Connecting Voices is a collection of global voices who share Muslim faith and are living in Newport.

The book shines a light into the lives of individuals from underrepresentated communities and readers get a glimpse into their unique circumstances and challenges, celebrations and heritage. Collections Librarian, Catherine Finch chats to project lead, Rema Begum, who is a USW-based counsellor and youth community worker about how it came about.

As part of her well-being work with Young Muslim Community Organisation (YMCO), Rema found that people were openly sharing stories of their lives in a non-judgemental, safe, calm space.

She said, “We realised our service users have amazing things to share that we can learn from. If we don’t honour those, then they could easily get lost.”

Storytelling across the world is a traditional way of passing knowledge, history and cultures over generations. As Rema explains, learning about others in the community helps to shape good practice and understanding.

“Even me, as an ethnically diverse person, I’m not aware of some of the experiences other people have had. [Our storytellers] give us something, which is their learning. We take that and we say how can we build on it?”

Funded by the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, stories were compiled and edited into a book by Farwa Hashmi, an experienced researcher with a MSc in International Business and Hayath Feroz USW Journalism graduate and youth worker.

Compiling the stories

Farwa, Hayath and other YMCO staff recruited into the project visited people’s homes to listen and record stories in languages that ranged from Bangla, Urdu, Sinhala, Tamil and English. It was sensitively done with the team making sure their storytellers felt comfortable with sharing.

Rema said, “We don’t think of our community as data mines or extraction purposes. We view them as valued partners in a collaborative process, where their voices and experiences shape meaningful outcomes and drive positive change.”

Sharing the books

60 books were published and donated across Wales and the rest of the UK. They have also been donated to local schools and used as a teaching resource.

Now available for borrowing

The book is a great local and historical resource that reflects USW Library’s mission to decolonise and diversify our collections.

Copies of the book are available from all our libraries. You can reserve or pick a copy of the book for borrowing. Or if you’re not sure what to do, then just ask library staff for help.