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 20 July 2009, so information about his personal family information may have been changed.
8.40 Alhaj Amir Ali
8.40.1 Life in Bangladesh: Alhaj Amir Ali was born in 1925 in the village of Ghabdesh, Nabigonj, Habigonj. His father’s name is late Iman Ali. His father was the only son in his family, due to this he inherited his parent’s property. His father was maintaining his family, he had a huge cultivation lands. His father used to do cultivation and generated good income. One occasion, he got involved with a legal battle and he had to sell 7-8 acres of his land to bear the cost of legal expenses. He has five brother, amongst them he is the third born.
He studied at “Muraura Primary School”. He finished his primary education and took the responsibility to maintain his family because his elder brother used to work in the Police and his second brother used to work in the board ship and later on settled in America.
8.40.2 Journey to the UK & Immigration:
In 1962, at the age of 37, he came to Britain with a labour voucher, during this time his two brothers were in the UK. His main intention was to look for employment in the UK. He was maintaining a good family life in Bangladesh; he had to leave his wife, one son, four daughters and many other closed relatives. After he arrived in Great Britain, his eldest son died. He could not attend his funeral; he is still deeply distressed by this.
He described his village life; he said the environment was good as his village was surrounded by small hills, the price for goods were very cheap also. There weren’t sufficient amounts of money in people’s hands but they were happy. During 1960’s 40 kilos paddy was 7 – 15 Rupees. The behaviour of peoples was good too, now there are less people living in the village, due to fact that many of them had gone abroad.
The minority of people are living in the village. If he ever goes to Bangladesh for visits, he used to go out but not see many peoples in the village. He said that most of the villagers have gone to the Middle East, America and come to Britain. He said there are about 70-80 families from his village that came to Britain.
There was some delay in obtaining the Employment Voucher, due to this he had to face some problems at Heathrow Airport. His brother was supposed to pick him up from the Heathrow airport and due to the fact that there was flight delay in departing from Dhaka, Bangladesh, He could not communicate with his brother and inform him about the time and date.
When he came out from Manchester Airport, he was not able to speak English and was not able to ask “how can I go to Manchester”. He met a woman and shown his Manchester address, the lady then asked him whether he has any money in his pocket. He shown her that he had a £5.00 note, and the lady then told him to take a seat in the waiting area.
She arranged a flight to Manchester and duly he arrived in Manchester Airport. In the Manchester airport he met with one Pakistani lady, that women was in the airport to pick up her husband. The Pakistani lady took him to her house and from there she phoned to his relatives living in Manchester.
8.40.3 Life in the UK
The weather condition was really cold, more specifically he said during 1962 – 1965 the weather was really bad. It was really hard, when he found out that the water line became blocked due to the cold weather. The road surface was covered with snow and ice, it was very difficult to walk in this condition, he said.
One day when he was going to work, there was an incident that he had slipped and fallen down a hill and he could not control himself for a quarter of mile. He was slightly injured from this incident. He said the injury could have been a lot more serious and he could have died.
He used to take his prepared meals from home and used to go to the canteen to warm it up, he also said that a responsible person can earn the name and fame and success in his/her life. He worked with responsibilities; therefore he earned the respect from those factories he worked with.
He travelled many times to Bangladesh, every time in his returns to the UK; he made the enquiries whether or not they have any vacancies. He was able to find employment with a sort waiting. There were some lady officials who used to make jokes and used to say “you came back so soon, you could have stayed there longer”. The management were very friendly he added.
There was also provision that with permission from the management they used to allow people to do their prayers. During that time, the machines were run by some other colleagues and that was arranged by the management. In one occasion, he was fasting and manager seen that he was not drinking any water or wasn’t taking a lunch break.
His manager was pleased and granted two weeks paid leave during Eid. The other colleagues heard this news and went to the manager and asked for the same thing. The manager replied to them that you did not do fasting, so you are not entitling to any leave. You can’t make any comparison with Amir Ali, his manager added. You will see that in the religion the respect is there, he said.
8.40.4 Employment:
He started his first employment at the “Sun Paper Mill” in Blackburn. He worked there for about four years, then he moved to Oldham and he worked at “Manjil Restaurant” for six months. He and his brother got involved with a restaurant business and ran it for about a year, and then he found a job in the paper mill.
The manager of this paper mill told him that there were no black workers for the last 200 years and Amir is the first Bangladeshi who has been employed there. He also told him that Pakistani people work hard and longer hours. The wages were good, £60.00 per week including overtimes. The wages in the restaurant were only £7.50 per week. In this paper mill he worked there for about four years.
In 1966, he went to Bangladesh and stayed there for seven months. He returned to the UK and seen the job demand and volume of work has reduced. He joined with his employment and he used to receive £260.00 per week.
He worked in a cotton mill in Ashton-under-Lyne for two years and then went back to Bangladesh. He was working as a learner at the spinning section for two weeks then he had been given the opportunity to work with them. His wages were £80.00 per week without overtime. He utilised the opportunity given to work as a spinner and he became an experienced spinner. The management was pleased to see his achievement and performance.
He went to Bangladesh again, then soon returned and joined another cotton factory in Ashton-under-Lyne. His wages were £80.00 per week without any overtime. He worked there for about two years and then went back to Bangladesh. In his return to the UK, he made the enquiry to the same mill and he rejoined with them. In the last job he had the position of foreman due to his long standing experiences.
