Immigrant stories
1 Immigrant stories in London – why are they in London? Are they happy to live here? Do they plan to stay? Read their stories and find the answers!
Story 1 : sun yun wing
2 My name is sun yun wing. I am from a small town near hongkong. In 1960, there weren’t many jobs there were many job opportunities in England. So , I came to London. I was 20 years old.
3 There were many problems at first. The English language was hard for me, and the weather was cold and rainy. I was lonely because my family wasn’t with me, but there were good things about living in London. There were many jobs with good pay.
4 My first job was in a Chinese restaurant. I work there with my wife. She is also Chinese. Her English is good. She talks to the customers. I am the chef. We work very hard.
5 We have three children. They have good jobs. They do not want to go and live in hongkong. My wife and I don’t know anyone I hongkong now. Our life is here. This is our home.
Story 2 : basher ali
6 my name is basher ali. I am from a small town in Bangladesh. I came to England in 1980 with my wife and two small children. I was 25 years old. There were many jobs in England. It was the best way to support my family.
7 My first job in England was in a factory. At night, I went to school. There were classes in English and business. I was happy to be a student. There were no opportunities for me to go to school in my hometown in Bangladesh.
8 Now, I have my own business. I sell clothing from Bangladesh. My business is very successful. I have several clothing stores.
9 I try to help my people. In London, I hold English classes at my stores for the Bangladeshi community. I send money to my relatives and my town in Bangladesh. I support a children’s language school there.
10 I have good children. They work in my company. They keep Bangladeshi ways in their families, they have success in England, but they are still Bangladeshi in their hearts.
Story 3: AparaAsuquoof the same bank in Nigeria
11 My name is AparaAsuquo. I am from Nigeria . I came to London in 2003 with my husband. I was 45 years old. My husband works for an international bank here in London. There was an office of the same bank in Nigeria. We came here for his career.
12 I was a businesswoman in my country. Here, there were no good jobs for me. After two years, my husband said, “This is a different country. This is your new life. You need to start from the beginning again. “ Now, I am an office worker. The pay isn’t very good, but I like the people.
13 Our children go to university in England. My husband and I plan to return to Nigeria, but our children plan to stay here. There are many opportunities for them here. It is always sad to say goodbye, but for my husband and me, Nigeria is our home.