Southall, West London

Southall is a lovely community. Some decades ago, Indian immigrants from the Punjab moved into this community, which formerly had been a centre of brickmaking in London, and began to establish what has now become a transplant of Amritsar, boasting a populous Sikh community and the largest Gurdwara outside India, second only to the Golden Temple. Sometime after the establishment of this community, a large population of Muslims from Pakistan began to settle, sparking conflicts and rivalries amongst the two communities which dominate much of the social life of this town. Added to this has been a recent wave of refugees from eastern Europe and Somalia, adding both to the complexity of the community, but also to the stresses of social unity. All this has resulted in a community of dozens of ethnicities and languages from all over the globe, creating a bewildering, and lovely, though often hateful and distrusting community. Living in Southall was, for us, a new and stressful and enjoyable time. It was the first time for us to live in a community where violence was so evident (we personally witnessed three stabbings- one fatal- whilst living there, in addition to various gang fighting, drug dealing, etc.) and yet also a wonderful chance for us to the share in the lives of our Pakistani, Indian and Somali neighbours. This sharing also took a form which we may not ever have again, that is, a sharing that was truly equal. In all of our work overseas, we have come from a wealthy, educated background to work and live with local people, but no matter how one tries, one’s life is still fundamentally different because, whatever level of poverty one elects to endure, it is wholy different in the fact that it is elected, which for them it is not. And this has a profound impact. Southall was for us an economic necessity, where we shared a house with five families from India and Pakistan because we could afford nothing else. And somehow that was special for us. But we are getting ahead of ourselves… We have yet to talk about A Rocha Living Waterways.