“My mum had a birthmark and I always used to say, I will remember my mum, because she got a
birthmark…”
Jacqueline Henry was born in St Catherine, Jamaica in 1957.
“My childhood in Jamaica was fantastic, I loved the school and I loved spending time with my grandad, my grandmother and my uncle.”
“I really wanted to be a geologist, to study fossils. Even when I was over here, I used to love fossils and rocks.”
“I came to the UK December 5th 1969, to join my mum when I was 11 years old… I arrived at Gatwick… so it was right cold.”
“[It] was a shock to the system…I came straight to Cardiff… my mum was living in Ely.”
“When I first came it was an eye-opener. I was 11 going on 12, I was very optimistic and education-wise…”
“I’d never experienced racism until I came to this country, especially as a child…”
“I was my top of the class [in Jamaica]…”
“I was pushed down to lowest of the class, I was a bright child… for the first 3–4 years of my life over here, they knocked my confidence out.”
“The neighbours… the things that they done was unbelievable. I got up one morning and there was like a bucket of… I can’t even describe it… excrement out the back towards the window… my mother [had to] wash down the back…”
“I did not have that much of a problem in work really… I didn’t think I would have been over here for that length of time.”
“I think people should know the depths of their history. Study history properly that’s what I would say.”
“Roedd gan fy mam fan geni ac mi fyddwn i’n arfer dweud, fe wna i gofio fy mam, am fod ganddi fan geni...”
Ganed Jacqueline Henry yn St Catherine, Jamaica yn 1957.
“Cefais blentyndod gwych yn Jamaica, roeddwn i’n mwynhau’r ysgol ac wrth fy modd yn treulio amser gyda fy nhad-cu, fy mam-gu a f’ewythr.”
“Roeddwn i wir eisiau bod yn ddaearegydd, ac astudio ffosilau. Hyd yn oed pan oeddwn i wedi dod yma, roeddwn i wrth fy modd gyda ffosilau a chreigiau.”
“Fe ddois i’r Deyrnas Unedig ar y 5ed o Ragfyr 1969, i ymuno â fy mam, roeddwn i’n 11 oed... i Gatwick ddois i... felly roedd hi’n andros o oer.”
“[Roedd yn] sioc i’r system... fe ddois i Gaerdydd ar fy union... roedd fy mam yn byw yn Nhrelái.”
“Pan ddois i roedd yn agoriad llygaid. Roeddwn i’n 11, bron yn 12, yn optimistaidd iawn ac o ran addysg...”
“Doeddwn i erioed wedi profi hiliaeth nes cyrhaeddais i’r wlad hon, yn enwedig yn blentyn...”
“Roeddwn i’n un o’r goreuon yn y dosbarth [yn Jamaica]...”
“Fe gefais fy ngwthio i lawr i waelod y dosbarth, roeddwn i’n blentyn disglair... am y 3–4 blynedd gyntaf o fy mywyd yma, fe wnaethon nhw chwalu fy hyder.”
“Y cymdogion... roedd y pethau wnaethon nhw yn anhygoel. Fe godais i un bore ac roedd yna fwced o... alla i mo’i ddisgrifio hyd yn oed... carthion allan yn y cefn tu fas y ffenest... [roedd rhaid i] mam olchi’r cefn...”
“Chefais i ddim llawer o broblem yn y gwaith a dweud y gwir... doeddwn i ddim wedi meddwl y buaswn i yma am gyfnod mor hir.”
“Rwy’n credu y dylai pobl gael gwybodaeth dreiddgar o’u hanes. Astudiwch hanes yn iawn, dyna fuaswn i’n ei ddweud.”