Oral History with Sheila Khando

00:00 Gives name, identity, Sheila describes herself as a Black African, she was brought up in Malawi, her grandmother was educated in England.

3:11 Lost her parents at a young age

4:05 Faced many difficulties in early life: experienced an uneasy marriage and was nearly attacked

5:05 Faced rejection when trying to find employment: was deemed ‘overqualified’

6:08 Received no work for the agency

6:49 Her children were bullied in education for their colour, would find empty pizza boxes outside her house. People also told her to ‘go back to her country’.

7:06 Sheila wondered where young children were getting their prejudice opinions from- were these ideas coming from the parents? Children taught hate, not compassion

8:18 Moved to Cheadle Hill, faced neighbours that were not happy to see Black people, her neighbours wanted her family to move away from the area.

9:10 Sheila told the council and her neighbours that she was not going to move out

10:37 Sheila felt discriminated against and disregarded as a person

11:46 Every time her son goes out, he is questioned by police, at 13 years old he was stopped and searched after going for a sleepover

13:43 Sheila’s son remembers facing racial profile on multiple occasions

15:45 At just fourteen years of age, Sheila’s son was hit by a policeman

19:30 Sheila felt that her son was being viewed as a ‘criminal’ by the justice system. She desires a world where children are no longer victimized by the authorities and no longer fear being stopped on the streets.

20:47 Sheila felt that Stockport was a positive environment to bring her children up in

22:54 Britain needs to be more accommodating

23:37 Companies should look to offer more black people employment

23:54 Sheila started an organisation for woman

31:10 Need for more benefits and increased support in welfare: i.e. more support for single parents

33: 22 Sheila is a key worker herself; she has been working through the pandemic despite having vulnerable family

35:05 Black people are hard workers, many take roles as care workers

38:10 Turning negatives into positives, Sheila wants her kids to have a better life: she encourages her children to work hard

40:35 Without communication nothing will change, we need to teach our children love not to hate, compassion is key

41:00 By creating conversation we can eradicate stereotypes

44:50 We need to teach our children ‘to be together’; Sheila suggests racism is still prevalent in the school system

49:30 Ethnicities should be able to live with each other in society, e/g in the adoption system where White families should feel comfortable adopting Black children and vice versa

55:29 We need to lay a positive foundation for future generations