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Us and Them

I met my youth worker friend at the gym this morning. It had been quite a while since our last conversation. There were a couple of minutes, in the steam room, when we talked about his plans to politically educate the young people he is working with so that they can make informed decisions at election time. We agreed that they shouldn’t vote for someone just because he (when are the Pakistani women going to come forward!) was from their community or biraderi, extended family. I suggested he should invite all the political parties, one at a time, to send in local election candidates so there could be meaningful exchange. Also, this way he would not be accused of favouring any one political party.

We then got talking about Pakistan, how often we go back, the specific areas we each come from (except in his case it was where his family came from as he was born a Brummie). Later, I said: “isn’t Chakswari over the other side of the bridge?” He said: “No, it’s Dadyal that’s over the other side”.

I think the ‘the other side’ depends on which side of the bridge you are standing!   

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My name

My name is Karamat,

Comes from Pakistan,

It’s Urdu, you see.

My uncle gave it to me.

 

It gets used and abused.

 

Some pronounce it kara-mat and some just a plane K

Others kramat

And others ramat

And others still kramatt.

In some parts of my Hometown, people even call me Karamjit.

 

My uncle didn’t expect it to be abused, only used, properly.

He thought it was beautiful.

It really* is!

 

It means miracle, best written in Urdu.

 

Just ask if you are not sure how it goes.

 

*Thank you Bradley

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Is diversity all about differences?

A few years ago as a part of my voluntary community work, I was involved on the management committee of a Birmingham community advice centre. One day I bumped into a fellow Pakistani. When I told him about my involvement, he said “are there other ‘apne log’ (our people) involved there?” When Asians use this Urdu phrase, they almost always refer to not just people of their own ethnicity but also to those who come from the same clan, ethnic community and district.

 The advice centre concerned was run under the auspices of a Church of England church, with a White vicar who had a real heart for the inner city and its people. Much of the congregation of this fairly ordinary church was made up of White or African Caribbean worshippers. Most of the staff of the advice centre were of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim background as were its clients who chose the advice centre in preference to their own community’s services because they saw it as more impartial and professional.

The question certainly made me think about who ‘our people’ were in such a situation. For example, for a Pakistani or Bangladeshi in need of advice, was it people from her own ethnic group, clan or fellow Muslims. Or was it the African Caribbean worshippers who donated their hard earned income so that she could access free advice; or perhaps it was the White vicar or the multi-racial management committee whose member I was. It made me wonder whether people emphasise too much their race and ethnicity and should go beyond this and focus on our humanity. We may then realise that we have much more in common than that which divides us.

That brings me to diversity. My involvement in it goes back to the 70s except it was called ‘equality’ in those days. It wasn’t until the 90s when ‘diversity’ was coined as a phrase. I believe it was with the publication of the book, in 1992, ‘From Equality to Diversity’ by Rachel Ross and Robin Schneider.  This definition of diversity from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development best sums it up: “Managing diversity involves valuing people as individuals, as employees, customers and clients- everyone is different.”

The BIG QUESTION for me is: why focus on our differences when we have so much in common?

 We share spaces; we often use exactly the same products and services in exactly the same way. By recognising and ‘celebrating’ diversity, are we in the danger of perpetuating the differences? Perhaps, instead we should focus on our commonalities?

There are many situations where there is a duplication of services. We have neighbourhoods where a service is provided for one ethnic group and down the road an identical service is offered for another ethnic group; both are funded from the same public purse. Surely, our communities have lived together for long enough and are mature enough to use a service alongside others from a different ethnic group. Wouldn’t it be far better to encourage us to go beyond the few differences we may have and focus on what we have in common?

 So where does this leave Diversity?

Some of the orthodoxies have begun be challenged, albeit slowly. Munira Mirza from the Institute of Ideas, talking about diversity training, points out: “On one hand, trainers claim to eliminate stereotypes in the workplace, yet in talking about ‘different cultural perspectives’, they end up generating new and more insidious ones in their stead”. She points out that the “diversity machine is highly expensive, but more worryingly, it can be highly corrosive. It creates divisions within the workforce and generates an unhealthy preoccupation with racial tension in the workplace”. Ms Mirza goes on to offer diversity practitioners and others a challenge: “what has been lost is any sense of universal or common values. Contemporary society finds it difficult to claim that there are values and needs that are shared by everyone, regardless of their particular cultural upbringing, skin colour or ethnic background. Today, there is an absence of vision that can unite different groups.”

