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Welcome to Bangladeshi Today
Geographically
this site covers the Sunderland and Washington area and is aimed
at the Bangladeshi residents and organisations living
or working within the area.
Here are some facts about our Bangladeshi Community:
- The Bangladeshi population in Sunderland consists of around 4000
people, about 1% of Sunderland's total population.
- It is a very young population,
more than 50% are aged between 16-30.
- The main community is in Hendon (approx 1200+) though there are also communities in Barnes, Pallion,
Millfield and Thornhill.
- 2 local Mosques (Chester Road and Hendon)
serve the religious needs of the local community.
- The Bangladeshi
Centre on Tatham Street in Hendon is the main community meeting
point; mosques are used only for religious purposes.
Almost all
locals are speakers of the Syhleti dialect of Bengali (as most
families came from the Bangladesh province of Syhlet) and most
(around 70%) speak English, especially younger people. In fact
3 main languages are used by the Bangladeshi community - Bengali,
English and Arabic (which is usually read rather than spoken as
it is the language of the Koran).
Almost all households have one
member of the family that speaks English. Family, religion and
tradition dominate Bangladeshi life and culture. Community members
revere religious, family and community elders - extended families
live in close proximity. Islam dominates and informs the community's
lives, culture and thinking.
Families tend to be strict with their
children, the community has high moral values and tends to be hard
working and self policing. There is a marked split between younger
and older groups. Younger groups educated in the UK tend to be
more ‘dual
culture’ seeing themselves as ‘transitional’ revering
their culture but enjoying interests outside of it like Western
music and dress. Older groups tend more toward their traditional
Bangladeshi culture, are less English speaking, more religious
and dress traditionally.
We are looking for authors to manage the content of
this and other COI web sites.
If your interest email at coi@sunderland.gov.uk.
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