“We need to look after our elderly. I know that it can be difficult sometimes for people as they have their own families, but if we don’t do it, then who will?”


After realising what the actual time was this morning (and feeling that I had lost out somehow), I made a stop-off at my parent’s for some brunch, then headed into town.

I was hesitant to approach Sarina at first, she avoided eye contact and also made a conscious decision to give me way. I’ve come to know these signs having watched people’s behaviour enough, so I let her walk past. Normally, had I the time, I would have carried on and found someone else, but I was in a hurry so decided to ask her anyway and chased her down.

As I thought, she was suspicious, asking why and what for. I asked her where she was from as her accent was quite different, “Iran”, she replied. I immediately went into a spiel about HONY in Iran. She had not seen or heard of it but I described the images, and how I felt looking at them. I also made the point of asking her about Iranian women:

“A lot of the women HONY photographed were quite stunning, are Iranian’s aware of their beauty?”
“Well, only from what others tell us. To us, they are just Iranian woman.”
She had a point.

Sarina was quite eloquent, and spoke with a gentle and calm manner - very ladylike. She has been in Leeds for a good few years, and is in her penultimate year studying to be a professional care/community support worker. She talked passionately about the importance of looking after our elderly, “Each one of us is going to get old,” she said, but also recognised that people are not always able to do so, and that is where her job would come in.

We spoke for a little while longer (she got a phone call in between which she apologised for profusely), eventually she had to go so thanked me, shook my hand and disappeared down the street.

Right, I'm off to my first ever blipmeet - should be interesting and fun, tell you all about it tomorrow no doubt. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


Humans of Leeds