Bismillah Kader was born in Penang, Malaya, in 1943. She grew up in a traditional Muslim family in Malaya. When Bismillah was seventeen, she married a young Englishman. She describes her experiences of family, social and cultural issues in Birmingham, UK, in the 1960s. Bismillah studied at Birmingham University. She taught in further education colleges and was a full-time inspector of education for the Further Education Funding Council, in England. After retirement, Bismillah set up an IT company and a teacher education college in Malaysia. Bismillah lives in the UK and continues to contribute to promoting opportunities for education.
At just 17, Bismillah made an audacious choice to marry a young Englishman, defying her traditional Muslim family and father’s guidance. Yearning to pursue studies, she embarked on an extraordinary journey spanning turbulent historic events. From surviving World War II Japanese occupation in Malay...