My Experiences Of England

Further Info

This story was made at the Theatre Orchard “Storyshed” workshop with young people from Priory Community School, Weston-super-Mare, and adults from Somerset Racial Equality Council’s Friendship group with funding from www.media-box.co.uk

The workshop was led by Liz Milner, Clodagh Miskelly and Paddy Uglow (CreativeMedia.org.uk), and was supported by Watershed.

A parallel Design/Technology project at Priory School to make ‘story gadgets’ for the Storyshed installation was led by Tarim from the Pervasive Media Studio – www.pmstudio.co.uk/collaborator/tarim

For further information on the Storyshed project please see www.theatreorchard.org.uk/

Transcript

I was widowed at a young age with daughters age 7 and 2. At that time I was living in the Philippines. Roger from England was my pen pal came to visit and we got married and my third daughter, Regina was born on October 1988.  Roger only saw her when she was a year old when he visited again for 3 weeks and he wanted to settle in the country but was not successful.  Together we have to settle in England I have to leave my other daughters with my brother but I have arranged their passports and applied for their visas for them to come over afterwards. 
On 11th of May, 1990, I travelled with Regina and went to the airport, with a heavy heart and burdened thought I have to leave the girls behind, I could not shake off my worries, questioned myself if I had done the right thing. As we travelled 30,000 miles on an 18-hour journey, it was clear to me, I made up my mind to collect my two daughters quicker to help them in their future.  Regina was only 18 months old and it was our first time to travel.  She slept from Manila to Dubai but afterwards was awake all the way through.  She was very active, will not stay seated, never tired.  She did not want to eat and only drank her milk. 
On arrival, it was quite a struggle as I had to push our heavy bags and carry Regina as she did not have a pushchair.  At the arrivals we were met by Roger and his brother-in-law, Richard.  I realized that I have left the bag inside that contains baby food, so I have to go back to where I left it on a buggy.  I have to leave her to Roger but it gave the impression that I left her with strangers that she had been crying until I was back. 
Lacking in sleep and very exhausted from the long uncomfortable journey, we sat at the back of the Richard’s van, another 3 hours journey to Weston.  On the way, Roger pointed to a castle for me to see but I just don’t care, I was worn out and wanted to sleep.  We were cold as I only brought light clothes as we have whole year summer back home.  We have to stay with his parents, who were very understanding as we have to adjust to a new environment and culture. I found the food appetizing, but I was still hungry for my own food.  I have to learn English as I learnt American English. 
We stayed for 3 months and moved to B&B for another 3 months until we found a house before Marilyn and Glaiza came.  The girls adapted well to their new schools and friends.  One time, I made school lunch for my daughter, rice and fried fish, our own food; her teacher saw this and wanted to taste it so they swapped their lunches. Now they have matured and are very independent.  Our stay had been worthwhile as they took advantage of opportunities offered to them, for a bright future.

Credits

windsor castle created by neilalderney123, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

food created by natcen photos, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

filipino food created by kevincrumbs, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

fish created by vilseskogen, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

aerial view 1 created by Mollivan Jon, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

aerial view 2 created by steve sheriw., used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

arrivals lounge created by Danny Choo, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

baggage cart created by mag3737., used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

plane int. created by Eric E Johnson, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

in plane created by caribb, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

luggage created by sgclark, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

luggage created by mattroyal, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

Mum_child plane created by bertabetti, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.

roast dinner created by chris5aw, used under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 licence.