A Lesson from a Small Country

"What Wales is doing today, the world will do tomorrow." - Nikhil Seth, UN Assistant Secretary General

The Hong Kong Welsh Males Voice Choir interviewed by BBC Wales during the International Musical Eisteddfod in 2019 when they celebrated their 40th Anniversary.

My connection with Wales started in 2013, when my husband, Bill, and I visited the International Musical Eisteddfod (Eisteddfod) for the first time in Llangollen, North Wales. Eisteddfod means "festival" in Welsh and it is Welsh traditional of choirs coming together to compete. The Internatinoal Eisteddfod started after WWII, where choirs from all over the world sing together for peace.

Llangollen has brought together music lovers and peace makers from all over the world since after WWII. For over 70 years, it sends a peace message to the world and attract the best musicians and dances to share their cultural heritage in this world stage. One of the best stories was a children choir from Germany emerged from a bus in the the Welsh Valleys to join the first Eisteddfod in Llangollen.

What was meant to be a weekend away for my husband and I turned out to be a long-term relationship. We have come back to Llangollen year after year to volunteer as field hosts for competitors from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Choirs we hosted include the Children Choir of the World in 2017 and Choir of the World in 2018. The International Musical Eisteddfod has paused for 2 years during COVID and it is resumming this year from July 7th - 10th.

Why did we choose Llangollen as our home?

In 2020, due to social and political changes in Hong Kong, we decided to relocated to Llangollen. Llangollen has become our new home and our son, Daniel, attends a local school in Llangollen.

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

I always knew that I was happy here in Wales because of the welcome I always receive from local friends and the community, however, I didn't know until recently that there is a bigger driving force behind Wales to make it one of the best places to live for future generations.

In 2015, The Welsh Government introduced the Wellbeing For Future Generations (Wales) Act.

There are 7 goals for in this value framework:

• Properous

• Resilient

• Healthier

• More Equal

• Chosive Communities

• Vibrant Cultural and Thriving Welsh Language

• Global Responsible

There are 5 ways of working

• Long term

• Prevention

• Collaboration

• Integration

• Involvement

The ripple effect of the Wellness Act is that Scotland is introducing similar legislation in 2022. Ireland plans to implement it too.

... other countries are interested in this approach to deliver on the SDGs by 2030.

The UN is creating a Special Envoy for Future Generations in 2023 based on the Wales Model

And

... in England there are moves to have similar legislation through a Private Member's Bill.

#TodayForTomorrow

https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2019-21/wellbeingoffuturegenerationsno2.html

If this not enough to explain the reason why we love Wales, I don't know what is. In the future, I look forward to facilitating more knowledge exchange and collaboration in Wales between people from different cultures, different disciplines and different generations. Hope I will see you here too.