Naina Minhas

My name is actually Nainbala, but somehow when I was a teenager, it became Naina because people found it a bit of a mouthful. Originally I'm from India. I was born in Syria and I lived in Syria till I was about five years old, because my father was in a foreign service of India, so he used to get transferred to different countries. I'm the youngest sibling of three sisters and one brother. I did my education in India, graduating with a Masters degree in economics. I lived in Delhi and was working in a bank before getting married and moving to this country.

It was an arranged marriage. It happened because my husband's family and our family belong to the same community and same religion, and my parents and my husband's parents were friends. We have been family friends since we were kids. But my husband came to this country, and we were still living in Delhi. So I really didn't know my husband well, because he was brought up here before going to India to get married. And that's how this marriage was arranged. Arranged marriage is not like I was told: okay, you're going to get married with this guy. It means just introducing us and then it's up to us to decide what we think about each other.

The move was difficult in the beginning. Everything was new for me, new people. I didn't even know my husband very well either, although I knew his family. I couldn't understand the Scottish accent very well. I had to ask people to repeat things, and I used to get embarrassed. Now I relate to Scottish people. Whenever I go to India, I miss Scotland and treat British people there as my own family. But it wasn’t like that in the beginning: I remember wanting to run back home because I was homesick.

There was a bit of a culture shock. Delhi is a big, chaotic city. Edinburgh in those days was much quieter, and there were not that many Asians or Indians around. I was a working woman when I came here: a big city girl running around everywhere and being fiercely independent. And suddenly I came here and sat at home and all I was doing was just waiting for my husband to come from work. I used to make a cup of tea and settle near the big front window of our house, watching people rushing to work with their bags, in and out. I used to think: “my God, I used to be like this, what have I done? I'm just sitting at home”. I found it quite difficult to deal with that.

It wasn't very easy to get jobs in those days for somebody like me who had come from India with a background in finances. I applied to different banks and they always replied that they have put my CV in their files, but I was overqualified for this certain position. So I started to look for volunteering opportunities. When my first son was born, the health visitors put me in touch with a community organisation called International Women's Centre. I was dying to connect to some Asians, so I went there. I was looking for some kind of belonging, or relating to somebody with the same experience.

That's where my journey began. They were looking for translators to narrate a video for Asians about welfare benefits. Writing, translating, narrating for welfare benefits organisations, I learned a lot about benefits. Eventually I started doing benefits training, volunteering to advise Asian people about benefits, and aiding women who were facing domestic abuse.

I didn't care much whether I get paid or not, because luckily my husband was earning quite well and money was not an issue. The issue for me was that I just can’t sit at home, I just wasn’t conditioned to do it. At that time my older son was two years old and I was pregnant with my second son, going everywhere with him to do voluntary work. I did a survey to find out the needs of ethnic minority women in West Lothian and set up the first ethnic minority women’s group in Livingston. I didn’t drive, so I walked a lot, or took a bus. But I didn’t only look for people on the streets; I had my strategy. In the evenings I opened a telephone directory and called all the Asian names in it, and some people would agree to give me an interview the next day.

Then the post came up to be a manager at the ethnic minority women's group. The organisation was in a bad situation, going down financially and nearly closing down. The previous manager couldn’t deal with this mess and left. The position was not very much desirable, but I applied to it, and they selected me based on my financial experience.

Everyone was surprised with my choice, but I reasoned that if this organisation closes down, there is nothing for us Asians. Partly it's our responsibility to clean this mess. And I had to do a lot of it. There were a lot of troubles. Men in the community didn't like women's organisations — in those days, it was something not so common. And everybody was complaining about everything. So I set a procedure: if you have something to say about another colleague, first talk to them. If it doesn't get sorted, come to me. If you're not happy with what I have done, then go to committee. A very good procedure. The complaints stopped and we could go forward with work then. And now our organisation is actually one of the leading organisations in Scotland.

If you want to uplift an organisation, you have to develop yourself first. When I was in finance, I had nothing to do with community work. So I finished my Masters in Community Development to build my own skills first. There were only three or four workers to begin with. At the moment there are about 25, and it's not easy to manage 25 people. But I have learned the ways. Working for a community organisation is not like a nine to five job. You have to be available all the time. At the same time focusing on your children as well. I was very particular about how I bring up my sons and what their future should be. Although I was working, going everywhere, having lots of friends, my core focus was always on my children and their good future. I was offered higher positions, but I declined them, because I had to focus on my family. Thankfully both of my sons are doing well in their life. My older one is a lawyer and the younger is a doctor.

So that's my story now. I turned 66 this year. My husband has retired already, so I'm thinking of retiring, too. My heart is sinking when I think of it. But it became so much harder to work. It's becoming further and further difficult to find funding for the community organisations. Every year you have to keep working harder and harder to bring that money in. And somebody else will have to do that now.