After finishing secondary school in her native Zimbabwe, Colletta Dalikeni says she was unsure about exactly what she wanted to do so she decided to volunteer at a local leprosy colony.
“The people who lived there were very disabled they either didn’t have limbs or other parts of their bodies. I would just see if they wanted me to cut the vegetables for them. Some of them were blind, so I’d just go and sit under a tree and start reading them stories.
“I learned to play guitar, and sometimes I would go under a tree and just play some songs, and the other ones who could hear in the neighbourhood would crawl their way to where the music was and start singing.”
Dalikeni found working there challenging but fulfilling. While working there she went to a talk about L’Arche communities around the world. (L’Arche is an organisation that creates inclusive communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities can live together.) She asked how she could get involved with these communities and was directed to the L’Arche communities in Ireland as there she wouldn’t have to learn a new language.
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“I used to think people with learning disabilities were not too great. In Zimbabwe they were looked at as if they were nobodies. But to hear that I could learn something from them, I thought, I want to see this for myself.”
Back at the colony, she told an Irish priest she worked with about her desire to move to Ireland to see the L’Arche communities there.
“He supported me in coming to Ireland, he said we are happy to support you because you’ve worked for us with no payment for two years, we will pay for your flights to Ireland.”
Dalikeni moved to Cork in 1988 to volunteer at L’Arche community there.
“When I landed at the airport I thought, my goodness me, because I saw white people cleaning the floors and working on the till. This was so unusual to me because Zimbabwe is an ex-British colony where white people are such a minority and when you do see them, they are just like a special species of some sort, you only see them in circles where black people are working for them. This was a different world opening for me.”
After living in the L’Arche community for two years, Dalikeni won a scholarship to study social work at University College Cork (UCC).
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During her early years in Ireland, Dalikeni travelled to London to get her hair done.
“There were no black people. Irish people didn’t know what to do with my hair. So I discovered a place where there were lots of black people and where you could get your hair done.”
Despite her struggles when it came to haircare, Dalikeni remembers her time in Cork fondly.
“I have to say, Cork people are lovely people. Back then, people were very friendly. They would stop and ask you, where are you from? With an inquisitiveness of really wanting to know. An inquisitiveness of wanting to make a connection with you. And whenever I would speak to them, I felt they really wanted to know who I was and where I was coming from and then I would tell them about the Irish priests in Zimbabwe.”
Dalikeni met her husband, Wilson, while she was studying at UCC. The woman who ran the local cornershop gave her Wilson’s number as he was also from Zimbabwe. He worked in telecommunications and was in Ireland on a work trip when he visited the shop.
I first saw the ocean when I came to Ireland, because Zimbabwe is landlocked, so Ireland introduced me to the ocean
“There were very very few black people on UCC’s campus or anywhere, if you saw a black person you’d be so happy. She gave me the number and I rang him. We met at a local pub and talked and talked until the pub was closed.”
After completing her master’s in social work at UCC, she went back to Zimbabwe with Wilson for five years and opened the first L’Arche community there.
The couple decided to return to Ireland in 2000 with their three young daughters.
“I thought that Ireland would be a great place to raise my children and give them an opportunity. I came back to a very different island. In the 80s and 90s there were still very few black people but when I came back, I was not a novelty to anybody any more.”
The family settled in Dundalk, Co Louth and Dalikeni worked as a children’s social worker. She then completed a PhD in social work at Queen’s University Belfast and began lecturing in social care at the Dundalk Institute of Technology.
She believes that racism in Ireland has become worse in recent years, with some people more comfortable being openly racist than before.
Wilson died three years ago. Dalikeni says she was not happy with the care he received in hospital before his death. She says this experience has made her want to move abroad when she retires as she says she does not want to grow old or get sick in Ireland.
“I first saw the ocean when I came to Ireland, because Zimbabwe is landlocked, so Ireland introduced me to the ocean, and I love the ocean. But the ocean is not enough to make me want to die in Ireland. I am sad because a part of my heart is in Ireland.”
We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish
