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 30th November 2008, so information about his personal family information may have been changed.
8.7 Alhaj Munsif Ali
8.7.1 Life in Bangladesh:
Alhaj Munsif Ali was born in a traditional Muslim family in the area of Doyamir, (Balagonj) Osmani Nagor, and Sylhet, Bangladesh. He was born in 1951. His father’s name is Alhaj Kasim Ali (Shareng) and his mother’s name is late Gulu Bibi.
His father was living in the United Kingdom; he has 4 brothers & 3 sisters. He studied at Abdus Subhan Primary School & Sodrunnessa High School, then he studied upto the class of seven due to the taken up residence in the UK.
8.7.2 Immigration:
Mr. Ali`s father used to work on a ship and taken up residence in the UK. When his father
went to Bangladesh to bring him to the United Kingdom his father was 60 years old, Alhaj
Munsif Ali’s main intention was to study in the UK and look after his father who has reached
the age of 60. In 1966 he came to UK with his father and arrived at Heathrow Airport.
From there they took a taxi and went to London where his father’s friend was living. He and his father stayed there for two days. Then they took a train from King Cross Train station and came to Manchester where his cousin was living.
8.7.3 Education in the UK:
He joined Greenfield Primary School in the year of four. His father had taken a job in a
Textile Mill, which was in Oldham. He had to move with his father and he then joined
Chadderton County Secondary School, he completed his GCSE at the age of 15. He was
encouraged to study textile diploma on part time basis, the course was for 5 years and he
completed it in 3 years. He received a certificate from the college which is intermediate
level.
8.7.4 Employment:
After completing his secondary education, he started to work in the textile factory. His
starting wage was £8.00 and he used to work 40 hours a week. He used to get a day off with pay to go to college.
In 1969, his father went back to Bangladesh and Mr. Ali moved to Hyde in Cheshire. He
worked in a paper factory for about a year. Weekly wages was £10 but if anyone worked in
Saturday he used to get £2 on top of the weekly wages. In 1970 he worked in the Eastern
Restaurant as a trainee waiter. The wages were £12 per week with free food and
accommodation.
The reason for changing the employment was that people were enjoying working in the
restaurant, the people who came from Bangladesh; they enjoyed working in restaurants.
There were many facilities like free food and accommodation which was provided by the
employer. Working in the restaurant was much better than working in the factory. That was
the main reason for the changing of employment.
He worked there for about 5 years, after that he opened a restaurant on Union Street in
Oldham town. That was a partnership business with Mr. Alhaj Ismail Ali. The name of the
restaurant was Eastern Tandoori. He was running this business for about 3 years. The
weekly business taking was 15/1600 pound. After receiving the wages he used to get £25-
£30 profit per week.
While he was running the first business he opened another restaurant. In 1984/85 he sold
his share to his partner. Thereafter, he opened a takeaway business. In 1993 he sold his
takeaway. In 1994 he went to Mekkah to do pilgrimage. He opened another takeaway but
due to low turnover he sold the business, during the present time he is working as a private taxi driver. Whilst he was involved with the business he was a bus contractor and then he worked as a bus driver with the Greater Manchester Transport.
There was an opportunity for contractor who worked at least 2 years and would like to
become bus driver that they have been given the chance to seat for test and undertake
some training. If the person successfully passes the test then they are offered the job.
His wages were £4 – £5 per hour and he worked there for about 7 years. He left the bus
driver job and went back to run his own business. His partner was not happy to run the
business on his own. Therefore, Mr. Ali decided to leave the bus driver job and take over the business management. Mr. Ali still feels that the driving job was very good for him. There were some benefits which was very useful such as sick benefit.
The relationship with staff was also very good. There was no racism. There were no
differences between white and black workers either, everyone was treated equally and had
gotten the same benefit. Mr. Ali said there was no regulation in the factories such as safety
regulation and wearing uniform to do the work.
There was half an hour for a lunch break and for using the canteen facility, if people go to canteen to take their lunch they could not finish in half an hour time. So people used to get their meal from home and just used the microwave it to warm up the food.
Mr. Ali used to get the food from home and they used to seat somewhere convenient to
eat. There were some other people who used to do the same. He enjoyed working in the
factory. The house was consisting of 9 bedrooms. Some people used to live in single room
and some people used to share rooms. At that time there was a good relationship with
people. People used to accept other people as their brothers.
8.7.5 Housing:
His father used to share accommodation with one of his friends; he was living there with
them for the time being. There was no bathroom, no hot water or central heating system in
the house, the toilet was outside the house, and the coal was the only source of heat in the
room. He used to use the bath once a week at the public bath.
One shilling per person was the charge to have a bath and the soap was 6 pence. Depositing 1 penny to get a towel and when you return the towel you get your 1 penny back. The room he was living in was with his father, there was another person living there as well. For the accommodation he used to pay £1 per week. The landlord used to change the bed sheet every week.
8.7.6 Social & Family:
He used to send money for his family members who were residing in Bangladesh. Mr. Ali
and his 2 brothers are living in the UK. One brother is residing in Bangladesh. His
Bangladeshi brothers are responsible to look after the property in Bangladesh and in some
time they can come to the UK to see them.
In 1972, he went to Bangladesh and got married, he has nine children. His eldest son was
born in Bangladesh and the rest of them were born in the UK. Two of his daughters and two
of his sons got married. One son is working in the Gas office, other children are studying.
He has many relatives living in Bangladesh; he goes regularly to Bangladesh to see them.
He sometimes takes his children and family to Bangladesh. His childhood was very good; the Bangladeshi community is doing better compared with the previous period. His children are now going to universities and obtaining degrees.
He thinks that the parents and community both need to be more anxious and provide necessary guidance and support to their children. All parents should have the responsibility to maintain the family tie with Bangladeshi relatives, taking children to Bangladesh is also important.
8.7.7 Conclusion:
In his conclusion he says that our community needs to focus more on education. He is
working as a volunteer with the local Bangladeshi community in Hyde. He was involved with the Hyde Welfare Association and served as an official.
He is now involved with Hyde Jame Mosque. He also said that he and his children have been educated due to the fact that they are in the UK. If he never have had the opportunity to come to the UK then it would have been more difficult for his family to study, studying in Bangladesh is more difficult unfortunately.
