Produced by Steel Bank Film Co-op, a look at Sheffield's Yemeni Literacy Campaign, launched in 1988 in response to the discovery that 95% of Sheffield's Yemeni community were illiterate. Young bi-lingual Yemenis are trained to become literacy assistants and teach English to the older members of their community. Members of the community talk about their literacy and language needs in their experience of life in Sheffield and as a colonised people in Aden. A two-carriage passenger...

Produced by Steel Bank Film Co-op, a look at Sheffield's Yemeni Literacy Campaign, launched in 1988 in response to the discovery that 95% of Sheffield's Yemeni community were illiterate. Young bi-lingual Yemenis are trained to become literacy assistants and teach English to the older members of their community. Members of the community talk about their literacy and language needs in their experience of life in Sheffield and as a colonised people in Aden. A two-carriage passenger train speeding through an industrial area around Sheffield passing factories and steelworks is intercut with a montage of archive clips showing steel being produced in the past and examples of steel cutlery produced in the city. A montage of still images featuring three Yemeni men all of whom moved to Sheffield in the 1950s to work in the steelworks leaving wives and family at home. One of them explains to a female interviewer that it was the British government who told him he that there would be work in Sheffield. Title: Thank You That’s All I Knew A map of the world showing the distance between Britain and Yemen and archive footage of the region with the narrator providing background information on the country and its connections to Britain. Two men talk about working for the British in the port city of Aden and a Yemeni woman talks about what life was like living under British occupation. More archive footage relating to the rise of Arab nationalism and resistance against the British in the 1950s features two British soldiers attacking and beating a local man in the street. More archive relating to the uprising in the north of the country in 1962 with the south becoming independent in 1967 includes a clip from a Pathe News item relating to the withdrawal of British forces from the country. More archive of Sheffield during the 1950s changes to a Yemeni man explaining that when he first arrived in Britian, he didn’t understand a word of English. Another man talks about his first experience working in Sheffield explaining that back then you didn’t need to speak English to find a job. More archive of Sheffield workers coming out of a factory gate and of the city in the 1950s. Another Yemeni man talks with a smile about his first experience travelling by tram-car and bus trying to get home after his shift, around him other men listening many of them also smiling as he reminisces about the past. More archive featuring steel production in the 1950s and Yemeni men talking about their experience working in the factories doing what one describes as ‘donkey work’ job’s the English workers didn’t want to do. As another man remembers being young and going to the cinema and dancing, more archive of young people dancing in a dance hall during the 1950s and a newspaper headline on a call to end dance hall colour bar. Another man talks about his experiences of racism and describing how going out with an English girl was deemed a crime by the local population. Following a brief archive clip of people walking the centre of Sheffield in the 1950s, Abdul Galil Shaif, Chairman of the Yemeni Community Association talks about the problem of divided families with Yemeni men working away from home often for many years. Archive of Yemeni women and girls changes to a group of women, including Safia Kasim Ahmed, President of the Yemeni Women’s Committee, talking about their experience of having their husbands away for years on end and raising their children on their own. A derelict steelwork in Sheffield changes to a Yemeni Community Centre where a group of men sit chatting. In an office Abdul Galil Shaif speaks with one older man who has featured in the film about problems he is having claiming retirement pension for him wife. With two other men sitting beside him, Abdul makes a call to the local Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) office to see if he can help. With Abdul interpreting the man talks the problems he has not speaking English and trying to deal with organisation such as the DHSS. Ahmed Gurnah from the Sheffield Education Department talks about the issues of illiteracy within the Yemeni community which have been made more obvious with the closures of the steelworks and men becoming unemployed. As they don’t have a basic language component, they aren’t able to go to university or re-train. He explains that fears over being racist has meant the issue hasn’t been properly addresses. A group of Yemeni men met up outside Burngreave Library before heading inside. Sitting around tables young bi-lingual Yemini’s men and women help to teacher the older generation how to read and speak English as part of a Yemeni Literacy Campaign. Salem Hamad, Chairman of the Yemeni I.G. Union and other older men, and women talk about the experience of learning English. A young man and women who work as literacy assistants talk about their work teaching people of their parents’ generation. Back in the library a group of older Yemeni women learn the English alphabet with the support of a young woman. Through the young woman one of them explains the importance of learning English. As a group of older Yemeni men sit around a table reading various books and magazines in English, Ahmed Gurnah talks in voiceover about the aim of the Yemeni Literacy Campaign being not just the teaching of English to the older generations also taking care of the younger generation. A group of young Yemeni men and women arrive at Sheffield City Polytechnic to take part in an access course which will help them get into college. In a room at the college, they talk about why they are on the course while Ahmed Gurnah talks about why this is important for the community as a whole. In a classroom a group of young Yemeni men and women take part in a lesson that forms part of their access course in social science. In another classroom three young Yemeni women are shown how to input data gathered in their literacy survey into a computer. In voice-over a young Yemeni woman talks about what she and the others have learned. One of the female literary assistants accompanies a woman as she leaves her home and catches a bus to attend at hospital appointment. As they sit in the waiting room the women look over a literacy card relating to pregnancy. In her