“I adapt when I came here, you have to when you go from one place to another…”
Elva Headman was born in Tweedside District, in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica.
“I had a happy childhood, very happy childhood… wonderful Grandparents… Fried dumpling, I used to love fried dumpling,”
“I came on my own. My father came over first int it, in the 50s when they wanted people to work in this country. Mother joined, couple of years after with my two brothers. I was about 10 or 11 [then]. I decided I didn’t want to come to England, till the long years after, about six years after, I was in my 20s when I came here.”
“I learnt to do hairdressing, so that’s what I used to do, before I came here, I had my certificate…when I came here…it was so cold… I not going to do no hairdressing. So I went into nursing then.”
“When I was in Bristol, I used to work in the psychiatric hospital, in the Fishponds [Blackberry Hill Hospital], and there was quite a lot of Jamaicans was there as well, see, so I was all right.”
“When I got married, I came to live in Port Talbot. He [her husband] used to work with the dry docks and when the dry docks closed, then [with]… Brilliant Press. Although twas’ cheap labour… he always work… When I came here [Wales], I work in Groeswen in the infectious ward, that’s where I started over in Port Talbot.”
“We were brought up as a British, when I came here I had a British passport, we didn’t have no other nationality but British, as Jamaicans. “
“They always tell you that ‘manners maketh the man’. If you got manners you can go through the whole world without a penny.”
“Fe wnes i addasu pan ddois i yma, mae’n rhaid ichi pan fyddwch chi’n symud o un lle i’r llall...”
Ganed Elva Headman yn Nalgylch Tweedside, ym Mhlwy f Clarendon, Jamaica.
“Fe gefais blentyndod dedwydd, plentyndod dedwydd iawn... mamgu a thad-cu annwyl... twmplenni o’r badell, roeddwn i’n dwli ar dwmplenni o’r badell.”
“Ar fy mhen fy hun ddois i. Fy nhad ddaeth gyntaf, welwch chi, yn y 50au pan roedden nhw eisiau pobl i weithio yma yn y wlad hon. Daeth fy mam gwpl o flynyddoedd ar ei ôl ef gyda fy nau frawd. Roeddwn i’n tua 10 neu 11 [bryd hynny]. Fe benderfynais i nad oeddwn i eisiau dod i Loegr, am flynyddoedd hir wedyn, tua chwe blynedd wedyn, roeddwn i yn fy 20au pan ddois i yma.”
“Fe ddysgais i drin gwallt, felly dyna’r oeddwn i’n ei wneud cyn imi ddod yma, roedd gen i fy nhystysgrif... pan ddois i yma... roedd hi mor oer... doeddwn i ddim am wneud unrhyw waith trin gwallt. Felly mi es i’n nyrs.”
“Pan roeddwn i ym Mryste, roeddwn i’n arfer gweithio yn yr ysbyty seiciatryddol, yn y Fishponds [Ysbyty Blackberry Hill], ac roedd dipyn go lew ohonon ni Jamaiciaid yno hefyd, welwch chi, felly roeddwn i’n ôl reit.”
“Pan wnes i briodi, fe ddois i fyw i Bort Talbot. Roedd e [ei gŵr] yn arfer gweithio yn y dociau sych a phan gaeodd y dociau sych, yna [bu’n gweithio gyda]... Brilliant Press. Er mai llafur rhad oedd ei waith... roedd e bob amser yn gweithio... Pan ddois i yma [Cymru], roeddwn i’n gweithio yn Groeswen yn y ward afiechydon heintus, yn y fan honno ddechreuais i draw ym Mhort Talbot.”
“Fe gawsom ein magu yn Brydeinwyr, pan ddois i yma, roedd gen i basbort Prydeinig, doedd gennym ni’r Jamaiciaid mo’r un cenedligrwydd arall, dim ond Prydeinig.”
“Maen nhw wastad yn dweud mai moesau sy’n bwysig, ‘manners maketh the man’. Os oes gennych chi foesau da, fe allwch chi wneud eich ffordd drwy’r byd i gyd heb geiniog.”