Cynefin Pamoja: The Newport-Based Workshops Championing Community and Change
Cynefin Pamoja, whose name comes from the Welsh word ‘Cynefin’ meaning ‘belonging’, and the Swahili word ‘Pamoja’ meaning ‘together’ are a community-focused group local to the Newport area.
Nkechi Allen-Dawson, Co-Founder of Cynefin Pamoja. Image: Cameron Wagg
Concentrated on bringing together community, Cynefin Pamoja have hosted a wide array of events, panels, and talks in South Wales in order to fight racism and discrimination, create cultural exchange, and preserve African and Caribbean heritage.
Just some of the events that the co-founders Billy Mazoya and Nkechi Allen-Dawson, alongside a hard-working team, including but not limited to Masooma Ramzan, Judith May, and Swakina Phiri, are Intergenerational panels and an incredibly successful Afro hair show in which over 250 people attended. Following the Afro hair show, the team wanted to host a smaller event dedicated to showcasing how to care for Afro-textured hair, putting on a workshop that is more intimate and gives people the chance to learn and socialise.
In order to do this, they reached out to a local salon, Glossy Locks Hair & Beauty, owned and ran by Christine Naluggwa, who has been in Newport for 8 years and was more than happy to work with Cynefin Pamoja.
Christine Naluggwa, Owner of Glossy Locks Hair & Beauty. Image: Cameron Wagg
A high-quality unisex salon, with a 5 star rating on their Facebook page, Glossy Locks Hair & Beauty offers a variety of services, products, and treatments to everyone, including hairdressing, eyebrow tinting, waxing, and spray tanning. Speaking with Christine, she was keen to reinforce that everyone is welcome at her salon.
“I provide a service people come miles and miles to see.”
“All ages, all people of different colours – I love to provide a service to people.”
Referring to herself as a ‘Newport girl’, Christine spoke about how she loves her work and being able to care for people, saying it is really important to ensure Afro textured hair is cared for properly. In the heart of Newport, Glossy Locks Hair & Beauty is certainly worth visiting, especially after witnessing first-hand how much care, affection, and attention the hairdressers and stylists put into their work.
The demonstrations were flawless, and everyone left their chairs feeling more confident, refreshed, and more beautiful than before. It was incredibly eye-opening to watch how dedicated Christine and her team are to ensuring their customers and the Newport community have a great experience within their salon.
Speaking to Billy Mazoya, he told me that they had gone as far as to have given free hair cuts to individuals who were going to job interviews but could not afford to pay, giving that person confidence for them to hopefully succeed.
Speaking with Billy further, he gave some insight into why Afro hair workshops are important and why they had teamed up with Christine to put this workshop on.
Billy Mazoya, Co-Founder of Cynefin Pamoja with his mother. Image: Cameron Wagg
“It is an opportunity for people in the community to get their hair down and learn how to take care of their hair.
“Newport has seen an increase in people from an African and Caribbean background. It is only right from a social perspective that these people have spaces to be catered to.”
The other co-founder, Nkechi, also gave some insight into the importance of the workshop and why they put it on. She explained how people from African and Caribbean backgrounds have been and are moving away from Western beauty standards, and part of doing this is embracing natural hair. Nkechi went on to explain some of the history to me.
“Back in the 1700s, hair determined what tribe you were from and your class.”
She explained how it was essential in determining someone’s status. Moving further along the timeline, Nkechi shared how important hair was to African and Caribbean people who had been enslaved.
“Slave owners used to leave the hair matted as punishment.”
Not only was hair used as a means to punish slaves, but it was also used as a way of rebellion by the slaves themselves, particularly hairstyles like cornrows.
“Hair was used to convey messages, and was parted in the shape of maps and rice grains were hidden inside for sustenance for when slaves ran to places where slavery had been abolished.”
The history of slavery is too often not talked about in schools and children are not taught enough about it. I learned very little about slavery in school with most of my knowledge on this topic and Black history being learned in further education. As such, focusing on the current school curriculum was an important part of the presentation Nkechi and Mustafa Hassan, a co-volunteer with Cynefin Pamoja and an anti-racism lead, put on, where they highlighted the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racism Metaverse, the first of its kind globally. Nkechi and Mustafa explained what the purpose of this metaverse is, and its aims.
