Years can feel like mountains to ascend. Maybe that’s an image lingering from my pre-pandemic memories of trekking in Nepal, but whatever its origin, I’m starting 2021 sprinting up fresh slopes after accepting the post of Chair for We Belong. My formal appointment at We Belong's January AGM has made me take stock of where I’ve come from. Looking back, I’ve appreciated the base camp I had from my time as Director of Innovation at Foyer Federation between 2001-2015, an experience that shaped my character in so many ways that it would be impossible to think of 'being me' without it. I remember the excitement when I received my invitation to interview with Foyer Federation 20 years ago. It was a ‘connection moment’ – the electricity in the veins when you feel an abiding link between an organisation or person and your authentic self. Since leaving Foyer Federation in 2015, my radar has sought the next relationship to ignite my core being. Now, I’ve met that inspiration again.
Supporting a charity like We Belong, founded and led by young people, is hugely significant for me. I believe 100%+ in young people. From my time as a successful classroom teacher, to my work at Foyer Federation on the development of the ‘Advantaged Thinking’ approach, belief has been the superpower I’ve sought to cultivate in others. It’s part of the story I shared in my TEDx speech on opening young people’s talents at Thessaloniki in 2011. One of my first actions on establishing Inspirechilli in 2015 was to create a positive space to work with Team Young People, standing up to social inequalities through initiatives including States of Mind, Hustle, Investing in Girls Education in Africa, Keeptlking, as well as the creative insights of Ranae Kaira, Arianna Roberts and Rowan Kassab.
I realise how important my parents’ belief in me was to my own achievements, which is something I’ve tried to pass on to those I work alongside. How meaningful it is then to support an organisation like We Belong, whose vision has been built by young people, with a team of young staff and volunteers turning that vision into reality. As their two brilliant founding CEO’s Chrisann Jarrett and Dami Makinde write in the forward to We Belong’s 2020 Impact Report, ‘We are energised by a belief that an empowered youth can contribute to solving the problems in society, and that their activism can change the status quo’. Their passion speaks my heart and mind.
It is a privilege to be part of the UK’s first charity led by and for young migrants. Overcoming challenges through the transition to adulthood has always inspired my leadership. In a hostile environment that works against young people who are ‘British in all but paperwork’, those challenges are emotionally and financially multiplied. Just how cruel and unjust that can be is movingly evidenced in We Belong’s 2020 ‘Mental Health Check’ report. Which is why We Belong’s work is so important. More than just its youth-led credentials, We Belong’s identity shines out through a compelling campaign for the rights of young people from migrant backgrounds, who have lived most of their lives in the UK, to access the education and citizenship they are entitled to. I empathise deeply with it, reminding me of what it felt like as a young child labelled as a ‘problem’ in a system that restricted me to remedial classes at school – the same person who would later get a first class honours degree and an MA under the magical tutelage of Lorna Sage. In many ways, that early childhood trauma is my other base camp. It might be an entirely different experience to the stigmatisation faced by young people caught up in our immigration system, but the emotional cost of feeling a system working against your talent leaves a relatable scar.
Exploring We Belong’s work has also reminded me of some of the remarkable young people I met in Foyer projects, bravely facing up to blocks in the immigration system that threatened the roof over their heads. While recognising the resilience of the Foyer residents, it was always the injustice of the system that haunted me. We Belong shares similar stories with such a powerful human focus, emphasising the talents in danger of being lost through the young people our immigration system fails to recognise.
For me, that emphasis on belonging, as something one inherently knows but is forced to wait and pay for, connects with the focus on Advantaged Thinking that I developed with the much missed Jane Slowey. Jane and I passionately believed that there is a fundamental human right for all people to be seen for their abilities and potential, not as deficits to society. As Chrisann asks, ‘How many brilliant young people is society missing out on just because of their immigration status?’ It makes neither moral nor economic sense. We Belong strives to put humanity and logic into a system that has often lost sight of both. Sir Angus Deighton’s New Year call to ‘build a country in which everyone feels that they belong’ should remind us all to include a more humane immigration system among our post pandemic priorities for those young people whose belonging remains unfairly threatened.
In my personal life, I learned a lot about the struggle of people from migrant backgrounds through my close relationship with the Japanese community in London. I’ve appreciated the determination through uncertainty that people without secure status have to exist by while contributing to society as neighbours and tax-payers. Understanding the pressures that those I loved faced, and realising how they doubly impact on those who’ve grown up as children in this country, has helped me to recognise solidarity with the thousands of young people We Belong seeks to represent and mobilise.
To be in solidarity means showing more than just empathy for the 332,000 children and young people growing up in the UK today without any formal immigration status. It means being prepared to take action - to be bold of thought and to fight for justice with wisdom. In the 10th anniversary year of Advantaged Thinking, standing up with We Belong feels profoundly right. Even if I can’t be a Kamala Harris and say 'I hope I won’t be the last' ageing British-born Chair, as part of We Belong’s investment in emerging young leaders, I’m aiming to make sure I am. What's important though is appreciating that We Belong is about inclusion through shared values - we all have a place in its chapter.
I know I will only be worth the responsibility of my post if I can help We Belong ensure that all young people without secure status feel their place in Britain is properly recognised too. That is my purpose for being here – to work alongside a talented team of young people and fellow trustees towards a summit of greater equality. Which is why there are some words from Kamala Harris that I feel I can authentically shout out with everyone on the climb: "Dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they've never seen it before".
As my guide said to me each sunrise in Nepal, ‘Jam Jam’– let’s go! This is a journey for life: let's get there together.
If you would like to join me in helping to campaign for a shorter, more affordable route to settlement for thousands of young people who have lived most of their lives in the UK, please find out more and consider donating to We Belong's cause HERE
