Amrik Kaur

Amrik Kaur was born in 1966 in Kent. She has three children. After being a student at Silai for Skills, Amrik went on to become a student support worker with Bristol City College. Above is a photo of the curtains Amrik made at Silai.

"Even a button, even sewing a button on, they've got such a way of doing things. I was surprised when I sewed my first button on at Silai, thinking, I haven't been doing it like this, I have been doing it like this, which looked a lot messier. This looks good you know. You learn as time went on, so even the simplest things, of a button, there's a way of doing something. They've got this thing about everything. I mean, the curtain making; I used to love a finished product, because I could be walking on a street, and I look in peoples windows, I look at their curtains say, oh, that really is not done right, without even realising that I'm actually looking through the window at the time. I know it seems like nothing but when you've done the curtains, they were perfectionists, there were things that you'd look at and think, oh I've done a good job here, you could see no stitching on the right side, you could see no stitching on the wrong side as well, so I thought yes ... yes I liked that.

I only realised once I went to Silai, that there's more to just being on your own with the baby at home, or are you capable of doing anything when you've got a young baby? But you can, you can, and that's where Silai came in, especially where I am today, because now I am actually a support worker for the college. It started off in Silai and I can't imagine, there's no way I would be able to get to where I am today without the help of Silai."