Aisha Tukur
“I moved from London to Wales and was called exotic.”
Nyarai, 16, moved to Carmarthenshire when she was 13 and said she felt “very different” to other young people in a predominantly white, rural area.
She joined We Move at SpanArts in Pembrokeshire, which is a group set up to help empower young people to talk about and express their identities.
Project coordinator Molara Anwen called it a “stupid cliche” that anti-racism work should be prioritised in cities, when often it was rural areas in most need, while groups that allow young diverse people to connect with each other help them navigate any racism and micro-aggressions.
The Welsh government on Thursday updated its anti-racist action plan, where it has expanded on their report from 2022, outlining how to tackle racism.
But according to the 2021 census, 0.9% of Pembrokeshire residents identified their ethnic group within the “mixed or multiple” category, up from 0.6% in 2011.
Molara said these predominantly white areas needed the most support to protect young people.
In 2021, Nyarai and her family moved from London to Llanelli, and she said was a “daunting experience” leaving a city where she identified with a lot of people to a predominantly white area.
“I would walk down the street and there’s like 20 of us, but here I walk around and see barely anyone [like me],” she said.
She said being called things such as “exotic” in school was new to her and she had to adjust to being around mostly white people.
“Being in school, it made me really like, ‘whoa, I really am different’, but different isn’t bad, it’s pretty good,” she said.
Nyarai started attending sessions at We Move in Pembrokeshire, a youth-led group for black children and young people.
“It allows me to relate to other people that have the same experience as me, especially where I am in Wales,” she said.
“I don’t have a lot of people in my community. So going to the community meet-ups allows me to relate and to have someone to talk to.”
