This year, South Asian Heritage Month is being celebrated from Monday 18 July to Wednesday 17 August.

The article below was written by Rajoo Miah, co chair of our BAME Network, in celebration of the month and his reflection on being a British Bangladeshi.

My late grandparents (from both my mother and father’s side) first came to the UK, invited by the British Government around 70 years ago. I’ve heard many colourful stories that have been passed down through generations about their journeys and the decisions they made. My grandparents did not settle straight away and made the long often tedious journey back and forth to the Asian subcontinent which was then a part of India.

My grandparents eventually settled in the UK and my parents grew up in inner city Birmingham in the early 1960s. Life was tough and the men in the households would work very long hours in labour intensive roles. Like many south Asian families, my parents grew up in an area which was exclusively Bangladeshi and interactions with non-Bengali’s was rare, meaning integration was very limited. 

As a result, development and opportunities were often confined and the thought of branching away from this community was daunting for them. It is well documented that in that era there was a huge migration of people from the Commonwealth and those newcomers were often met with clear prejudice, including the work they were given and the housing they could choose to live in. Many were also not fluent in English which caused even more alienation.

Fortunately, my grandparents were able to purchase a property and became well established which made it easier for my parents to attend school and college – something that many of my parents’ friends could not do. By the early 1970s my parents’ home country saw another change. Bangladesh, as it is known today, declared itself independent from Pakistan. This was a tough time for many Bangladeshis as the war came very close to home, reaching local cities and villages. Many had extended family that were reporting of casualties and the fear that this caused my family incomprehensible. 

Around the same time, my parents moved away from Birmingham and relocated to Scotland to join some of their relatives and provide a better life for me and my siblings.   

I am grateful for the sacrifices my parents made for us and sympathise with how difficult it was for them to move away out of their comfort zone – from their own little world in a small corner of Birmingham to an alien city in Scotland. They were the first generation of British Asians and the inequalities they faced sadden me.

While I appreciate the hardships my family faced in setting roots in the UK, the experience I had growing up in a predominantly white, Scottish city provided challenges for me that my parents hadn’t faced. 

As a child, I had to balance a lot of things including school and Arabic classes at the local mosque every day, as well as Bengali school at the weekends. I also grew up in a generation who questioned where we belong. We were not seen as Bengali by families from Bangladesh, nor either fully “British” due to my physical appearance. These were tough issues and as a child, I had to really mature very early to balance this out and find a path that felt comfortable.

I was very fortunate to attend a public school and went on to study up a Master’s degree at University, one of the first in the family to do this. Today, I know many Bengali men and women who have not had the same opportunities as me and are sadly still very underrepresented in key professions and senior roles. However, I feel proud of what I have achieved and always want to make my community proud that we can get these jobs and opportunities, despite the challenges.  

A large percentage of British Bangladeshis face inequalities in access to healthcare and education. Many British Bangladeshis suffer with diabetes and cholesterol due to a variety of complex issues. Other south Asian groups have managed to improve on these aspects and the trend for British Bangladeshis is improving.  Bangladesh is one of the world’s youngest countries and one of the newer arrivals from the Commonwealth in the 1960s, which also is a factor for the slow improvement in health and social inequalities.

Despite the different hardships faced by each generation, the second and third generations are beautifully blending who they are in terms of their heritage and adapting to where they were born.  Bangladesh is a vibrant and beautiful country; the rate of development and the growth of the economy has been described as truly inspirational by world leaders. Bangladesh has one of the fastest growing economies with reduced poverty and empowers women to study and seek careers. The world bank has said that due to these improvements, Bangladesh will no longer be classed as a low income country and has moved into a middle income status due to the incredible increases in GDP and improvements in quality of life.

Today, I am still confused when people ask me about where I’m from. Am I Scottish, am I British, am I Bangladeshi, or am I all these things? What I can say is that I am proud of my heritage and proud of the country I was born into and have successfully combined both to make this work for me and not against me.

Did you know…

• Bangladesh’s history includes numerous heroic sacrifices to preserve its native language.  On 21 February 1952, a group of citizens were killed while fighting to establish “Bangla” as the official language of Bangladesh. As a result, UNESCO declared the 21 February the International Mother Language Day, which is now celebrated worldwide.

Read more reflections from Tahira and Sadaf.