Later Ms Mirza makes a similar point in another article: “In our society we attribute much more positive significance to cultural differences, but increasingly lack confidence in people’s ability to transcend them.” She goes onto point out that we assume “that individuals born into a particular ethnicity or culture find it difficult to identify with people different from themselves”

Trevor Phillips, the recently appointed chair of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights, has pointed out: “My concern is that policies have got to the point where we recognise differences even if it is at the cost of equality,” he said. “Diversity is not damaging to society; what is damaging to society is the recognition of diversity without the recognition of commonality”. Of course, it was not long ago that the Commission for Racal Equality, which Mr Phillips currently heads up, was talking about ‘All Different, All Equal’; don’t times change!

And finally, the words of Shakespeare help to remind us of what we have in common:

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh…Remember we all feel hurt, we all feel pain

Merchant of Venice

 Note: this blog was previously published a few years ago 

 

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Writing about nothing!

I had the privilege of meeting a group of young people and starting the next ‘Writers of the Future’ group. How fortunate I am; being able to work with such engaging people, surrounded by books (we were in the school library). I so love what I do. I feel a bit of an imposter calling it ‘work’ though. My world today is so far removed from that of my elders. That was WORK. For example, my father used to walk for days with his donkey to different parts of Pakistan, transporting goods for businesses and, later, doing back-breaking shifts in Birmingham factories.

I explained to the students my purpose in being there and then asked them what writers did. Of course they all said: “write”. This was my cue to point out that before writing comes reading. So please would they read, read and read some more. Most of them were used to using their local library.

We talked about how easy it was to write once you get started; how to get inspiration (“from life”, said one) and how to get published using the internet (“make sure you are responsible in what you publish”, I said).

I asked them to do some writing. “Perhaps, you could write about meeting me”, I said.  I told them a little about myself and permission to make up the rest. They were off:

  • Mr Iqbal told us that he wanted to be a writer ever since he was young…
  • The slow and thought out manner in which he spoke showed that … He told us about meeting the man who started Urdu journalism
  • I can tell Mr Iqbal has a passion for writing and loves reading. …He is the first person I have met who has his own blog!
  • He believes that if he wants to achieve his dream of writing, he can do and do it (publish) for himself.

Rather than stare at them while they were absorbed in their activity, I decided to jot down some notes for my blog entry.

I had promised to share with them, each week, some of my favourite books. So, I read an extract of a speech Mr Jinnah had made (from Stanley Wolpert’s ‘Jinnah’):

Organise yourselves, establish your solidarity and complete unity. Equip yourselves as trained and disciplined soldiers. Create the feeling of an esprit de corps (we discussed what this meant with the help of a student who had done French!) and of comradeship amongst yourselves. Work loyally, honestly, and for the cause of your people and your country. No individual or people can achieve anything without industry, suffering and sacrifice

In the process, there was a history lesson- when Pakistan was founded, who ruled the area before, when Bangladesh came about.   

We had time to kill so we talked about bilingualism- one student is doing Urdu GCSE, one spoke Bengali. We then had a group-read of a colleague’s ‘blog’ and learnt about ‘doing foreigners’. I had to explain that this was nothing suspicious but ‘working on the side’. We also talked about ‘eating’ tea. Don’t the English have some strange practices, I thought!

Their homework: to read; to write, if they feel inspired; to look at my blog and, of course, Tim Dowling’s, whose writing gave us the title for my current work.

     

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Birth of a new charity

It all began in 2007 while I was visiting my Mum in Pakistan. On day two, I was woken very early by the azaan, call to prayer.  I began to think about the local community where most young people aspire to go to England. I wondered whether they could be encouraged to think differently. How about if more of them had better prospects here? What would help to make that happen? Given my own life’s journey, there was only one answer; EDUCATION.

So, I began to think about how more young people could be encouraged to succeed in education. I spoke to a few friends and respected elders. They spoke about the ‘hidden extras’; the costs which act as a barrier for the poor who wish to access, the otherwise, free education. One of them also said, “If you are planning on doing good, you should not delay”.  So, by the end of my week there, I had found a few people who were willing to be on our Committee; our eyes and ears at the grassroots.

I went back to the UK as planned and set about talking to people to see how funds could be raised. One thing was sure for me; I had given my word so something would need to be set up. It was just a question of timing.

Soon, I had managed to rope in enough people to take part in a sponsored walk with me. Where we would walk was not hard to think of. We decided that we would follow Birmingham’s No 8 bus route known popularly as the Inner Circle. This was because most people from the area to be served by the new charity had settled in and around these neighbourhoods.

