The
Interview
Saleema
Imam was born in 1941 in Graves Park, in the area which is now the
Rare Breeds Centre! "It was Jessop's Hospital Annexe".
She was baptized at Christ Church on Pitsmoor Road. Saleema's Mum
was a Pitsmoor girl, the family moved across the city to Heeley
with her Dad. She came back to live in Burngreave in 1984. "When
I was 17 I left school and had five children - I had the youngest
when I was 23". Of her children she says, "I can't get
rid of them and they can't get rid of me". She has 13 grandchildren
and 2 great-grandchildren. In 1970, she started work teaching English
as a second language to people in the Burngreave area. Saleema now
works at Sheffield Community Recycling Project (SCRAP). She says,
"Sometimes I feel ancient but in my head I know I'm not".
What
is your idea of happiness?
Family.
What
is your greatest fear?
Personally, suffocation - I have asthma. But really at the moment
it's this fear of Bush's war. If we do go to war it will affect
everything.
What
do you dislike about yourself?
That I can't get about. Frustration that I can't do all the things
I've got in my head to do. Maybe I'm lazy.
What
do you dislike about others?
Not a lot really.I suppose people who promise to do things and don't
and leave other people to clear things up.
What
makes you sad?
Waste. Not just things - but the waste of people. There are so many
people with so many skills and so much to offer who just can't get
on.
What
is your earliest memory?
Well, I say it's being carried down into an air raid shelter but
my Mum says it can't be that because it happened before I was born.
Other than that I can remember being sat on my Grandma's knee in
a rocking chair and warming her ears with my fingers. I'd be about
two.
What
or who is the greatest love of your life?
Family - all of them. I can't pick between any of them
Which
words or phrases do you most overuse?
You tell me at the end of the interview.
[Do you know
what I mean? - ed]
What
is your greatest regret?
Not carrying on with my Arabic studies. I started doing Arabic and
Urdu about thirty years ago. I really enjoyed it but didn't keep
it on.
How
do you relax?
Reading, I'll read anything. Science fiction, I'll read atlases,
dictionaries, Yellow Pages, but it's science fiction and language
really. I go to Chi Gong on a Saturday and try and do that every
day.
If
you could change one thing about Burngreave, what would it be?
Jobs - more jobs for people in Burngreave
What
keeps you awake at night?
Nothing.
How
would you like to die?
I wouldn't have minded being blown up in the space shuttle. Because
it's over and done with. It's not the dying it's the bit before.
What's
your favourite place?
Favorite place ever. I think when I was in Pakistan and coming on
the train toward the Punjab it just seemed like coming home. But
I don't know if that's valid. I'm from Sheffield, my Mum and my
Dad are from Sheffield. I don't say I converted because I believe
you are what you are. So I found a label for me. An old lady gave
me the name Saleema and then one of the Imans at the mosque in Darnall
started using it. With teaching English as a second language most
of the women found it easier to say. It's on all my papers; I don't
use my given name, which was Florence. I went to Pakistan to be
with the families of people I was working with.
What
is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Patience I think. Patience and persistence. It's not letting go
- if you keep on going long enough one way or another something
changes.
Which
living person do you most admire?
I don't go for your Elvis Presley or your Nelson Mandela. There
are so many grass roots people. Well, like Harry in the office.
He's there 24 hours a day, just gets on with it and he's earning
nothing.
What
is you greatest extravagance?
I've just bought a quilting machine. It's come from America and
cost a bomb.
What
is your favourite journey?
I like coming back. Coming up the motorway at night when you get
to see the lights of Sheffield.
What
is your favourite smell?
Vanilla. I could go on sniffing it forever. All the taxi drivers
think I'm funny when I get in their taxis and start smelling their
air fresheners
What
is your worst habit?
Making faces and chewing my lips.
Interview
between Steve Pool and Saleema Imam, 18th February 2003
Photography by Richard Hanson
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