Henry Bran came to the UK from El Salvador in the 1980s, a decade during which the country was ravaged by a bitter civil war. He is a musician and a song writer and works with local communities across London to develop their skills in music, art and drama and their understanding of refugee issues.
When she [my daughter] was able to go back to EL Salvador there were two things that impressed me of her. The first one was travelling from the airport to my father-in-law's home.
And there was a dead body by the road; thing's that I grew up with, you know, it was normal for me seeing dead bodies on the street. This is the first time she see a dead body.
And we were travelling on a little truck kind of thing and we actually standing at the back, you know in the open air kind of thing, riding along, and we saw the dead body, the car kind of slowed down and I just whispered to her, "Welcome to El Salvador!" …and she turned to me and she said very plainly and calm and she said. "I knew I was coming to this Dad, don't worry."
You know, she knew what to expect from the country, and the second impression was at night-time, she had never seen so many stars and, and she just sat at the back of the car looking up into the heavens, you know, "Wow, I have never seen so many stars!"
So, when we came back from El Salvador, she asked me to buy these fluorescent stars and stick them all over the ceiling of her room, so when you actually switch the lights off you can actually see all the stars. She just loved it and that's what she wanted to keep in her mind.
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