In the end, 25 friends joined in on this 13 mile walk. Between us we had managed to speak to and get support from nearly 200 of our contacts. We raised nearly £2000 which got the charity off to a brilliant start.

Since those days, over 25 young people in and around my birthplace have been enabled to access education. During a recent visit to my Mum’s, I was able to sit in on a Committee meeting to see a few hundred pounds being distributed amongst 17 young people who are the current beneficiaries of the charity.

We now have a website. Please take a look: www.karamfoundation.co.uk

Karamat Iqbal

 

 

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Big-brain man

“Hi, how are”?, I said.

“Oh fine”, he replied.

“Good Christmas?” I said.

“Great thanks. I spent it in Bruges.”

“What”, I said.

“Bruges. I went to Bruges”, he said, emphasising where he had been for Christmas.

“How interesting”, I said.

He explained he likes to go there so he can practice his French and Portuguese.

“You must be very clever”, I said.” You must have a big brain”.

“I do agree with you on that”. His response surprised me. He said it in such a matter-of-fact way. I don’t think he was being big-headed.

He went on to explain. “As well as learning languages, you learn about the people”

Me:“So, you must know a great deal about many different people.”

Him: “I guess I do”

“And, in different places”, I said.

“Yes, in different places; across two continents”.

He then told me he was learning a fourth language. “It’s called Amarik”. I had never heard of it. “I am learning it so when I go over to do voluntary work I can communicate properly with the community over there”

Just then, he saw he saw the Gym manager coming so he indicated to me that our little interaction was at an end.

The next time I went to the gym, I saw him from a distance. He looked very different. He wasn’t in his uniform- that funny plastic hat they have to wear- but in dark trousers, long coat and an old fashioned brief case. He looked such a business man.

 

እንኳን ደህና መጡ! Welcome!

 

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Parallel worlds in Moseley

After a year’s break, I decided to have another go at stewarding at the Moseley Folk festival. Where else can you be useful to your community, meet friends and neighbours and experience some  excellent music as a part of the bargain? And all this for free when you are a steward. Not bad at all!

By Sunday, I had done my two shifts of duty so I could just enjoy the programme. But then, I remembered that I had wanted to go to the Eid Mela taking place the same afternoon. So, I decided to take a detour and first pop down to Canon Hill Park with thousands of other local people. I then managed to get to Moseley Park just in time for one of my favourites from two years ago, Scott Matthews.

Although, the two events were taking place in different parts of our lovely community, they seemed to be worlds apart.

Having spent many years locally, I have become used to feeling at home in a multiracial environment. So, what struck me above all was that the crowd at the mela were almost wholly Asian, possibly Pakistani. There was a complete lack of any white faces with the exception of a few women who had married out of their community and, of course, some of the people who were staffing the display from organisations such as HSBC, Ford and Aston Villa Football Club who were there as a part of their outreach programme. And then later, at the folk festival, the crowd was slightly more multi-racial, predominantly white, with the occasional black or Asian face.

It reminded me of the phrase ‘parallel lives’ coined after the 90s riots in a number of Northern towns. At the time, it appeared to imply that it was the Pakistani community which was the guilty party, now I wasn’t sure who was to blame or indeed whether there was anything wrong with communities participating in distinct cultural events.

Surely, the main point is that people are free to choose what they want to do, on their Sunday afternoon. It could be having a pint of Mad Goose and listening to some up and coming folk artist with their friends and family or, a couple of hundred yards down the road, listening to Pakistani music also with friends and family but without the ale.

I did wonder, however, whether we will come to a time when we will stop having separate cultural events; perhaps a better option would be for both the events, and others like them, to have a more diverse audience.

Karamat Iqbal

www.1078051064.test.prositehosting.co.uk

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Is that second breakfast or first…

“Is that second breakfast or first?”, I say to the man. “First. I didn’t have any when I left home”. He told me he had been at work since 6. “I finish at 2; something to look forward to”.

We then had a conversation about this being his regular shift. He didn’t mind it really; much better than when he worked the three shifts.

It took me back to another time. Those early days of the shift system starting with the help of people like my dad. They were willing to do any job, at anytime, anywhere. The money was good. Much better than they had ever known. Some were willing to work a shift and half; a few even double shifts. “Can you just imagine working for that long!”

