Relative Values

In the course of my work I come into contact with many inspirational people - several of whose photographs I've shared with you in this journal. Here are two more wonderful human beings - the great father and daughter team, Taher and Afrah - who were both at a meeting that I also attended this afternoon.

During the coffee break I asked Taher whether he remembered when I'd first met him - I knew it was quite a while ago but I couldn't remember how long.

"It was 1996!" he said, quick as a flash.

At that time he was trying to establish an Arabic Centre in Liverpool and I was able to offer some help with the nuts and bolts of putting a constitution together and getting registered as a charity.

Since then, Taher and his colleagues have steered the organisation with great skill and dedication and he's been the driving force behind the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival which has gone from strength to strength over the past 15 years - to such an extent that Taher received an MBE in 2007 for his services to the community.

Taher's day job is in Public Health and Afrah has followed in the family footsteps not only as a Board member for the Arab Arts Festival but as a Community Development Worker specialising in the mental health of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. Her particular focus is on support for women and children and (not to be outdone by her dad!) she's also founded a charity, Savera Liverpool, which works around issues of domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and so called 'honour killings'. She was awarded the Women In Business, Merseyside Women of the Year Humanitarian Award last year.

We see each other fairly regularly at work and it looks as though we'll be working together even more closely over the coming months.

When I asked them for their permission to post their photo here, Afrah was worried that they weren't interesting enough! I think you'll agree with me that they're not only very interesting but also very special people.