Back in Feb 1979 when I was 20 years old the Shah of Iran was replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeini, this was for me a lifetime of learning and understanding.
I was appalled when I read accounts of young women like myself who 1 day woke up and lost their freedoms and identity.
I read about the separation of medical care female doctors having to perform surgery in burkas, no longer higher education available to girls, not able to leave home without a male relative and I was shocked and couldn't believe this was happening at a time when great change was happening for women in the UK.
I absolutely saw the burka as a garment of oppression as women were forced to wear it in public including full face covering, even today still part of me can't help remembering all those that don't have a choice unlike here.
I then started to read and hear about Sharia law although as no internet we were limited to what we were told and we were told only about the negative and again to me the practises were and yes in some parts of the world are still barbaric although many practises have been stopped.
Yet people don't seem to worry about the equally barbaric canings in Singapore.
The Muslim community where I live started to grow and it seemed like they had in some ways "ghettoised" themselves by all living in the same area, integration was difficult as they seemed to not want anything to do with us.
I heard and listened to how people spoke about them but I have always been a person who needs to understand all sides and views but it was difficult to find someone who I could approach and also back then many women didn't speak English.
Over time as the Muslim community invested in our communities through various businesses and charity work you see things start to change and with good will on both sides we begin to form friendships, we learnt that their worries about life are the same as ours and that faith isn't what divides us, it's ignorance.
I am still seeing my community changing the young all learn together, play together, have the same hopes and dreams, I see people who just want to live life without hassle, get on with their neighbours along side those who still want to keep the division amongst us.
There will always be extreme views but I have seen in the last 40 years massive changes and although the internet has empowered those that hate to band together, I have also heard less and less negative talk.
My core belief is that you don't punish the child for the sins of the father and you don't punish the majority for the actions of the few.
When I see the hate and negativity towards the Muslim community it is all very reminiscent of the campaign against the Jews by Hitler. Take the actions of the few and apply it to them all, take parts of faith out of context put your own spin on it and make out it's what they all believe today.
It saddens me that since I was old enough to understand racism and bigotry hasn't changed just the victims.
