Yasmin talking with Ann (Annette) Lobo
Recording for Asian Connections Project. Total length 47 minutes, 52 seconds. [Rough timings are in ( ) brackets]Track 1 Length 43 minutes, 31 secondsHer family came from Uganda to Scotland when she was 15. As British citizens of Indian origin they could not get education beyond ‘O’ Levels. Parents moved to give their children a good education. Her mother worked with a Scotsman he offered to help them find somewhere to stay. Ann’s sister was at boarding school in the UK.Life in Uganda was quite civilised and modern. They had a freezer, vacuum cleaners, servants. When they moved to Scotland in 1971, Ann found their neighbours a bit backward. They had no freezer, used to come round to borrow the vacuum cleaner.Her family lived a British way of life in Uganda. They were Catholic. Mangalore and Goa were colonised by the Portuguese.They could only bring 1 suitcase of clothes each from Uganda, because of airport regulations. Stayed with friends her parents knew from Uganda. Within a month her parents bought a flat in Edinburgh. (7-19) At first stayed in Linlithgow and Ann went to school in Falkirk. They were sitting prelims so she sat prelims and did her ‘O’ levels. Difficult to make friends at school. Children spoke to you but did not want to make friends. After ‘O’ levels moved to school in Leith in Edinburgh. Envy of someone foreign coming in and getting better grades than them. She and her brother the first coloured people at the school. Tells story about her 13 year old brother playing hockey for the school and being awarded a braid for playing 6 games. Still in second year, no one achieved this until fourth year. Next day he came home crying asking them to remove the braid because they were so horrible to him.(13-32) Ann went to Edinburgh University to study nursing for four and a half years. Worked at Royal Infirmary for 18 months. Did District Nurse training at Bonnyrigg then came to Fife to train as a Midwife. Then got job at Forth Park in Kirkcaldy.(17-00) Used to go back to Edinburgh to see parents and see friends on days off. Her father died 8 years ago aged 79. He had Alzheimers. Her mother looked after him. They moved to Fife so Ann could help to look after him.(20-00) Mum was a secretary. Some nurses hated Ann when she started work at Forth Park as a student midwife because she had a degree. You didn’t tell people you had a degree because none of them did. Faced opposition in her career never knew if it was racism or envy. (29-14) Never met anyone she wanted to marry. Discussion about relationships and independence of being single.(31-19) Uganda quite a nice life. Ann has never gone back to Uganda. She went to Indian school there. There were some white children. Her father worked for a law firm with white lawyers. The school did Cambridge ‘O’ levels.(35-50) Her parents had an arranged marriage, ate Indian food and her mother wore a sari. Mother stopped wearing saris when they moved to Scotland it was too cold. Ann was taken to India when she was 2 years old. She has not been since. She has family all over the world but none in Scotland.Discussion about arriving in Scotland from Uganda. Took a while to make friends. Her parents’ office colleagues were friendly and used to come round to eat curry but they would never invite her parents back to their houses. Parents found work straight away. Discussion of the problems finding work faced by many of the Asians expelled from Uganda by Amin.Track 2 Length 5 minutes, 21 secondsHer father was more aware of racism. He told his children to ‘make the best of yourself and your career because in this country people won’t help you’. The British in Uganda did not socialise with anyone else. Her dad was 50 when he came to Scotland. A more distant figure when she was young. Moving to Scotland made the family closer. They only had each other.
