Obie Matin was shunned for marrying a white man. Yet, she cared for her parents to their last moment.  BENGALI CULTURE & A NAME Obie Matin’s full name is a little bit complicated she says. In Bengali culture, people would know her by her nickname: Obie. But her  formal name  is actually Lubjana Matin. Nobody  calls her Lubjana except during graduation or in any formal occasions.  Everyone calls her by her nickname. There is complete separation between formal and informal life in Bengali culture. UPBRINGING AND RENT FREE ACCOMMODATION Obie was born was born in Britain.  When she was born there was seven years gap between Obie and her older sibling.  ‘I feel privileged of how I grew up, even though we never owned it. It was a massive house with a basement, a Victorian attic, beautiful house. And the terms and conditions were that my dad would have that home rent free, which is one part of the house for lodgings if he oversaw the rest of the property. So dad was fixing it up looking o

Julie Begum talks about her East End upbringing, passion for education  and campaign to vaccinate everyone. EAST END UPBRINGING She was born in the Mile End Hospital in 1968 when her parents were living in a temporary accommodation in Tower Hamlets. Her brother was born 18 months after. They were given a council flat in Globe Town, Bethnal Green, London. She remembers that:   ‘We live in a block of flats, with a lot of other working class people…   I think there was only one other Bengali family on the estate at the time. And a black family and majority was white. And there was one mixed race family…To be honest, the only safe place was at home. We heard about people being attacked in their homes by racists. So it was, I would say a climate of fear really for a lot of Bengalis at that time. My father was bottled and attacked.’ There was a difference in response between younger and older generation within the Bengali Community from Julie's account. ‘Young men…decided to fight back a

Ruhul Abdin was born in Bangladesh, brought up with six siblings, spends lockdown in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and becomes lead artist for the National Portrait Gallery's project to celebrate 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh in Britain. RUHUL’S CHILDHOOD Ruhul and his siblings emigrated to the UK in 1993. They settled in Darlington, north east of England, in the county of Durham.   ‘We had an interesting kind of couple of years growing up in a very, very white working class neighbourhood. It wasn't that much like East is East , but it wasn't that far off the style. It was interesting, colourful, there's lots of racism.’ His father had two wives   and they were living in two separate houses in Darlington. ‘I’m one of six children, you know, all these kind of crazy narratives that come with that. I mean -  I'm one of six and I have six half siblings.’ As a 13 year old he read a book and ever since he got excited about education and architecture. ‘I was very lucky… I had some g

It was a pleasure to have hosted another important topic: undocumented migrant and covid vaccines to encourage vaccination campaign for all in Britain regardless of having a password. I would like to thank: Rachel Blake - Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets Nurur Chowdhury   - Senior Scientist from Barts NHS Sunitha Dwarakanath -   Regularise Natasha Howard - Innovation and Information Manager   NE London NHS Naseem Talukdar -   Feed the Homeless All the shared materials can be found below: ttps://www.unhcr.org/cy/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/2018/09/ TerminologyLeaflet_EN_PICUM.pdfhttps:// www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/let-s-flatten-the-infodemic-curve     WHOs COVID Mythbusters page https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters   How to Spot Fake News - COVID edition https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/93015   Scroll down for links in different languages British Society for Immunology Guide to vaccinations for COVID-19   https://www.imm

  A community campaigner fought against racism in the East End in life and during the pandemic he campaigned to feed local residents MAIUM'S EARLY LIFE IN BRITAIN ‘My dad had a vision for us to do well: to get good education and a good job,' said Maium. Maium remembers Bangladesh being overcrowded as a child. His initial experience of the UK was completely the opposite.  ‘Everything was different. It was beautiful and nice. It was very different from the country I was born in. Obviously, I was very young at the time. In Bangladesh, I was use to being with Bangladeshi people. When I came here I see a different variety of people.’ Maium came to the UK in 1984. He was 5 years old. Having lived in various temporary accommodations  in many parts of London, his family then settled in the  Isle of Dogs. They were the first few Bengali families moved in to the area at the time. RACISM IN ISLE OF DOGS They lived near a park. They would not go to the park for five years because of fear o