“I just look, stand by the sea and see…the sea and the sky meeting, and say ‘I wonder what’s behind that?’”
Vernesta Cyril OBE was born in 1943 in St Lucia, and she has spent 30 plus years working in hospitals in Wales. She was awarded Midwife of the Year in 2006 and an OBE for her contributions to the NHS.
“Well, I think it was quite happy…I say bathing in the rain…seeing people digging yams and picking the bread fruit and the ram [nut ram] watching the bats on the ram, cashew nuts… I always wanted to aim for A’s, B’s [in school]… we had to learn all the songs and when it’s the Queen’s birthday and had to go on the square with your flag and say the thing, you know ‘God bless our Queen Elizabeth’…I wanted to do teaching or nursing.”
“My sister came before me… my aunt was there, she encouraged my mother, ‘Oh, send her over, she can do it [exam] over here’. I just thought it was an adventure, I was coming to learn.”
“I worked for a couple of months before I went into nursing. I think it was a TB hospital then, they change it in Cefn Mably [Caerphilly], just as an observer…They wanted me to sit exam again…I’ve come here, I’m invited… I didn’t have to be sent by my government; so I sat the exam… So there’s my nursing career started.”
“I think for me, I found things to do to cushion the way I was treated… I’ll never forget the patient who said to me, she was crippled in her bed, ‘you’re not going to put your Black hands on me’, and Peter’s [Vernesta’s husband] never forgotten, ‘we’re not going to work with you, we don’t want a Black man here working.’”
“You were treated with hostility, even in your work… It shaped me into being someone who is strong.”
“Rwy’n edrych, yn sefyll ar lan y môr ac yn gweld... yr awyr a’r môr yn cwrdd, ac fe fyddwn i’n meddwl, ‘Tybed beth sydd y tu hwnt i’r fan yna?’”
Ganed Vernesta Cyril OBE yn St Lucia yn 1943, ac mae hi wedi treulio mwy na 30 mlynedd yn gweithio mewn ysbytai yng Nghymru. Enillodd wobr Bydwraig y Flwyddyn yn 2006 a derbyniodd OBE am ei chyfraniadau i’r GIG.
“Wel, rwy’n meddwl ei fod yn gyfnod eithaf hapus... nofio yn y glaw... yn gweld pobl yn palu iamau ac yn codi’r ffrwythau bara a’r rambwtan, yn gwylio’r ystlumod ar y coed rambwtan, cnau cashiw... Roeddwn i bob amser eisiau anelu am raddau A a B [yn yr ysgol]... roedd yn rhaid inni ddysgu’r holl ganeuon a phan roedd hi’n ben-blwydd ar y Frenhines roedden ni’n gorfod mynd allan i’r sgwâr gyda’n baneri a dweud, wyddoch chi, y dywediad ‘Bendith Duw ar ein Brenhines Elizabeth’... roeddwn i eisiau bod yn athrawes neu’n nyrs.”
“Daeth fy chwaer yma o fy mlaen i... roedd fy modryb yma, ac fe anogodd fy mam: ‘O, anfona hi drosodd, fe gaiff wneud [ei harholiadau] yma.’ Roeddwn i’n meddwl am y cwbl fel antur, roeddwn i’n dod i ddysgu.”
“Fe wnes i weithio am gwpl o fisoedd cyn imi fynd i nyrsio. Rwy’n credu mai ysbyty TB oedd e bryd hynny, fe wnaethon nhw ei newid yng Nghefn Mably [Caerffili], dim ond arsylwi oeddwn i... Roedden nhw am i mi sefyll arholiad eto... fe ddois i yma, fe ges i wahoddiad... doedd dim rhaid imi gael fy anfon gan fy llywodraeth; felly, fe safais i’r arholiad... A dyna
ddechrau ar fy ngyrfa nyrsio.”
“Rwy’n meddwl, i mi, roeddwn i’n dod o hyd i ffyrdd i gadw’n brysur i dynnu fy meddwl oddi ar y ffordd y cawn fy nhrin... Anghofiaf i fyth y claf a ddywedodd wrthyf i, a hithau’n wael yn ei gwely, ‘dwyt ti ddim am roi dy ddwylo duon arnaf i’, a s’mo Peter [gŵr Vernesta] erioed wedi anghofio, ‘wnawn ni ddim gweithio gyda thi, s’mo ni moyn dyn Du yn
gweithio yma.’”
“Roeddech chi’n cael eich trin yn elyniaethus, hyd yn oed yn eich gwaith... fe wnaeth imi fod yn berson cryf.”