My New Home

Writer: Daisy Asquith

Introduction | The way I work | The children | Moving here | Staying here

Staying here

The other children around the kids are a gift to these films. They are so refreshingly honest. One of the Brownies told me that people might think Altynay was "Iraqi or summat" and "they'd be scared they might do something bad to our country… that's what a lot of police officers think at least". And there is the British attitude to "foreigners" in a nutshell. We are badly informed about other countries (that means all of us whose only impression of Kazakhstan is Borat) and our ignorance translates into fear. This is then unwittingly passed down to our children, who then un-selfconsciously describe it to the lady with the camera.

Marshal's mate Carl was gobsmacked to hear there were no Gameboys in Zimbabwe. He thought that must be the reason Marshal had come to live here. And if it was up to Carl and Marshal, lack of Gameboys would probably give you a strong case for claiming asylum. However the length of time it took for these kids to be reunited with their mothers (up to 5 years) is evidence of how tough it is to come to Britain. And if the language barrier, culture-shock and homesickness are a miniature version of what their parents feel; I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I suppose it will change them, they will grow away from their parents, they will become British teenagers, and soon it may be impossible to tell they were born elsewhere.

I'm glad they will have the documentary as a record of the way they were, so one day they can show it to their (ungrateful) children! And in the meantime it is a privilege to know them, and to see the home I have always taken for granted, afresh through their eyes.

My New Home >

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