 

We met. We connected (as parents). She was looking forward to Christmas, with her one year old daughter. It made me think about 1990; my first with mine. “Two whole weeks with your baby”, I thought to myself. Mine is coming back home tomorrow. What fun have we had! What fun are we still to have!

We then connected as teachers, as educators, with a love for learning. And literature. Will I have time to actually read for pleasure, over Christmas, I wondered.

 

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The art of conversation

My family know that I am always talking to strangers. This is because I have a theory that everyone has an interesting story they can tell about their life’s
journey.  There have been times when I have gone out to do something such as pop down to the shops and taken ages. I will have struck a conversation with someone I met for the first time and will be there listening and talking. Such encounters provide plenty of ‘me too’
opportunities. Today was no different.

Out walking my dog, I saw a lady coming towards me. I had not seen her before in the quarter of a century I have lived in our community. We both caught each other’s eye as we passed.

A ‘hello, how are you doing’ resulted in me learning that she lived at the other end of our road, “not the posh end” she said. She had lived in the area for over 50 years; I have barely lived that long. She worked in psychology at Birmingham University. Apparently, for her PhD, she had compared the parent-child
relationship of Asian and white young people. This was cue for me to tell about my own PhD which I have just started, with a focus on educational achievement of Pakistani boys in Birmingham.

We must have talked for about a quarter of an hour. During this time, we shared stories about our families as well as my dog; how intelligent he was, how often we walk etc. I told her about my children. I learnt her husband was a moral philosopher.

Sensing that our conversation was coming to and end, I asked her name. “Mary Stopes- Roe” was her response. I told her mine. We also exchanged our addresses especially as I wanted to get hold of a copy of her PhD.

Mary had said she was too old to be bothered with email and the internet, I realised when I got home that the World Wide Web had some interesting information about her. I learnt that she is “the daughter of Barnes Wallis and Molly Bloxam. Trained as a historian and psychologist, Mary worked for many years at the University of Birmingham where she had done her PhD. Since retirement she has been archiving her family’s papers, among which she discovered her parents’ courtship letters. Mary and her husband Harry have two sons and two daughters and ten grandchildren”.

I also discovered that I already knew Harry. He was the ‘stranger’ I had already encountered on a number of occasions. Recently, I had
learnt his name. He has his own interesting story, including being the son of Marie Stopes, the campaigner for women’s rights and a Vice President of the
British Humanist Association

I now look forward to learning more about Mary and Harry. It would be great if she finds her PhD dissertation. She said she would drop it
in.

I am also wondering which stranger I am going to meet next with his or her own interesting story.

PS
At the time I did not know that three years later I would fall seriously ill which would lead me to become a hospital chaplain. I recently estimated that over 2.5 years in that role I have listened to more than 1000 strangers

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Working class young people lack the character capabilities necessary for success in the modern world

Life was fairly predictable for young people in the past. They would attend school and then follow one of a number of options upon leaving school. What they did at this point depended on a combination of their social class and educational achievement. Many went into a range of differently paid and differently statused jobs while others pursued further or higher education. But the situation has radically changed during the past few decades. Getting a job upon leaving school is no longer a certainty. And if they do get one, unlike before, they are more likely to have to leave it and seek another. The process may continue at a regular frequency as there are few jobs for life. In between work, the person may have to cope with periods of unemployment, work flexibly, work part-time etc.

The modern life journey young people are increasingly likely to pursue requires them to have certain personal and social skills. Those who have such skills are at an advantage in the competitive world around them. “Our basic needs are ones for sustenance and care. But we also need capabilities- skills, knowledge, and wisdom- to help us navigate through life. These capabilities are the means through which we meet our other needs – finding a job, earning a living and coping with challenges.” The report goes onto refer to Amartya Sen who talks of “capability as a kind of freedom”.

The capabilities concerned are developed in early life but they have long lasting impact for the individual. Many are also developed through activities and learning beyond school. This has particular implications for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

According to Lexmond and Reeves “a substantial research literature shows that the development of … skills is influenced by socio-economic background with children from poorer families faring worse that children from middle class families” (2009).

According to Phil Parker, a senior teacher with many years of experience in White working class schools, “this is reinforced by the findings in our PASS survey, though not against these criteria explicitly. Our findings in 2005 showed self esteem, self confidence, readiness to learn (and to some extent attitudes to teachers) featured heavily”.

[box type=”info”] Click here if you are interested in buying a copy of the main report from where this extract has been taken or the sister paper on Resilience and Self-efficacy [/box]