Sticking Out

Stories in Sound

Joe Nawaz recalls growing up in Belfast with an Irish mother and a Pakistani father. His story sweeps from the partition of India in 1947 through to the Ulster Workers Strike of '74 and beyond.

Teenage angst and struggles with identity caused Joe to shy away from his Muslim heritage and to rebel against his strict father. With humour and candour he remembers how he used to long to be Catholic and carefree - even changing his name to Joe Donnelly on a fake ID card.

But maturity, fatherhood and time have allowed Joe to appreciate the difficulties his parents faced bringing up a mixed race family during the Troubles. Today Joe proudly states that you make your own identity.