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Cover- Story - Remembering the Motherland
Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
SOME WENT for adventure. Others did because jobs were available in the United Kingdom (UK) and there was nothing to do here, literally. Still others went in a desperate bid to end generations of poverty. They saved, begged or borrowed the plane or boat fare, heading off to better opportunities. These were the Jamaicans who migrated to the United Kingdom (UK) between 1956 and 1961. They remember where they came from with the cutting
clarity. Mrs. Audrey Gayle, a returning resident, recalls that as a young girl in Jamaica of the 1950s, "I had one pair of shoes which was kept for going to church. I went to school barefooted. My father left my mom when I was 12. They were married, but I never saw my father again for years. "There were many times when we had cornmeal porridge to go to bed. There were seven of us and I was the eldest and I was only was 12. Mom was a higgler, and buying and selling things while she went to the market. I had to look after the littler ones when she was gone. We had two rooms not much at all. "My mother's child In December 1960, she flew to England. "As I see it I was fortunate enough that my uncle was there and decided to help my mother's first child. My uncle paid my fare and when I got there and started working, I paid him back the 75 pounds." She said that Jamaica "was tough, tough for someone like me that did not have education of such." In 1960, she was 21 years old and had never worked. For herself and others, work was available in England, but the pay was not much in comparison to the cost of living. Durvan Malcolm, another returning resident to the island, remembers well hard, early days in the UK. "We could only have bath once per week, at the public baths. We would go to work at 7 in the morning and return at 8 in the evening, wipe down, or go to public baths where we would join the line. We did this until we bought our own (after much saving and sacrifice) home and put in bathrooms, light, double glazing and central heating. We showed them (the British) the way. The majority of the working British were living in Council houses. We said the money we are going to pay for rent could pay for mortgage." Jamaicans were enterprising, and created some amount of resentment for that reason.
MR. LANSWEL Gayle, a returnee, said that the decision to migrate was one made by his mother. She thought that there was not much of a future for the poorer class at the time. "She encouraged me. I have not regretted it at all. She got the money and I repaid it once I got there 75 pounds. At the time, to be honest, I was just over 20 and found the country strange. I met up with a lot of Kingstonians who were much more experienced. Before I left for England, I was living in Clarendon and working at New Yarmouth. Compared to others, I wasn't badly off at all; not many youngsters my age had a chance to be working in the factory. I think I was collecting about 1 pound a day. That in 1960 was not too bad." He landed in London on the 27th of September, 1960. "I found the place quite dismal and overcast. "The first job I got was with a furniture company packing chairs and tables. It was not the job I was accustomed to doing. Then I got another job which was in a foundry a hell of a job compared to what I did before I left dirty and hard and hot. That lasted for about eight months. I was earning about 7 pounds, take home. I left because the work was too hard. Then I went to Ford (motor company) in Langley, which was easier and there were more Jamaicans there." Mrs. Marlene Fitz, another returnee, had started teaching as a probationer here, but deciding to go to England for the experience and a better standard of living. "I left here in 1956. I had just passed my Third Year and started teaching as a probationer. The pay was very small. I left to go into the unknown." Her brother was already there. Once there, she wanted to get into teaching but her certificate was not recognised. "Most girls went into nursing but I never liked it. I always loved teaching. It was a struggle for me. I started working as a nursery nurse and could barely make ends meet. Then I did courses in home management, catering and started working at a factory while going to evening classes. I later earned my diploma in nutrition. After a while I worked for the inner London Education Authority with school meals. I did a teaching course, then was able to teach catering. It was hard to get promoted because of colour." Mrs. Dorett Barton comments that the English needed the workers, and many went into nursing, as she did. "I lived in the hospital compound. You lived wherever you were being trained. I did not make racism be a problem for me. You knew it was there but I would say it was not one of my biggest problems. "On a whole, the English people they did not own their own homes. Jamiacans even though they earned a small salary, managed to save enough to buy their own homes. There was some resentment by the British. If you bought a house or a car in Britain, you could not tell your white colleagues."
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