kitchen Sameera Hassanali works to prepare the families evening meal during Ramadan. Speaking English, she explains why as a Muslim fasting is important. He husband comes over to test the mixture she is making as she can’t due to her fasting. One of the young literary assistants with the food prep and explains why she is helping while Sameera fries a type of Yemeni Samosa. On the families mantlepiece photographs of the Hassanali’s three daughters’ changes to one of them taking part in an exercise class at the Yemeni Girls Youth Club. The group explain why for cultural reasons it an only girls club. They talk about what life would be like if they lived in Yemen compared to Britian and if they planned to visit. Sitting around a table in the Yemeni Boys Youth Club a group of boys play cards and smoke cigarettes. They talk about the importance of keeping their own sense of identity and explain why religion is the most important part of their culture. In a classroom at the Arabic School for Children reads from the Koran in Arabic followed by some of them talk about why it is importance they learn Arabic. A young mother, who is also one of the literacy assistants, talks about the importance of wanting her children to speak Arabic as well as English. Iffat Ansari a Literacy Tutor explains how in India people often speak more than one language and it didn’t occur to her that people would have problems speaking more than one language. Back in the classroom a small girl writes Arabic letters and words into an exercise book while in another classroom an older man is also learning to write Arabic. Around him other men learning while a tutor explains why it is important to them that they are able to read and write in Arabic. At a local hospital two Yemeni men sit in a waiting area. In a consultation room the younger man translates for the older one when speaking with the doctor. The doctor conducts an eye exam, the younger man again explaining what is happening. More archive featuring steel being made and the narrator talking about the health issues that have been caused from working in the steel industry and how Yemeni worker are at a disadvantage with regards compensation negotiations due to inadequate English. Title: Helped by the Community Association, 600 Yemenis have now received compensation for industrial diseases and accidents suffered in Sheffield. More are outstanding One of the older former steelworkers explains the non-existence of any kind of health and safety regulations when he first started in the 1950s. Another man talks about being burned while at work and not getting any compensation for his injuries or provided with any kind of protective clothing. A third man and his friend talk about how one of them was fired after he broke his back at work. Abdul Galil Shaif explains why the Yemeni community is bitter against trade unions as they offered little help or support. The group believes racism played a part in their issues as their employers didn’t care what happened to them. Many believe issues of racism are getting worse. An early morning double-decker bus travels through a Sheffield suburb past a small newsagent shop. Inside one of the young men seen earlier being a literary assistant serves customer and explains what it is like working in the family shop and the type of customers he deals with. He talks about dealing with racist abuse. A funeral hearse parked in the street; behind it a large crowd of Yemeni men stand behind a banner in readiness to take part in a protest march against racism. Title: The funeral of a Yemeni man whose death followed a vicious attack on a Sheffield bus. The case only received serious attention after community pressure Following behind the hearse the process makes its way through Sheffield to the cemetery, a policeman accompanies the process while someone in the procession speaks to the crowd via a megaphone. Title: Of 30 cases of racist incidents reported to the police between January – September 1990, only 14 were investigated and only 2 of these have resulted in charges. Understandably, a further 20 cases were not even reported to the police Around the gravesite the crowd stand silently as a mark of respect before dispersing. From the cemetery a panoramic view of the Sheffield skyline. An older man explains that while he would like to go back to Yemen, he has spent most of his life in England. He tells a story of being rejected for a job in Yemen because, it was believed, he had spent too much time in England. A woman also expresses a desire to return to Yemen but stayed because of her children. Ahmed Gurnah presents ‘Study Passport’ certificates to the young men and women who have taken part in the Yemeni Literacy Campaign. The film ends on a montage of Yemeni community life featuring food, dancing and people playing games and two older women in a literary class greeting each other in English. Title: Sheffield Film Co-op gratefully acknowledges all the help received from Sheffield Yemeni Community. Special thanks to Roger Adams, Jack Amos, Iffat Ansari, Eileen Fawcett, Ahmed Gurnah, Salem Hamad, Sameera and Mayharddin Hassanali, June Mohammed, Graham Murray, Steven Nam, Awad Saleh, Abdul Galil Shaif, Insaf Shaif Staff of the Arabic School, Sheffield Education Department, Sheffield Community Safety Unit, Sheffield City Polytechnic, Sheffield Parkwood College, Northern General Hospital Credit: Commentary Valarie Bahakel Translation Abdul Galil Shaif, Samia Maklos, Haythem Bayasi Music Talal Maddah, Mohammed Morshed Naji, Ahmed Fathi, Eric Coates (Chappell Music Library), The Chris Barber Jazz Band, Abu Bakr Salem Balfaqi, Nabil Sha’il Title: Facilities Backyard Films Sheffield, C.B.F. Leeds, Crysalis T.V. Nottingham, Filmatic Laboratories London, The Image Company Leeds, Sheffield Independent Film, Synchro Sonics London, Tele Video Productions Sheffield Credit: Archive Doug Hindmarch (Sheffield City Archive), BBC, British Petroleum PLC, British Pathe News, Granada Television, Huntley Archives, ITN, Steel Bank Film Co-op, The Conservative Party Film Unit, English Steel Corporation Film Unit Lighting/Camera Bruna Fionda, David F. Rea, Chrissie Stanfield, Jacky Jones Sound Karen Boswell, Cath Patton, Helen Thompson VTR Trainees Suki Shergill, Lisa Jones Additional Assistant Mark Parkin Runner Sara Morrell Production and Finance Manager Maya Chowdhry Additional P.A. Suzanne Phillips Research Chrissie Stansfield, Christine Bellamy Rostrum Camera Paul Shann On-line Editor Duncan Foster Video Sound Dub Mike Naylor Edited by Angela Martin Directed by Christine Bellamy End title: Produced by Sheffield Film Co-op © 1990 Sheffield Film Co-op is an ACTT enfranchised workshop funded by Channel 4 TV and the British Film Institute