Oral History with Caroline Naude

00:00 Gives name. Caroline describes her identity as mixed race. Her mum was African, and her father was white British. She was born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1972 and moved to Stockport in 2004 after coming to England in 2000.

01:50 She describes herself as a people person and a positive happy person that is family oriented and hard-working.

2:00 Caroline talks about her family – growing up as the oldest of 5 children, with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. She has 4 biological children and raised a further 3 stepchildren. Her culture of having family around is very important to her, although she thinks this is changing within her family as children grow older and ‘tend to do their own thing and go their own way’.

05:02 As a child in Zimbabwe Caroline attended Louis Mountbatten Primary School, David Livingstone Primary School, and Queen Elizabeth High School. The schools were based on the British education system. Home-life was centred on ‘togetherness’ and ‘helping each other’ surrounded by a big family, where cousins were like brothers and sisters and aunts were like your mother.

06:23 She has not been back to Zimbabwe since 1999, would like to but hasn’t been able to because of the demands of raising her family. She is hoping to go next year.

07:14 At school she liked PE, drama, and art, and English Literature was one of her favourite subjects. Says she was more sporty than academic.

07:53 There is a big difference between her childhood in Africa (‘respect for adults’, ‘speak when spoken to’, ‘firmer hand’) and those of her children in Stockport. These cultural differences were a shock to her system. She had to change how she raised her children. Laments that the UK culture gives children too much freedom and independence and respect has diminished, causing issues in schools.

11:54 She feels that people interact differently with her, more sensitive about people of colour and how they are going to speak with you. “I just wish people could just be normal, be natural”.

13:23 In work environments she thinks her efforts aren’t recognised as much as people who put in less effort.

Talks about her daughter’s discomfort with her own African hair and that she doesn’t embrace her naturalness. She feels there is more acceptance in Africa for the way people are and thinks that being in the UK her children feel that ‘being a certain colour is better than the colour they are’.

16:22 Embraces her cultural food and loves cooking and eating African food, is saddened by her children’s embarrassment of the smells of her food.

19:26 Talks about her career, initially worked in the travel and tourism industry in Zimbabwe and then South Africa. Considered a career in social work but family commitments prevented it. Is currently working as an IT contracts assistant at Manchester Metropolitan University and enjoys it.

Came to England because her family was already here and she ‘couldn’t live without seeing my mum!’ but this was a challenge, couldn’t claim citizenship through her British father but ended claiming and receiving asylum due to her father-in-law being a high profile politician that was jailed, resulting in the entire family being persecuted.

27:13 Family life in Stockport was not easy with 7 children, it was very difficult, especially financially.

31:15 Caroline has grown to accept the society she’s living in; she doesn’t see much of a change in Stockport. She tries to reach out to neighbour’s but she’s mostly in a bubble with her family. She missed the closeness of friendships in Africa and doesn’t feel much of a sense of community or togetherness in Stockport.

33:45 She doesn’t know for sure if the current pandemic has changed things, but she does think people have taken a step back from the hustle and bustle of life. Has only seen community spirit on social media or TV and has been isolated for 3 months with son (13) working from home and home-schooling. It’s been a real struggle.

35:58 She feels fortunate to be able to work from home but struggles to focus and is less productive, she’s anxious to get back to work.

38:23 She likes the development of Stockport, such as Red Rock (cinema complex) and at Stockport train station. She loves nature reserves and goes to Vernon Park with family. Stockport has some beautiful places but wishes there were more places for people to socialise.

40:54 Her children give her hope for the future. She is focussed on her career at the moment. She wishes there was more unity within society, and less racism.