Volunteer Mustafa Hassan and Nkechi, Co-Founder of Cynefin Pamoja. Image: Cameron Wagg
“The aim is to create a curriculum that reflects lived experience of minorities both positive and negative.”
Mustafa went on to ask the audience what anti-racism meant, before revealing that it means being against racism, which although may seem intuitive, some people do not instinctively recognise this.
“A lot of people think they’re not racist so they don’t need to be a part of the conversation.
“It is important to be anti-racist as there is almost 200 years of migration in Newport and that is not taught in history.”
Emphasising this fact that there is a lack of education around specific types of history, both Nkechi and Mustafa brought up different facts that I was unaware of. Nkechi spoke about how Lewis Howard Latimer made great contributions into the light bulb’s development but is often emitted from history lessons, and how everyone knows that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, but it is a lot less common to know the names of the four Black women mathematicians who made the calculations to get him there, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Christine Darden.
Additionally, Mustafa explained about how the first University was founded by Fatima al-Fihri, in 859 AD. A Muslim, African woman. With these being just a few examples of what the education system is not teaching young people, Anti Racism Wales wants to decolonise the Welsh curriculum.
After this, Nkechi and Mustafa moved on to the subject of hair, and how especially Afro-textured hair does not just look good but is also an intricate symbol of identity. They explained how there is still heavy discrimination towards Afro-textured hair, and it is often labelled as ‘unprofessional’.
“Kids have been kicked out of school.”
In order to fight this, organisations like Cynefin Pamoja go into schools and colleges and deliver anti-racism talks, and support teachers who lack the self-assurance, and sometimes want, to talk about topics like race and teach African and Caribbean histories.
“Teachers weren’t confident delivering it, resources are there but teachers never learnt it themselves and didn’t have the lived experience.”
Additionally Nkechi and Mustafa spoke about the role of the media in shaping racist perceptions and how it can be a tool to amplify bigotry. Historically, there have been largely negative portrayals of Black people and other people of colour within the media, and many news outlets publish bias articles and stories against people from different minority backgrounds.
Mustafa said it is how people respond to these articles that provides a platform for hatred.
“The biggest issue is the comments. No one is monitoring them. Comments aren’t flagged or taken down.”
Largely, Cynefin Pamoja and the Anti-racism Metaverse want to fight the idea that ‘it is not as bad as it used to be’ as this phrase is dismissive and minimizes how prominent of an issue racism still is. This idea of fighting discrimination resonates with all members and volunteers with Cynefin Pamoja, including Madison, 12, and Anaya, 12, who are volunteering for the organisation this summer after Cynefin Pamoja gave a talk at their school.
Madison and Anaya. Image: Cameron Wagg
Both girls spoke about how much they love their work.
Anaya said:
“Events have been nice, everyone has been quite welcoming, we have fun.”
Madison said:
'“Cynefin Pamoja’s events are great for those who don’t have support at home.”
Image: Cameron Wagg
After the presentation had finished, there was a quiz, where Cynefin Pamoja’s team, volunteers, and guests were randomly divided into two teams, for a loud, chaotic, and fun time.
The guests were a mix of men and women from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and ages, with there being children as young as 7 present.
For one guest, Abby Oluwayomi, a local civil servant, the Afro hair workshop was her first event.
“I’m in the process of embracing my natural hair”
“I wanted to learn about my hair and history and to have the chance to meet people who look like me.”
Abby was grateful to Cynefin Pamoja and the event they put on as it gave her the chance to be surrounded with people who share similar struggles.
With several upcoming events including a women’s sports and wellness session, Cynefin Pamoja will continue providing educational resources, vibrant and fun activities and opportunities for people from all backgrounds within South Wales regardless of who you are. They are definitely worth checking out.
Upcoming events from Cynefin Pamoja include a Wellness Workshop on August 16, Pill Carnival on August 25, the Festival of Culture on the August 30 bank holiday, and a Knife Crime Awareness Workshop on September 27.
For updates on future events and community work, connect with Cynefin Pamoja on social media below.
