This is a translation version of the original video documentary which was than transcribed and translated from Bengali to English. A book with the title of History of Bangladeshis in Greater Manchester has been published and it will be distributed to the libraries, schools and universities. The interview took place on 25 June 2010, so information about his personal family information may have been changed.
8.23 Alhaz Ismail Hussain Shiraji (Jomir Ali)
8.23.1 Life in Bangladesh: Alhaj Ismail Hussain Shiraji, also known as Jomir Ali and was born in the village of ‘Attaullah’, in the area of Osmaninogor, Balagonj, Sylhet. His father’s name was Alhaj Md Yakub Ullah. He has three brothers and he was the third youngest amongst them.
He completed his primary education from a local primary school called ‘Dowamir Primary School’. He took his SSC exam in 1969 from the ‘Mongol Chondi High School’ and admitted into College. He completed college and earned a Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) qualification in 1973 and earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the “Modon Muhon Degree College” in 1976. Being a Graduate, he used to work at his own Pharmacy in his spare time. Sometimes he had to work 24/7.
While he was student, he was involved with politics and hold post of general secretary of ‘Balagonj Thana Student League’. Then he became the chairman of ‘Youth League’ and was also chairman of ‘Bongo Bondu Parishod’ for a couple of years.
He says that his village and its neighbouring areas were in quite good condition and there weren’t any financial problems. There family was also running well with their earnings from cultivation and from the profit from the Pharmacy they owned. Besides, his father also used to live in the UK, therefore they were dwelling a happy life and was able to complete his Higher Education, and hence he is a successful man.
8.23.2 Journey to the UK & Immigration:
He was asked why he moved to the UK whilst he was a well educated person and was also from a rich background. In his reply he said that his main intension for coming to the UK was for Higher Education. After coming to the UK he started to carry on with Higher education. As he saw his father working at his old age, he asked himself that if his father can work at his age.
By doing so he could help his father. His father wasn’t very physically well, so he can replace his father in working. Therefore he changed his mind and started work. Hence he couldn’t carry on with further education.
His father made all the arrangements for his migration to UK. They used to live together in Bradford. The house they were living in was owned by his father. He saw his father working at a factory. He was finding UK quite well because he knows some people who were working with his father and he also luckily met some of his old friends in the UK. Therefore his life in the UK was going quite well.
8.23.3 Employment & Business:
One day his cousin came to visit him and his father was at their place and asked him to come and visit his restaurant in Manchester with him on the same day. He went to visit the restaurant and started to work as a waiter later on. After that he became the manager of the restaurant. His weekly wages was about £80.00 – £90.00.
His wages wasn’t satisfactory for the job he was doing. Since it was his cousin’s restaurant, he was thinking and working as his own restaurant and sometimes he had to work day and night.
He left the restaurant job and moved to London to do job in a Garments factory. He didn’t like the job there and therefore started working at a restaurant in Kent as a manager. He was satisfied with the wages he got. His wages were £180.00 per week. He was working in that restaurant till 1979.
In 1980, he was able to run his own restaurant. He paid about £20,000.00 – £25,000.00 for the restaurant and it was based in Birmingham. He wasn’t earning much profit from the restaurant and hence he sold the restaurant.
After that he started another Indian restaurant in Salford called “Curry Centre”. He had a business partner this time who was also his cousin. The profit from the business wasn’t that good but it was satisfactory for him and his cousin. They were running this business form 1980-1982.
After that he started another restaurant in Oldham called “Prayri Indian Restaurant” This time he had two more partners and the profit they were getting from the business was also good. He was in partnership with this business till 1985.
While he was running this business, he bought another restaurant in Ashton-Under-Lyne and named it “Asian Tandoori”. At that time his other two partners were maintaining the business very well. Those mentioned above were the only business he was running. He didn’t start any new business.
