Leila Khan's Story

Leila Khan's Story

I am 26 years old and live in Kingstanding, Birmingham where I am a full time mum. 

I was born in Canberra, Australia but I came to the UK in 2004 when I was 15 years old as my mother came to England to work as a Social Worker. At first we lived in Canterbury in Kent where I attended school. 

It wasn’t too bad coming to an English speaking country although it took me a while to get used to the different words English people used as different to Australians. Especially English slang words. My school mates in Kent did pull a few tricks on me because I was not familiar with English terminology.

In 2008 our family moved to Birmingham because we had relatives living in the city. Since coming to Birmingham I have got married and had children. 

There are differences between living in England and Australia. Obviously the weather is warmer in Australia and Australia is more “laid back” than the UK. In the UK people live more indoors where as in Australia more activity goes on outdoors – sport, the beach and so on.

View Leila Khan’s Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=810ihy1Tiuw

This interview is part of a series of stories of migrants in Birmingham produced by participants of Migrant Voice's 'Many Faces, One City' project. The project celebrates the contribution of migrants to life in Birmingham. It brought together migrants and host community in Birmingham to build their skills in telling stories of migration through text, photo, film and social media.

Funded by Big Lottery – Awards for All, England.