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Published: July 26th 2010
After my jaunt in the North I stopped off in Southall, West London for a couple of days. I caught up with the Servants to Asia's Urban Poor team for some conversations on grass roots community development.
Southall shares similarities with East London, but a different evolutionary path has brought with it a somewhat different vibe. From my brief time there, I got the impression that there’s a bit more cohesion here - the different cultural groups seem more interactive with one another. It feels like there is not as much tense inter-cultural encounters as East London.
Apparently it started off as a small town with plenty of farm land and separated from London. From the 1960s the advent of the glass industry kicked off by an English Ex-Indian Army Colonel, led to a steady flow of retired soldiers migrating from the Punjab region of India. This followed with successive waves of Punjab migrants, other Indian migrants, Somalis, Afghans and Afro-Carribbean to name a few. The major religion of the area is Sikh and the Gurdwala in Southall is the second largest outside of India! There’s a plethora of other faith worship centres like mosques (both Pakistani & Somali),
Prayer & Feasting
An evening shared meal with A Rocha UKHindu temples and a few churches.
Like East London, Southall is seen as a place that one stops for awhile and then aspires to make money and move away from. You notice this in the way people care (or don’t care) for the environment. Small movements of change are being made though. Servants together with A Rocha (a Christian environmental organisation) have helped establish a community garden in the local allotment and are noticing an increasing interest in people wanting to grow their own vegetables and spices. On Tuesday I harvested some potatoes with Daniel from Servants. For someone like me who’s grown up in suburbia, it was like digging for buried treasure!
I was also excited to learn that Southall is where Bend It Like Beckham was filmed. As I walked the streets I imagined where Jess's house was and where she practiced soccer. Apparently the director of the film grew up in Southall and has set a couple of other movies in Southall to some degree. It’s not hard to see why there would be so many interesting multi-cultural stories to tell! Southall’s main street has a large collection of Indian materials & jewellery shops. Obviously
they wouldn’t rival Delhi or other places in India, but it has played a big part in the life of British Indians. Apparently many wedding hopefuls travel from all over London to shop in Southall. Had I the luxury of more time on my hands and space in my luggage, some of those goodies from Southall would be on its way back home with me!
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Gloria Ozumba
non-member comment
Model harvester.
I used to harvest crops in the village with grand parents during school holidays. Didn't quite like it then but misses it now. Goog one dear.