In 1980, when was 60 years of age, he decided to take the retirement from his long employment life in the UK. Whilst he was working in the restaurant, there were two shifts, morning and the evening shifts. He used to have his breakfast and went to work and had his lunch at the restaurant. He had some rest in the afternoon before going to work in the evening. In the evening he used to take his evening meals at the restaurant.
The employer was responsible to provide staffs free meals. Therefore during this time he did not have to prepare any meals in his house, but when he was working at the factories, he used to prepare his meals, until his wife came to Britain in 1979.
There was language barrier while he was working in the factories but the foremen were very helpful and very supportive too. He was able to understand the body language when someone was giving him work. Often there were many people, who used to come forward with help. They used to hold our hands to show us how to do the work.
He shared his first job experience at a paper mill in Blackburn. He said after completing his first two weeks, his supervisor (foreman) recommended him to get full time employment. So, he was able to get the permanent position. During his long employment with the factories, he said “only older people used to come forward to help us”. He also mentioned that British people usually didn’t help in the factories (especially if they were younger), then it was quite difficult to do the job and live in the UK.
This manager later on allocated an area with yellow ribbons, to do prayers and he had given the key for that room. His manager, also told him that you cannot do the prayer anywhere in the factory, as you used to do. Now you have to use a clean place for prayer, his manager added.
He said his manager understood that for the prayer we needed a clean place. He said he earns this respect by showing the responsibilities and working hard, otherwise it was not possible to get any respect from them. He said, if there were opportunities available, he could have continuously worked in the factory for the rest of his life.
8.40.5 Housing:
When he first arrived in the UK in 1962, the housing conditions were very poor; the toilet was outside, there was no central heating system or any bathroom inside the house. So he used to go to the public bath once or twice a week. The charge was two and half shillings. Usually on Saturdays and Sundays there was no work, so he used to do the bath on every Saturday and do other necessary work on Sunday.
They used coal fires to make the rooms warmer and to make hot water people used to use kettles. There was accommodation with the restaurant but he never lived there, he usually used to live with shared accommodation in the rented houses. One of the foremen used to pick up and drop him off from his home and he used pay him £1.00 per week for fuel expenses.
So it was very helpful and he did not have to travel by bus. The foreman was an African national and was very friendly too. In 1980 he bought a two bedroom house from an auction and paid £60,000.00 for this. In 1984 the house was demolished by the local authorities.
During 1984 – 1986 he was living in Bangladesh. In 1986, he moved to Manchester. He had this house from the co-operative Housing Association. The local authority is paying the rent, his children have got their own home but he prepared to stay on his own. When he retired from the employment, he became a British citizen along with his other four sons. He paid the Home Office a fee of £50.00 for registering as a British Citizen. His wife did not become British but she intends to do so.
8.40.6 Social & Family:
He married in 1948, then he came to Britain in 1962, but he did not bring his wife and children until 1979. He is father of 5 sons and 4 daughters. Two of the daughters got married in Bangladesh. The rest of his children came to Britain with his wife.
When he arrived in the UK, he stayed with his brother. In the same house there were two more people from the same village who used to live with them. One of them was Firuj Miah and other one was Noor Miah. He can’t forget this; this is always in his memory and reflects on its own.
All of his children are living in the UK. Five sons are involved with the catering business and they have created about 100 vacancies. His children did not get any other opportunities and they have chosen to do these businesses. All of his children are now established businessman. Two sons got married in the UK, three sons got married in Bangladesh. He has 14 grandchildren and he said “I am very happy”.
He had no intention to stay in the UK; his main primary objective was to work and save some money and return to his home country, but due to time and the changing of conditions he considered bringing his family. Since he brought his family in the UK, his family members (including children) don’t want to go back, as they think; they have brought up here and wish to settle in the UK. His wife at first didn’t like the idea of moving to the UK but now seeing how her children have grown up she is very happy with the decision.
His sons made the wealth in the UK and they are also investing money in Bangladesh. They have built up a shopping complex known as “Amir & Sons Shopping Complex”. It has created an opportunity for local businesses i.e. general store, banks and community centre also with a children play area. He went to Makkah with his wife to do the Hajj (pilgrimage).
8.40.7 Independence of Bangladesh:
He went to Bangladesh on 25th March 1971 and the war had begun on the next day. After the liberation war, he obtained a Bangladeshi Passport and returned to the UK. During the liberation war he often had to hide near the hills to save their life. His brother was a local chairman, so their house was on target by the Pakistani Military. Their house was raided few times by the Army, so he feels that they are lucky to be alive. His wife was pregnant during war, so it was very difficult for her to move from one place to other.
8.40.8 Conclusion:
He has been living in Manchester for the last 30 years. Where he lives now is very close to his sons businesses, which was the main reason for him considering living in Manchester. He is the main person to establish the “Shahporan Mosque” in Manchester. Abdul Mannan also helped him set up this Mosque. At the Friday prayer in the mosque there are about 600 – 700 people who turn up every week.
There is demand from the local community to extend the Mosque, due to the large number of population which had increased in that area. There is an extension plan under consideration by the committee and it is hoping to start the work very soon. Many of his colleagues and friends are not alive. At this stage, he is happy to live nearby Mosque and he can go five times a day.
Finally he said, I am serving the local community as a volunteer of Mosque. He also said he goes to Bangladesh to his close relatives and friends. Due to his old age, he has many medical issues; therefore he is unable to travel to Bangladesh at-least for two years.
