Starting the march with hope
Speech by Inderjit Bhogal at the beginning for the community march, on 15th March 2008.
I greet you in the Name of God, and wish upon you the peace of God.
As we gather here, we remember in prayer those who have been killed on our streets: Ibrahim Ilyas [June 06], Younis Khan [March 07] and Jonathan Matondo [October 07]. We pray for God’s light and peace upon them and their families.
We pray also for those who committed the injustice and for their families.
We pray for all of us who live in the Burngreave area.
We pray for harmonious communities in which all are welcome and valued and are safe and fulfilled…communities where we are stronger together.
We pray for our local councillors, Ibrar Hussain, Jackie Drayton and Steve Jones – and all who serve us in their various capacities, and especially today for our Faith Leaders from Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh backgrounds.
I have lived in this area for nearly 15 years now, 12 of them on Abbeyfield Road. I have chosen to live here. My children have been educated at Firshill Junior School and Longley College.
I value particularly the fantastic ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of Burngreave.
From the time that the Romans arrived in this area 2000 years ago Burngreave has seen a wealth of communities – a common wealth of communities, living here. Over the last 100 years Burngreave has been home to people from many overseas nations including Ireland, Italy, Chile, Nicaragua, the West Indies, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and more recently from Poland and other newer EU countries – to mention just a few nationalities that make up Burngreave.
With us we have brought our different faiths: Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, and also Bahai, Buddhism, and other smaller faith communities. We celebrate our faiths with Humanists, Socialists and Secularists who have made their home here.
We value each other. We value enormously, and are proud and protective of our young people who make very positive contributions among us.
Let us not judge ourselves by how we are portrayed and what others say about us, but by the very best values, and traditions and people among us.
Burngreave….Be proud as a community.
Let us value each other as part of the family to which we all belong.
Let us get to know each other better.
Let us build an even brighter and more colourful Burngreave.
Let us stand with each other, sit and eat with each other, and engage in a pilgrimage of prayer and peace together.
Ending the march with determination
Speech by Farhan Ahmed at the Town Hall at the end of the community march, on 15th March 2008.
The Burngreave Youth Council want to find the key areas of deprivation in order to concentrate our work. We found that exclusions effected educational success and career dependant paths – statistics of the Burngreave area shows that we lack in these areas. We are launching our Young Peoples Office (on Verdon Street) of which Youth Council members and Youth Advisors will work together to provide mentors but most of all a listening ear. Soon we will begin campaigning to give awareness for youths about what we are trying to do for them. To represent young people interests by working with organisation to provide for them.
Unicef report shows that UK is bottom of the league table for Child Well Being, they found that youths rating their peers as “kind and helpful” was only 43%. As the Burngreave Youth Council we will try to help fill the 57% with compassion and support.