She prepared a paper to discuss the health and safety of bauxite mining company workers, which was presented at the Jamaica Diaspora Conference held in Jamaica by the sponsored delegate of the Association of Jamaicans (UK) Trust. She continued her interest in health matters, through her work with the Patient and Public Involvement in Health forum for Haringey. The library opened in Nain in 1997 with a collection named in honour of her mother. Etta successfully petitioned the Alpart bauxite mining company for a site and building and she provided 5,000 books. But she also wanted to create a public library there. In 1991, Etta started to send books and teaching resources to schools in St Elizabeth. Photograph: Bernie Grant Archive/Sharon Grant She was the education officer for the Association of Jamaicans (UK) Trust, and the vice-chair of the Caribbean Teachers’ Association.Įtta Khwaja with Bernie Grant, MP for Tottenham, at the opening of the West Indian Cultural Centre, Wood Green, in November 1987. She had a major influence on Haringey council and on all Haringey schools, not just her own.”Įtta was the first woman to be elected as the chair of the West Indian Leadership Council, and was instrumental in setting up the West Indian Cultural Centre, in Wood Green, which was opened by Bernie Grant MP in 1987. She was a committed advocate for the multicultural approach to education well before this became the norm in Haringey. As one of her NUT colleagues said, “She consistently challenged tyranny, racism, and the ill-thought-out ideas so often foisted upon schools. From 1986 until her retirement in 1998, she was deputy headteacher of Lordship Lane primary school in Tottenham.Įtta made a significant contribution to race equality in Haringey over many years and was the leading light in the Haringey Race Equality Council. She then trained as a teacher at the College of All Saints, Tottenham (which merged with Middlesex Polytechnic), and began teaching in 1979. As the main breadwinner, Etta took jobs in various Haringey schools in north London, first as a playground supervisor and as a teaching assistant. In 1971, Wazir suffered a stroke, which left him permanently disabled and unable to work.
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