Chief Nurse in Bucks invited to share stories of her Windrush generation heritage
Along with other inspirational figures across Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern Open Air Museum invited her to share her story
History was brought to life at the Chiltern Open Air Museum through stories shared by inspirational figures across Buckinghamshire.
This year's speakers are decedents of people who came to settle in the local area from the Commonwealth of Nations, with stories painting a picture of their ancestor’s experiences.
Amongst the speakers invited to share their heritage was Karen Bonner, Chief Nurse at the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.
"You're a little girl walking to nursery, and I was called names in the street..."
She said: "The memories of my childhood are very mixed, so I have the joys of my childhood and I have moments that are stuck in my brain, what I now know to be racism, but when you are young you don't understand."
"You're a little girl walking to nursery, and I was called names in the street, the 'N' word."
Ms Bonner was born of Jamaican and Barbadian parents, and a is a descendent of the Windrush generation.
The event enabled her to share her parents' story, which lives through her, as well as her own personal experience of being a Chief Nurse and the barriers she faced throughout her life.
"...I remember being a teenager and thinking somehow my life would be easier if I didn't quite look the way..."
Despite being born in the UK, Ms Bonner was, as a child, continuously questioned over where she came from, and recalls her first experiences of racism from a very young age.
She said: "I was constantly asked where I came from and, in my mind, I was born in the UK so I didn't really understand why people were asking me that."
"And I remember being a teenager and thinking somehow my life would be easier if I didn't quite look the way I did but I couldn't rationalise it to myself because I was too young still at that point to rationalise it to myself."
"Certain circles weren't as accepting of me."
"...the more I looked around and realised there weren't as many people that looked like me."
Those experiences were not only lived in school settings or as a young girl, but followed her throughout her career.
Despite these barriers and the continuous discrimination, she pushed through in her career to get to the position she is in today.
She said: "It has been a battle throughout my whole life, it continues to this day, it takes on different forms in the more you have to understand that you are navigating spaces that are not designed for you and therefore you have to be able to learn how to navigate that."
"The more senior I got in the health service, the more I looked around and realised there weren't as many people that looked like me."
"It was when I got to the sort of middle management that I began to see less people look like me and it began to get a lot more difficult."
All these lived experiences, along with stories shared by other storytellers, including Elizabeth Dench, Sejal Sechdav and B J Taylor, were brought to light around a campfire, providing a nostalgic atmosphere to spark the imagination of both young and old.
Museum General Manager, Helen Light, said: "Everything we do at COAM is about bringing history to life and stimulating the senses of our visitors."
"In our exhibits you can see, smell, and touch history, and the story telling session adds imagination into the mix."