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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Oral history recording with Pastor Vaz Smith, born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1957. Recorded as part of Race Council Cymru’s Windrush Cymru Heritage Project.
“It was surreal, as I saw him, I knew he was my dad. I just knew.”
Pastor Vaz Smith was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1957.
“There were eight of us altogether, six boys and two girls…”
“My dad left for Britain when I was about three years old… My mum left when I was seven… I just sit and cry because I used to think ‘How can my mother leave me and go to Britain and I don’t know when I’m going to see her again…’ I was just told I am going to England to your father.”
“About four years later, my brother and myself [came] over to Britain… I was 12 and my brother was 13… so that is when my other life started.”
“I remember going to the changing room once when we were doing games and one or two of the guys is looking to see if I had a tail.”
“Being different, these guys would push you to see if you are willing to stand up…”
“I got saved in 1990, the same year I left Newport.”
“The highlight of my life in Britain was that I formed my life here in terms of my education, in terms of understanding how to interact, skills and gifts were developed in this country, my businesses – my children and my grandchildren, friends…”
“My heart says to me I am a Jamaican. I have never seen myself in any other way.”
“This year [2019] is 50 years since I’ve been in Britain…”
