The Haslams stayed back in India after the Independence and from that decision followed years of hardship and deprivation. For someone who lived and grew up in the in the slums of Kolkata, mired in poverty, Jillian Haslam’s determined move to remake her future is truly inspiring. A millionaire today after a successful career in banking, Jillian, 44, works currently as a motivational speaker, prodding others to learn from her resolve to make a life for herself that pulled her through the tough times.
Ronald Haslam, Jillian’s father, was with the British Army and posted in Kolkata when India gained Independence in 1947. Given a year to go back to the UK, the Haslams took the decision to stay in India and Jillian was born in 1970. “It made more sense living in India. Back home, the cold was too much to bear. My aunt who moved back to UK was worse off than us. The harsh cold climate was difficult to live in,” Jillian says of her parents’ decision. But her father suffered a heart attack and was moved to the Salvation Army. With no income or place to live in, Jillian’s mother Margaret was forced to find shelter with her children—which included her and her sisters Donna and Vanessa—living under stairs and in people’s houses.
“We were too small to be put into boarding school and were therefore moved from one house to another, sometimes with our parents, sometimes without. We never really had any one place to call home until I was around five years old,” recalls Jillian. When her father’s health improved, the family moved to the nearby town of Dum Dum where the parents taught English in a small school for Indian children.
With a salary coming in and living quarters provided, the Haslams were back on their feet. The girls even got an education and life
seemed stable. A year later twins Kimberley and Alan were born. But malnutrition, shortage of basic necessities and lack of medical
help saw them die within a few weeks.
In 1975, local Naxalites got
wind of the only white family living
in the area and planned an attack
on them. Donna, the elder sister
was the target. Local farmers
whose children were educated by
the Haslams helped the family escape
leading them through fields
and along the woods in the dark
of the night.
Back in Calcutta, the family
went back to living under the
flight of stairs along Prinsep
Street. Sleeping on a plastic sheet
with clothes from a local charity
group, they spent nine months living
like this, constantly taunted as
‘sada choohas’ (white rats). They
eventually moved into a room in
a slum in Kidderpore with no electricity
or water and big bandicoots
for company. That year, Jillian
and Vanessa were put in to
the St. Thomas boarding school.
Years later their brother Neil and
Susan were born. But malnutrition
almost took Susan’s life too.
Only Jillian’s determination not to
give up on her sister and scrounge
for milk from a shop helped save
her.
“We went through tough times,
but I remember my father would
make us sit down at the end of the
day and sing Dolly Parton’s ‘Coat
of Many Colours’ to us. That was
all we needed to lift our spirits.
But I did know that I had to get
away,” she says.
Aged 17, Jillian moved to Delhi
to take up secretarial work. Some
years later she landed a spot as
executive secretary to the CEO of
Bank of America. Soon she was
made president and head of the
charity and diversity network.
Passionate about working for
charity and helping people, Jillian
won awards for the company
which earned her a five-year
package. The money allowed her
to relocate to the UK. She also
managed to take her siblings one
by one. She met her husband
while working at the bank and
married in May 2000.
Her mother died of cancer
within a couple of months after
Jillian married and her father
passed away in 2002 after suffering
yet another heart attack.
In London, she joined RBS
where she worked for 10 years.
In 2010, she took time off to write
her autobiography to help people
understand that no matter what
the circumstances, you can
change your life. She also began
training in public speaking. Help
Yourself Associates is the company
she launched where she currently
works as a motivational
speaker.
Jillian left Kolkata and the slums
years ago, but for her, now a millionaire,
“Calcutta is still home
and I am still an Indian. Genes and
blood lines aside, I’m still 100 per
cent Indian,” she says, adding that
things haven’t changed for the
children living in those slums
even today.
“Life hasn’t changed one bit for
the kids there today. They still live
in filthy conditions, going days on
end without electricity and water.
When I speak to these kids, they
think that the slum is life; that
there’s nothing else to live for. I
point to myself and say I lived
here for years but I made life better
for myself,” she says.
Working with the Delhi-based
NGO, Remedia Trust Foundation,
Jillian’s charity group runs several
programmes in India’s slums.
