Aleya Parveen (Birmingham, UK)
Connections
Aleya keeps in contact with her immediate family, including her siblings in Qatar and America.
We family members are very close to each other.
She is in touch with other relatives in the UK and abroad, by phone, every one or two months. She also maintains cultural links through the organisations she is involved in and via satellite TV and film.
Most of her relatives in Bangladesh have now passed away:
I have no desire to go to Bangladesh because my parents are not alive. My uncles and aunts, father and mother-in-law, nobody is alive. The house is empty... As my parents are no longer over there, I feel no demand from my heart to go there.
Although she has not been back to Bangladesh for several years, Aleya is planning a visit next year. She and her sisters intend to meet with their elder brother who lives in Qatar.
My brother has not seen my elder sister for over 25 years. My sister got married just after my father died and she came to London. My brother went to Qatar. Both of them have been back to Bangladesh. But unfortunately, when my brother goes, my sister doesn't go, and when my sister goes, my brother doesn't. So this time we've planned that we, the three sisters, will go to Bangladesh when my brother does… I heard my brother is going this year. If that's true, there's a chance that we'll go there, but I'm not sure.
