“When I came here… it was like a bird to being let out of the cage, you know…”
Franklyn Parris was born in St Kitts in 1947. When he was nine years old his father left for Britain and Franklyn went to live with his grandmother.
“My dad was a butcher in the West Indies, and when he came here he worked in the coal cuttings up in Nantgarw… When I was about six till it was about nine, I went to the market every Friday night with my dad to kill the animals to sell in the market on a Saturday.”
“When I was young, I wanted to grow up to be a minister in church. Church was a big part of life, especially from my time as a child went to church nearly every day, evenings and nights.”
“…My grandmother wrote to my dad and said you’d better send for him because he’d be on his own if anything happens to me… I was 13 and then I came here.”
“I started an apprenticeship as an engineer… I was successful and went in the Navy as an engineer. That was in 1968…Flew to New York, joined the ship… from there we went to Vietnam, we flew from Hong Kong with the soldiers because the war was on. I was away for eight months… Seen suffering, seen dead bodies, really shocking…”
“I’ve got two flags up in my house, St Kitts and Nevis flag and the Welsh flag… After being around Britain, I wouldn’t live anywhere else but Cardiff…”
“There have been testing times in the past, but there’ve been more good times than testing. People have made me feel more welcome. I got a tremendous amount of friends. I still feels lonely but I got friends, but it’s a loneliness that has been with me all my life and which will never go away.”
“Pan ddois i yma… roedd fel rhyddhau aderyn o’i gaets, wyddoch chi...”
Ganed Franklyn Parris yn St Kitts yn 1947. Pan roedd yn naw oed ymadawodd ei dad a mynd i Brydain ac aeth Franklyn i fyw gyda’i fam-gu.
“Cigydd oedd fy nhad yn India’r Gorllewin, a phan ddaeth e yma, roedd e’n gweithio yn yr hafnau glo lan yn Nantgarw... Pan roeddwn i’n chwech oed, nes oeddwn i’n tua naw, roeddwn i’n mynd i’r farchnad bob nos Wener gyda ’nhad i ladd yr anifeiliaid i’w gwerthu yn y farchnad ar ddydd Sadwrn.”
“Pan roeddwn i’n ifanc, roeddwn i eisiau tyfu i fyny i fod yn weinidog yn yr eglwys. Roedd yr eglwys yn rhan fawr o fy mywyd, yn enwedig yn fy mhlentyndod pan roeddwn i’n mynd i’r eglwys bron bob dydd, gyda’r nos a liw nos.”
“Ysgrifennodd fy mam-gu y at fy nhad gan ddweud y byddai’n well iddo anfon amdana i, gan y buaswn ar fy mhen fy hun pe bai unrhyw beth yn digwydd iddi hi... roeddwn i’n 13 oed pan ddois i yma.”
“Fe wnes i ddechrau prentisiaeth fel peiriannydd... roeddwn i’n llwyddiannus ac fe es i’r Llynges fel peiriannydd. Yn 1968 oedd hynny... fe wnes i hedfan i Efrog Newydd, ymuno â’r llong... o’r fan honno, fe fuon ni yn Fietnam, fe wnaethon ni hedfan i Hong Kong gyda’r milwyr gan fod rhyfel yno. Roeddwn i oddi cartref am wyth mis... fe welais i ddioddef, cyrff meirw, roedd yn sioc ofnadwy...”
“Mae gen i ddwy faner i fyny yn fy nhŷ, baner St Kitts a Nevis a baner Cymru... Ar ôl bod o gwmpas Prydain, fuaswn i ddim yn byw yn unlle ond Caerdydd...”
“Mae cyfnodau heriol yn fy hanes, ond rwyf wedi cael mwy o adegau da nag adegau heriol. Mae pobl wedi gwneud imi deimlo’r fath groeso.
Mae gen i lu o ffrindiau. Rwy’n teimlo’n unig er hynny, er fod gen i frindiau, ond rhyw unigrwydd sydd wedi bod gyda fi drwy gydol fy mywyd yw hwn, ac aiff o byth i ffwrdd.”