People of mixed nationality.

P=Presenter

A=Amelia

L=Lionel

P ‘This week in The London Programme - People of mixed nationality.

In the streets of London there are people from all parts of the world. They live side by side. Sometimes they marry and have children. Many Londoners have parents of a different nationality. Is this good or bad, easy or difficult for these children? Today two people of mixed nationality tell us their stories. First Amelia de Melo, a textile designer.’

A My father is half Malaysian, half Portuguese. My mother is Polish … erm… her family came to England when she was five, just before the war. She met father when they were both students in London. When I was a young child, …er … I grew up in both London and Malaysia, and we always spoke English at home. It’s my first language … er… but my mother taught me Polish, so sometimes I spoke Polish with her. And we often had Polish food, and I learnt Polish dancing – my aunts in Poland sent me wonderful, colorful costumes to dance in. I love them. But I loved Malaysian things too. Have you ever tried Malaysian food? It’s delicious. I often cook it for myself.

I often think … I think that if I had just one nationality, life would be quite boring. I like the mix of cultures. I only ever had one problem that I can remember. It was when I was sent to boarding school. I was twelve, and … er… some girls joked about the shape of my eyes. I cried and cried. I hated my eyes! But now… now I like my eyes very much. I like to look a bit different!

Last year I got married – to an Englishman. We live in London but we often visit my parents in Malaysia. I’ve never been to Poland, but we might go this summer. I’d love to meet my Polish relatives.

P And now we meet Lionel Varley, who’s an architect.

L My mother’s French and my father’s from Dominica in the Indies. They met and married in London, but they moved to Bristol….er... my father was a dentist there. They…er… that is my parents – always spoke both English and French at home, so my brother and I are bilingual. It’s really useful to have two languages. We (that’s me and my brother) used to spend every school holiday with our French grandmother in France. I love French food. We used to eat mainly French food at home in Bristol too…er…I think we didn’t eat West Indian food because where we lived there were no other West Indians and you couldn’t buy that type of food.

I can remember one problem – a sad time for me. It was when I first started school. I was five and everyone in the school was white, except for one Chinese boy and me, and the others called us names. I was too young to understand why, but then I made some friends, and they forgot about my color.

My father used to talk a lot of about Dominica and the West Indies. His stories were full of flowers and sunshine. So when I was sixteen, I went there. It was interesting, very interesting…er…but I didn’t feel at home, so I came back to England and studied architecture. If I lived there (in Dominica) I don’t think I would have the same opportunities. Next year I’m going to move to New York. It’s even more cosmopolitan than London. I know that I’ll feel very comfortable there, and my wife too. She’s Italian – Russian.

P Thank you, Lionel and thank you, Amelia. Thank you for telling us your stories.

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