City 'a cold house for foreigners'

Belfast is a 'cold house' for foreigners

Living in Belfast is a tough lesson on what it's like to be an outcast, a young Asian woman has said.

In her three years living in the city she has been taunted, spat at and has even had a dog set upon her.

It is the price of not being white, she said, adding that it was even worse than her time as a child in a refugee camp in Thailand.

"I will leave this place with the unfortunate knowledge of what it is to be an outcast," she said.

Now she is looking forward to moving on to go and study medicine in Sheffield.

After 20 years living in different areas of the United Kingdom, she said Belfast came out as the "worst place".

"I have lived in refugee camps in Thailand as a child and have never felt as unsafe and verbally abused as living here," she said.

I'm what people called 'one of them lot' or 'those foreigners' - there are actually people here who think that 'outsiders are stealing our good jobs and big houses' Read her full story here

"For a good two months, I was hounded and verbally abused every day as I walked to and from my workplace by children aged between six and 14 years old," she said.

They goaded their dog to run up and bite her. They followed her to her car, tried to steal from her bag and, when she took refuge inside the car, they kicked and punched the windows.

It was only when she threatened them with her metal car lock that they scattered.

Now, she watches her back as she walks to and from work, her sleep is affected and she never walks alone after dark.

Yet it was the love of a Belfast man that drew her to the city.

They married and moved back to Northern Ireland in 2003, looking forward to putting down roots.

But for this ethnic woman it was to be a bitter experience.

"I'm what people called 'one of them lot' or 'those foreigners'," she said.

"There are actually people here who think that the 'outsiders are stealing our good jobs and big houses'.

Racism is 'part of everyday life in Northern Ireland'

"Despite that, foreigners make up the biggest workforce in the jobs that no-one here really likes to do, such as in chicken factories.

"I think the bitterness has less to do with jobs and more to do with skin and eye colour.

"As an ethnic other, it is also a false hope to think that by marrying an Irish person, you get fast-tracked into being accepted by the community."

Just looking different means you suffer racial hardship, she said.

Her verdict is that Northern Ireland is "a cold house" for foreigners.

Whilst she has found love and friendship with her husband and his friends and family, she cannot subscribe to the adage that the Irish are "the friendliest people in the world".

"If I could leave tomorrow, I would," she said.

"I would not miss this nation as a whole and I'm sure there are people here that would love to see one less ethnic face."