Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2023
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Immigration has completely changed the city. There’s a thriving community of Asian people.
- If you say Easterhouse to someone, the first thing they think of is normally gangs, violence and drugs.
- There was a family on my floor: a mum, dad, sister and two brothers. None of them made it out.
- The land was just sitting there and the idea came up about making an allotment on the bog land, so that the people in the community could grow their own fresh food.
- Living a life that is affected by austerity feels like a judgement from a Tory government of who I am. I don’t feel that there’s anybody looking out for my interests as a human being.
- When I first found out I had MND, Steph had just given birth to Ralphie, so we went from that amazing high to being told that I’d got something that could potentially kill me in two years.
- I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
- Even as a kid going to school, I felt like teachers had a handbook on how to deal with particular kids when it came to race. They’re so quick to kick us out of school.
- Campaigning with DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts – gave me direction. It kept me going when I would’ve given up.
- The cranes are like big guns aimed in on us. We are surrounded.
- I feel the country is more divided. Maybe because of Brexit, but it feels like the gap has widened between left and right.
- Emergency accommodation is supposed to mean anything from a week to six months. But I ended up being there for over a year.
- I think we are a great example that you can start your life over again at any age.
- A supervisor was bullying me, and when I confronted him he told me women are only here for having children, and called me a donkey.
- I think the EU got blamed for things it wasn’t responsible for, not that it was perfect. Some farmers saw the referendum as an opportunity to have change.
- There were nine of us, all musicians. I was the only one who could speak English, not good, but better than the others, so I volunteered to speak about asylum.
- It always seems to come down to money nowadays. And actually, what should be more important is what children need.
- I’ve been in trouble quite a lot in my life. Nothing too serious, and somehow I’ve only been to prison once.
- We don’t have to accept this attack on our living standards, we don’t have to accept the demonisation of the various minorities, be they disabled, poor, single parents, immigrants or refugees.
- I try and bring a sense of love, belonging and family to the women. I believe in every one of them and I will never stop.
- I’m passionate about young people knowing that everything is political.
- I just couldn’t move. I was on that many different opiates, my body couldn’t cope with it.
- The biggest thing for me about being a single parent is the fact that people do seem to think that it defines you in some way.
- Being a trans woman in the 70s was exceedingly difficult. We weren’t breaking Queen’s Regulations by being transgendered, but the military police thought that it could be used against us.
- Am I accepted because I’m the token black woman to make up a percentage of black artists, or for my hard work and talent?
- When I was selling drugs I was always thinking about the money. I didn’t actually see the effect it has on the users.
- Some people even say we might need a third referendum. What they really mean is we should keep voting until they get the answer they want.
- We need to look more widely at the contribution that black people have historically made to British society.
- The word ‘Islamophobia’ was something I learnt sometime after 9/11. Until then, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know that it was called Islamophobia until it formed into this thing that had a name.
- The state of the country is terrible. Don’t even get me started. Theresa May, she gets on my nerves when she goes on.
- I struggle every day. I struggle to get up and even make myself food, and so I skip meals quite often.
- At first I thought it was a good thing to go on strike, but it became clear that Maggie Thatcher was going to close us down all the same.
- We’re still dealing with feudal law when it comes to housing, so we’re really up against it.
- I’ve heard it described as a battle, but for a battle both sides had to be armed. They had riot gear, helmets, padding, gauntlets, shields, three-foot batons. There was only one side armed.
- At the Edinburgh Festival they did a play set in Govanhill called ‘Govanhell’. Why would people in Edinburgh even know about Govanhill?
- The recession started again, hitting the building trade, and there was lots of pressure trying to keep everything together for the family. Things started to go wrong.
- I think applying for benefits is made really hard just to put people off. It can be the most stressful, soul-destroying thing ever in your life.
- People here don’t want a border back because of all the trouble there was. There were a lot of bombs, over at the garage. The windows of this pub would be put in from the bang of the bombs.
- In my first week at the London School of Economics a student told me I was part of the underclass because my family received benefits, and a lecturer said ‘Poor people don’t come to LSE’.
- Mental illness isn’t universal. You can’t just give somebody one thing and they feel better. Everybody has their own way of coping.
- When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard.
- Photographers’ Biographies
Summary
I grew up in Cwmbran and knew nothing of domestic violence until I met my future husband at the age of 15. I was locked in his flat and prevented from going to school. I fell pregnant at the age of 16. Things gradually got worse from there. In the following seven years I was continually punched, kicked and bruised, even when pregnant. I had knives held to my throat, bleach poured over me when bathing, my clothes ripped off me in public, was shot at with a pellet rifle, and drugged to keep me compliant and physically imprisoned. Threats to kill me, my daughter or members of my family were a daily occurrence. I was 23 and had lost my family, lost my laughter, lost the sparkle in my eyes. I felt like a little invisible shadow. People knew, but I couldn’t tell anyone, as I was so scared that my child would be taken away. I thought if I kept my mouth shut, then at least I had my daughter.
The trigger point came when he started to mentally abuse my daughter. She was petrified of him and repeatedly asked to be taken away to a happy house. One day he was injecting with one of his mates whilst I was locked in an outhouse cupboard. I managed to push my way out and just ran. All I had was my child benefit book. With my younger sister’s help we collected my daughter from school and went straight to the local Women’s Aid charity. They brought me to this very room in this very refuge in Monmouthshire.
My life started the day I left him. I went to performing arts college, learnt to drive, did a degree, and slowly forged a career in working with children. It is only over the past year, since I got my job at Cyfannol, that I’ve managed to really ground and distance myself from the girl who turned up at this refuge in all her utterly broken state.
I see and feel the transparency and invisibility in the women who come to Cyfannol for the first time. I recognise the turmoil in their minds, the not knowing where they fit in. It’s my role to work with them, and primarily their children, and help them rebuild their lives.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Invisible BritainPortraits of Hope and Resilience, pp. 25 - 27Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018