I walked through Watermead an extensive and beautiful nature reserve and saw more people in a place than at any other point on my walk (apart from London) which was nice. There was a memorial walk with lots of benches looking over the water each with a plaque and quote.
I arrived in a village where my first route map ended and took a break in a park on a bench in the sun which made me forget how cold it actually was. A robin came to say hello and I spent a bit longer than I should for a coffee break when I still had plenty of distance to cover. I listened to an audio book while I was walking alongside a long road and made 2 other stops, one for a hot chocolate in a cafe to warm up and use the toilet, and another sunny bench stop when my legs were feeling really heavy around 15 miles for water and flapjack.
My journey neared the end for the day walking through Loughborough cemetery as the sun was setting. This is where this post is going to be a bit longer than the other updates and it's painful to share, but to know even more about who Ro was it's important to know some of what he had to go through.
I think that ever since the idea for this walking journey formed I knew it was the right thing for me to do at this time but as I've been walking over the past 14 days I've been asking myself the question 'why am I doing this walk?' It doesn't need an answer because what I'm doing feels right but I was interested if there was an answer.
In the cemetary, in the sunset I reflected on Ro saying a couple of years ago when he was visiting me in Bradford 'my life matters' and I replied 'yes it does.' He wasn't asking a question, he knew his life mattered, but it was necessary for him to say it out loud and for it to be heard. His life mattered more than words can express and will never stop mattering to so many people who got to spend some of their life with him, family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, the students he taught as a secondary science teacher, people on the other end of the phone in all his customer service jobs, he would always go above and beyond to help and it was hard for him when he couldn't help someone in the ways he wanted for them.
His life didn't matter to Britain his country of birth and he felt rejection, fear and pain. Rimoaine and his family experienced horrendous injustice at the hands of the racist home office. In 2005 I was planning a trip to France and asked Ro if he'd like to come. Of course he was up for it, he was always up for anything! He said he didn't have a passport so we started looking at the process of applying for one thinking it should take a few months and cost around £80. It took 7 years and cost around £800.
Despite being born in the UK, paying taxes, having a NI number, going to uni as a home student, working as a secondary science teacher and never having left the country he was not a British citizen. His mum is Jamaican with indefinite leave to remain but the home office 'lost' her passport with the stamp, and other relevant and vitally important paperwork was not kept due they said in a letter to Ro to 'data protection' and 'normal government file review and destruction process in the interests of efficiency.'
It's all part of the Windrush scandal and meant Ro missed out on opportunities to travel, to live a life he should have been able to, and to feel that he belonged. He had to attend the citizenship ceremony and pledge allegiance to the queen under oath, which is an outrage, he crossed his fingers in a small act of defiance, I crossed mine too. Most people in Britain don't have to think about citizenship and what it means, I know I didn't. For some being granted British citizenship is a cause for celebration and then for others like Ro, it's a demeaning process.
Paulina a friend and I went along to support him, I can't even begin to imagine what it felt like for Ro who had written to and met with his MPs to try and find an alternative way but with no success, to then have to gather all the evidence including medical and primary school records, and pay so much money (that he didn't have going spare) and stand while god save the queen was played, all to get a passport so he could finally leave the country (for a holiday) that he had lived in all his life but had never acknowledged and accepted him.
We were so unbelievably proud as he walked towards a picture of the queen to accept the certificate from an official, stopped, turned around and addressed everyone in the room saying 'I was born in the same hospital as William and Harry, and I've had to go through all this, it's not right.'
The home office continued pursuing his family, threatening to deport his mother and sisters, all of this caused huge distress to Ro, however he remained calm and as always did what needed to be done to make sure everyone would be ok financially, emotionally, practically.
Ro loved being in the company of others and would always join in with work socials, whether this was playing football or going to the pub, and would want to get to know his colleagues. He was appreciated and loved by those he worked alongside, I've seen people he worked with greet him with such affection and joy. However, he was disrespected and unappreciated by many managers which caused him stress and hurt. I've never known anyone who worked as hard as he did and he always wanted to learn and to understand the role and requirements fully so he could do his best. He would have made a great manager. It wasn't all managers but too many for one person to have to put up with.
It brings comfort to know that in the job he was working in when he died, in IT at the treasury he was fully appreciated, respected and welcomed. The tragedy is he was only there for just under 3 months, but in that time his colleagues and manager got to know the Rimoaine those of us who have known him for a long time could recognise, he was enjoying the work, and being with his colleagues each day. His manager on Monday 13th November 2023 on hearing from Mark that Ro had died the previous evening asked everyone to stop working and come into a room where he told them Ro had died, he said it's the hardest thing he'll ever have to do as a manager. To know that Ro was given such respect at work and his life mattered there is so bittersweet, and hurts, because finally he got to that place, but just wasn't there for long, but made a positive and significant impact in that short time.
Ro didn't tell a lot of people what he was going through because it didn't define him. He wouldn't mind me telling you now because it doesn't define him but it is part of his story. What astounds me about Ro is that he continued to enjoy life to the full despite everything he was going through. He had huge capacity for fun and adventure, he would say yes to new experiences, he lived and loved and cared. He was angry about the injustices he faced, but never bitter and he was genuinely happy when good things happened for others and would celebrate with them and would want good things for everyone as well as for himself.
He has become one of the increasing number of people who die before they receive their Windrush compensation, and yes he wanted the money because the financial impact had been huge, and he had plans on how he would spend it, but also he wanted an acknowledgement from the system, from those with the power that his life mattered and he never got it.
Thanks for this Nina. It's heart-breaking to read what Ro, and too many others, had to go through due to the institutional (and often overt) racism fostered by the UK governments over the years.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you've written he seemed like an amazing person. I would have loved to have met him.
Lots of love,
D xxx