Insaf

Insaf is the second Sudanese-born person to feature in my journal in the last few weeks, after Faris www.blipfoto.com/entry/2149956369732603850 and she, like him, provides a perfect counter-balance to the narratives which say that people who come to these shores seeking refuge from war, displacement, torture or hate are skivers, scroungers or extremists.

I used to work very closely with Insaf over a decade ago when I was a Community Development Worker, working primarily with the local Somali community, just as she began working as an Administrator for Merseyside Somali Community Association. These days she's the Centre Co-Ordinator at the Somali Centre, where she's overseen a successful Lottery bid to overhaul the building and make it properly fit-for-purpose. It's also a close neighbour of the recent Turner Prize Winning 'Granby Four Streets' project created by the Assemble collective and the local community.

But not only does Insaf work to ensure that Liverpool's Somali community is as much a part of the local scene as the Chinese, Irish, Polish, Arabic or West African communities are but she's also a tireless advocate for her own, Sudanese, community of origin. And for integration and cooperation between ALL local residents.

Her two older children are a solicitor and a doctor and her youngest daughter, whom I think I first met when she was still at primary school (yikes!), has recently qualified as a dentist. All of them were educated in the UK and all of them are making valuable contributions to 'the British way of life'. As is their proud mum. It's so important to keep telling these stories!

Today, I was invited by Insaf to be a guest speaker at an event she'd organised for Somali, Sudanese, Eritrean and other local women and I was very happy to oblige.

I even had my photo taken by the Liverpool Echo photographer - although I very much doubt I'll make it into the paper. There were far more eye-catching subjects there, as, I hope, my picture of Insaf demonstrates!