radio Cardiff studio, situated in the heart of the city on Curran Embankment, just a walk away from the city centre. The Mentor Ring has been running since 2010, with a base in London Borough in Bexley, covering Slade Green and Erith, in addition to Dartford, as well as a base here in Cardiff, neighbouring C3SC’s office within Butetown Community Centre
The Mentor Ring’s work prizes on creating stronger and more cohesive communities through socially inclusive mentoring programmes that support vulnerable individuals into employment, training, education or social activities. Holistic one-to-one support is also provided to meet the needs of individuals which Sujatha has dedicated much of her life to doing. Moreover, the importance of volunteers was mentioned in helping to support the mentoring process.
On the subject of South Asian Heritage Month, Sujatha presented to listeners of the show the 8 countries that make up South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Passionate about South Asian culture, The Mentor Ring had prepared their own South Asian Heritage Month celebration events in Cardiff and Dartford as well as attending an event in the House of Parliament more recently.
Make sure you follow The Mentor Ring on X (formerly Twitter) to stay up to date with their next event!
Welsh Asian Heritage Project
On the following week – Monday 22nd July, we were pleased to speak to Perminder Dhillon from the Welsh Asian Heritage Project. The project which is supported by Welsh Government through its Anti-racist Wales programme, is an archival project which aims to orally record the experiences of Ugandan Asians living in Wales.
In the 1970s, Asians were expelled from Uganda, given just 90 days to leave the country. This included those born and raised in Uganda. Many fled to the UK, with a thousand arriving in North Wales. Now over 50 years later, Perminder wants to archive, display and tell the stories of the Ugandan Asians as a way of recognising this significant piece of history and celebrating the resilience of those affected. Thus in November, the Welsh Heritage Project will hold an archive event – details to follow.
We’d like to thank both of our guests – The Mentor Ring, and the Welsh Asian Heritage Project for educating the team and our listeners this South Asian Heritage Month.
Learn More and Get in Touch
If you’d like to learn more about South Asian Heritage Month, please visit https://southasianheritage.org.uk/
Do you want to be our next guest on the show to talk about your organisation, activities and volunteering schemes? Get in touch – email enquiries@c3sc.org.uk or call 02920 485 722 to arrange a discussion and book a slot.
