- Sally Howard, freelance journalist
- sal@sallyhoward.web
Glasgow GP Muhammad Kausar wrote poetry as a method of coming to phrases along with his life as a migrant. On the one hand, he thought of himself lucky to have been capable of construct a life and a profession removed from dwelling, however on the opposite, the racism he was uncovered to left scars.
In his poem Britain—Land of Flowers, Kausar wrote about how he cherished the flowers that bloomed in Lanarkshire within the spring. Some individuals, very similar to some flowers, provide you with pleasure via their kindness, he wrote. Others have thorns: “racist colleagues who saved on throwing remarks” as immigrants “sifted pearls from the mud” of their new lives.
Kausar got here to the UK from Pakistan in 1968 and initially labored in Essex and Kent earlier than settling in Glasgow, the place there was an emergent Pakistan diaspora and excessive demand for GPs. Kausar selected common apply as he wished to be a part of, and to assist to create, a group. In an interview in 2011 he recalled his wrestle to safe a full time submit in major care: “Outsiders weren’t allowed to develop into GPs and the native GPs solely gave us very minor, underpaid, and overworked responsibility jobs.”
Many Asian migrant docs within the metropolis discovered themselves relegated to out-of-hours work. However …