Namata Ssebalijja, 27

My family is from Uganda but I grew up in an all-white neighbourhood in the UK, and nearly all my friends are white. I also went to a white private school, then studied medicine at Newcastle which added another layer of whiteness. I think that dynamic has affected me subconsciously and changed my views on certain things; the types of men I date, my standards of beauty. I had a nose job when I was 19 and even though I’m glad I did it, I do now wonder: if I was surrounded by people of colour, would I have seen my nose as something that was too big, and too ugly? I doubt it.

At school I had a great group of friends and I don’t ever remember encountering blatant, in-your-face racism, but there were subtle encounters that were hard. I remember being in the common room on my break when one male friend basically said something like: “I would never marry a black woman as I want my children to look like me.” He was my friend and we were 17, so I remember being so shocked and gutted that he said that. Was it that he doesn’t really see me as a potential mate? Or was it because he didn’t see me as black? It was very humiliating. Although the girls were outraged on my behalf, it sparked a bit of an intergroup argument as the boys didn’t get why I was even offended.

Here’s what it’s like being the only woman of colour in a friendship group