After two horrific world wars, that decimated both my country and my family I was brought up with a deep love for the European Peace Project. I grew up to become a real anglophile and arrived in Britain at the age of 20 with the very first Erasmus exchange in 1984.
Dear Leavers,
Have you any idea how much heartache and headaches your vote and the Brexiteers’ subsequent handling of this vote have caused nationwide and on a European scale?
I first came to the UK as an au-pair girl aged 19½ in 1986. At the time, I saw the UK as a member of the then Common Market…
The 23rd of June 2016 was a dark day for my husband and me. We tried to joke about the referendum, as neither of us actually believed the outcome would be in favour of Brexit. We discussed what country to flee to in the event that it all went disastrously wrong, and settled on Canada. I ranted about how unfair it was that I didn’t get a vote, as a resident for 13 years and a taxpayer for 7 (after 6 years of higher education).
I was born in Belgium but grew up in Zurich/Switzerland. My parents only ever spoke French to me and my (younger) sister, so we were both really lucky to grow up bilingual French/German. I’d say that I have very much a French culture as I grew up with French nursery rhymes, French music and virtually all my school holidays were spent in my mum’s family in Liege/Belgium.
Next time I read ‘get rid of all EU foreigner scum’ on a Facebook page (not that I go on these very often but they do exist), I remember that my mother is still taking English lessons after my 30 years in the UK, just so she can speak to my husband whose French is sketchy at best.
I reported this incident back in July 2016 about being racially victimised due to the Brexit vote. It happened in Stratford, East London.
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.
