“Take opportunities, make the best of yourself and of life because we only get one life.”
Deloris James was born on a tiny island in the Caribbean called Nevis.
“My granny, she was my great grandmother actually, was lovely, she… bought me up until I was ten.”
“My biological mother died… when I was about 21 months old, so I didn’t know her.”
“She [my grandmother] did a bit of everything really… But I do remember at one point, she moved us to St Kitts, because there weren’t that many jobs on Nevis and she got a job in the sugar cane fields. “
“She’d come and pick us up, with a snack, and we would just be on the edge of the field while she was doing her job picking cane.”
“I was ten years old… I arrived on 3rd August 1964… we got on a big ship and it was called the SS Sorrento. I would be coming to Cardiff. I remember being on the platform waiting for the train shivering with cold…”
“Initially, my parents had a flat in Butetown, Loudoun Square. It wasn’t a bad experience. I do remember a couple of the kids saying nasty things, just a couple, most of them were fine.”
“I was a very avid reader… I practically lived in the library. I devoured books.”
“I went into the school and addressed, in the hall, all the staff, the students, I cooked some Caribbean food for the staff and I took a basket of fruit and veg… and explained what they were, so that was lovely. I enjoy doing that sort of stuff.”
“I can say I’m now at the age where I am content with life, I’m not rich, but I am content. I have a job which I enjoy, I have two lovely sons, I have a few very, very close friends, I’m relatively healthy, and as I said, life is good, life is good.”
“Bachwch ar gyfleoedd, gwnewch y gorau ohonoch chi’ch hunain ac o’ch bywydau oherwydd dim ond un bywyd rydyn ni’n ei gael.”
Ganed Deloris James ar ynys fechan o’r enw Nevis yn y Caribî
“Roedd fy nain, fy hen nain oedd hi mewn gwirionedd, yn annwyl iawn, hi... wnaeth fy magu nes oeddwn i’n ddeg oed.”
“Bu farw fy mam fiolegol... pan roeddwn i’n tua 21 mis oed, felly chefais i erioed ei hadnabod hi.”
“Roedd hi [fy nain] yn gwneud ychydig o bob dim a dweud y gwir... Ond rwy’n cofio ar un adeg, fe wnaeth hi ein symud ni i St Kitts, gan nad oedd llawer o waith ar Nevis ac fe gafodd hi waith yn y caeau câns siwgr.”
“Arferai hi ddod i’n cyrchu ni, gyda thamaid i fwyta, ac yno roedden ni ar ymyl y cae tra’r oedd hi’n gwneud ei gwaith yn casglu câns.”
“Deng mlwydd oed oeddwn i... fe gyrhaeddais ar y 3ydd o Awst 1964... aethon ni ar fwrdd llong fawr o’r enw’r SS Sorrento. I Gaerdydd roeddwn i’n dod. Rwy’n gallu cofio bod ar y platfform yn aros am y trên yn rhynnu, roedd hi mor oer...”
“I ddechrau, roedd gan fy rhieni fflat yn Butetown, yn Sgwâr Loudoun. Doedd o ddim yn brofiad drwg, er mod i’n cofio cwpl o’r plant yn dweud pethau cas, dim ond cwpl ohonyn nhw, roedd y rhan fwyaf yn iawn.”
“Roeddwn i’n ddarllenwraig frwd... roeddwn i’n byw yn y llyfrgell fwy neu lai, ac yn llowcio llyfrau.”
“Fues i yn yr ysgol a rhoddais gyflwyniad, yn y neuadd, i’r holl staff a disgyblion, fe wnes i goginio bwyd Caribïaidd i’r staff, a mynd â basged o ffrwythau a llysiau gyda mi... ac egluro beth oedden nhw, roedd hynny’n brofiad hyfryd. Rwy’n mwynhau gwneud y math yna o beth.”
“Fe allaf i ddweud nawr mod i wedi cyrraedd oed bodlondeb yn fy mywyd, ‘dw i ddim yn gyfoethog, ond dw i’n fodlon. Mae gen i swydd rwy’n ei mwynhau, mae gen i ddau fab annwyl, ac mae gen i ychydig o ffrindiau agos iawn, rwy’n gymharol iach ac fel ro’n i’n sôn, mae bywyd yn dda, mae bywyd yn dda.”