In September 1987 I came to London to work as a Language Assistant. I immediately liked the ancestral land of my mother’s lineage (being Breton, my mother’s family came from here many centuries ago). They were Celts persecuted by Angles, Saxons, Danes and Jutes – my people already persecuted here so long before I was born. I think I’m starting to understand now a few decades after my arrival why my maternal ancestors left. This land episodically has a xenophobic phase.
In Limbo
A French EU Citizen’s Story (1)
I am a black French national. I have been in the UK for twenty years, married to a Brit for nearly sixteen. I trained and qualified as a midwife here and practiced until before my last pregnancy. I have lived in the south-east of England for nearly sixteen years.
A German EU Citizen’s Story (1)
We have not experienced xenophobia or discrimination yet. We even have been offered a mortgage despite me being non-UK-citizen. I don’t think our case is very dramatic or worth being published in a book, nevertheless Brexit has turned our lives ‘upside down’ and this gives me the opportunity to summarise everything that has gone through my head, particularly since the 13th of March 2017.
Aga B.’s Story
I would like to share my story. I’m Aga from Poland, here in U.K. since 2007, living with my unmarried partner. We have an eight year old daughter. Since she was born I was able to work only part time as most of the time I was looking after her. I applied for Permanent Residency but I was refused.
Gabriella’s Story
In 2008, having broken up a four-year-old relationship and resigned from my job as a professional folk dancer, I arrived in London full of excitement and hope.
H. S.’s Story
I came to the UK nearly two years ago and have lived in Bristol ever since. I fell in love with the place and the people almost immediately, and it didn’t take very long before I began to put down roots and started thinking that maybe I could picture a future in this country.
Helga’s Story
Hello everybody! I live with my little family here in the UK. Me and my boyfriend of five years have a son who’ll be 3 in May. We rent a house but all the furniture in it is ours, the fridge, the sofa, everything. We have built a life here…
Ingrid’s Story
I have always wanted to come to Britain. At the age of 18, in 1986, I found a voluntary job in a care home in North Wales and off I went with little more than a suitcase full of clothes and a head full of dreams. I fell in love with the Welsh mountains and the people.
Judit’s Story
My husband came to the UK because he was offered a bartender job at the TGI Fridays after he came third place in the European bartending final.
Juliet’s Story
My experience of xenophobia took me completely by surprise.
Growing up in 1970’s as a British born subject with an English mother and Indian father in the South of England, there was a background of racism, with National Front marches in Brighton contributing to a sense of otherness. When I settled in Norwich in the late 1980’s, I was amazed at the lack of racism. I felt at ease in Norwich and made my home in the area, contributing to the community, attending UEA as a mature student and raising my son and daughter.