8.23.4 Social & Family:
In 1992, he retired from the business due to his physical illness. He is a hardworking and a successful business man and he has four sons and 2 daughters. His eldest son gained an Accounting Degree and is now involved in business. His second eldest son graduated from Manchester University and is employed at present. His third son wanted to do Islamic education, therefore admitted in ‘Madrashah’ and his fourth son is still studying.
Even though he started his business in Oldham in 1982, his relation with the people in Oldham was from long ago. He was living in Oldham in his own house, where his parents also lived. Due to this he joined the ‘Glodwick Bangladesh Society’.
He was very successful, active and dedicated person and impressed everyone in the group by showing his hard work. As a result he was elected as the Chairperson of the ‘Glodwick Bangladesh Society’. He was involved with this social work and 20 years had passed and yet even with his physical illness he still wants to work for the community.
In 2002, he became a director of Tigers International Association – TIA and 2009-10 he served as a chairperson. He was one of the most senior and respected person in the association provided encouragement and motivation. Due to his ill health, he retired from chairperson.
At present he lives in Coppice, Oldham. While he was living in coppice, he established an organisation called ‘Coppice Bangladesh Society’ with the help of his friends and it was running for about 3 years. At present due to lack of funding, they had to close down the centre. The organisation is still famous at present.
He says that there are around 150 Bangladeshi families in coppice, and the number of voters would be around 5000-7000. In whole of Oldham there is around 15,000 Bangladeshis’. He was able to setup a ‘Bangla School’ while he was living in ‘Glodwick’ where children can learn the Bangla language. Besides that “Glodwick Bangladesh Society” also provided advice on benefits, housing, and immigration and so on. They had to contact the local council and arranged meetings with councillors for resolving the housing issues. Even though they couldn’t build a Housing Association, they were still able to help the community in many ways.
The Bangladeshi community is now beneficial considered to the past times. Children are being beneficial by educating in a developed country UK. There are mosques, therefore people can offer Salah and also send their children for Islamic education. There are schools in every area therefore it’s easy for students to travel from home to school. Therefore everyone is getting lots of good facilities in UK.
At present he is a member of a political group called ‘Bangladesh Awamileague UK’. Even though he is working for the political group in Bangladesh, he is not involved with any British political party. Beside that he was a School Governor in Oldham.
He visits Bangladesh whenever he gets the chance and likes to spend his holiday there. He has relatives, also two brothers in Bangladesh and his relationship with them is quite well.
His first performed Hajj was in 1993. This social worker and religious person is now physically ill. This was also seen while he was being interviewed. In the past he had heart, kidney and lung disease and was in hospital and once survived from being very close to death. He was in the intensive care unit for two weeks. He said “The doctors lost hope that I am not going to survive, but due to the special payers from the many community members the creator (Allah) has given me a new life”.
He needs the help of a cane to walk. His sons or daughter takes him by car whenever he wants to go anywhere. Therefore he spends most of the time at home. At present he’s waiting for his kidney replacement.
8.23.5 Conclusion:
Being a social worker, he says regarding the community that the education for the new generation, everyone has to keep their eyes open so that they won’t be caught behind on the educational grounds.
The parents need to make their children understand about the importance of education, which will enlighten their life. He also said “The nation without any education cannot do any progressive work”. He also said a phrase “education is the backbone of the nation”. Therefore they should keep on studying.
It is found that there is often at least one graduate in every Bangladeshi family and this also an honourable thing for Bangladeshi community in Britain. Britain and other countries in the world are getting benefit from their contribution and he feel very proud for that. He is very thankful to the creator (Allah) for giving this opportunity.
He is also hopeful that in the near future this number will be increased, if the parents give guidance to their children. The new generation may be negatively affected because of parents not keeping an eye on their children due to their busy life. The parents should somehow find some time for their children’s education.
Even with his current physical illness, he still sits with the elders to discuss how to help develop the community, how to give religious education to our children etc. At the moment he is not involved with British politics but still he reads the newspaper to find out any news.