Story: Somali men and women have been here for centuries but this is one of our earliest stories in Sheffield. A small book found in the Local Studies Library about a Somali woman’s working life, having arrived in England in 1956. Our only tangible glimpse of Halima dictated by her to poet Seni Seniviratne in 1986.
“All the factories have closed and I blame Mrs Thatcher”
The recovery: Halima’s book survives and we are grateful. Reaching for the oral tradition of their Somali backgrounds, Asma and Najma have committed the sound of her life to audio.
In the archives of Sheffield Central Library, we found a remarkable ten-page short story by a Somali woman named Halima, written with the help of Seni Severinate and illustrated by Lynn Tyler as part of a community project in 1985.
Halima's narrative takes us through her life. The struggles she faced as a young girl, her journey and arrival to England in 1956, and her life working in Sheffield's steel factories.
We believe her to be one of the earliest Somali woman to live and work in Sheffield. It is incredibly rare to find a record like this. As many women who migrated in the post-war era from what was known then as ‘British Somaliland’, were more likely to travel to the UK to reunite with their partners who arrived earlier to work in British industries. Or if they did come alone, their experiences are not recorded in a first person account such as this storybook. Sadly, Halima passed away during the late 2000’s and this story remains one of few records about her life.
The last page in the storybook captures the essence of Halima’s solitary experience, it ends on a sombre note.
The places where I worked after that are demolished now.
Now I have no job to do.
All the factories have closed and I blame Mrs Thatcher.
I have no parents, relatives or children and now I am very lonely.
A job would give me something to do but I cannot get a job.
The last page touched us deeply, and set us off on the journey of finding out as much as we could about Halima. Through this journey and conversations with our community elders we have learnt some of what life was like in Sheffield for Somali steel workers in the 1950s and 60s. We are grateful to them for sharing their stories with us and helping us to understand and visualise what life was like for them in the 1950’s and help us to understand Halima’s life more.
Inspired by Halima's unique story, we have crafted a fictional audio story.
Notes from Sheffield City Archive:
Somali people have been settling in Britain for well over a century. In the 19th century many arrived from British Somaliland as seamen and traders, settling close to ports such as London, Cardiff and Bristol. Labour shortages after World War Two drew many workers from overseas. Many Somali people came to Sheffield in the 1940s - 1960s period to work, often in the steel industry.
In 1956, Halima, a Somali woman, arrived in Liverpool. She was born in a small town in Somalia called Burro. After the death of her parents, she found herself responsible for looking after brothers and sister. Aged just 16, she brought them from Burro to Berbera where she worked for an Arab family. She later moved to Aden to work for an English family, sending money home to support her family. After two years, they brought her to England with them where she looked after their children for the next two years. When the family moved on, Halima stayed in Liverpool, working in various factories. She left Liverpool in 1966 and came to Sheffield. She found work at Harry Mills, a cutlery maker later moving to a scissor manufacturer. By 1968 she was working at James Neill making frames, milling and drilling. Her brother died in 1973, so she went home for a period, returning to Sheffield some seven months later. Her story thereafter is unclear, but she was still in Sheffield by the 1980s.
Halima’s story is written down in a small booklet, put together by Seni Seneviratne, an Adult Education Worker in the 1980s. Halima had started to write her story while in an English class around this time. Halima left Sheffield but entrusted her writings to Seni who made good on a promise to publish them. A rare copy survives at Sheffield Local Studies Library (ref. 301.45 SST) simply entitled ‘A Working Life’ by Halima. Halima’s book survives as a permanent record of her working life in Sheffield and her relationship with her homeland - it represents hundreds, if not thousands, of Somali men and women who didn’t have the same chance encounter or opportunity.
Front cover of Halima’s book ‘A Working Life’, published by the Sheffield Women’s Printing Co-op in 1986 (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 301.45 SST)
