Young David Adehin, a YOUNG BLACK MAN from Kingsmead Estate, a graduate of our Brighter futures project, as part of his impact in our communities, been working with our SP UTD U14s team for almost a year now. He started out as Ben’s assistant and then worked closely with me. David now is incharge of a challenging but developing group of young men and today the team qualified for the HMSYL champions cup final.

Recently at Leyton Sixth Form College, when I was giving a SP sales pitch to Low level and disengaged pupils, David and 2 other SP Community Champions shared their journey with their peers. David said how when he first took his first leadership and coaching qualification that he had no interest in leading groups but through my persistence his learning curve and impact has been nothing short of impressive.

In a time when we still have negative headlines and stereotypes David stands tall, but as he knows, the best is yet to come and we strive for continued impact and development to Be the Change in our community that we want to see.

Over 100 children gathered at a leisure centre for the launch of a union between social and sports groups in Waltham Forest.

The young people aged 4 to 14 took part in the launch of Waltham Forest United on Saturday (February 20) at Walthamstow Leisure Centre and Kelmscott School, in Markhouse Road.
The group will help to plan events, share expertise and build funding applications.

Organised into groups of similar ages, children completed 20-minute sessions in basketball, outdoor fitness exercises, football, cricket and martial art Wing Chun.

They also got to make and take home their very own vegetarian calzone.

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The groups bringing their expertise together were Our Parks, National Cricket League and Essex County Cricket, Salaam Peace, Worth Unlimited, SAS Martial Arts.

Alison Emmett, organiser of Waltham Forest United, said: “We believe that all the children and young people of Waltham Forest deserve opportunities to flourish and succeed, and we want to make sure that the adults in their lives are working together to make that happen.”

Original Article: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/14296072.Union_of_community_groups_launched_with_day_of_activities_at_leisure_centre/

Team, well done yesterday and over the last 6 months as we have been working really hard and the foundations are laid for the next 2-5 years!

Partners – Billy, Shelly and Laura, Ricky, Manish, Lauren, Shazna, Scott, Kish, Kristine and Zaf many thanks for continued support and kindness.

Always, thanks to the Almighty for strength and patience in challenging times and grace and blessing to make us successful.

Ari Bekker, former London & South East England Handball Development Officer for England Handball and the London Borough of Newham was invited to Salaam Peace summer camp in East London. Ari, who used to play professional handball and her love and passion has continued in her work in London as well as at International events (London2012 Olympics; Handball2013 Spain Handball WCh, Hungary2013 Youth Handball Wch, Qatar2015 Handball WCh.

 

I love handball not just as a player but as a person, who would always do anything to try to be the best I can in my work. To see young people, children with a smile on their face, play and enjoy the sport of Handball is priceless.

It was my pleasure to be at the Salaam Peace WF Summer Programme (reuniting with Sab and Nug who I worked with for many years) and engage with the kids and mentor the young staff, especially when young leaders (coaches) recognised me when I use to coach them at their primary school

It made me feel back in the old days of coaching in London.

It has been more than 2 years since I moved on from London to get some more International experience and to work in what I really love and passion about, coming back and see the great work Salaam Peace has developed and working on, is amazing to see, as well as the growth of the organisation.

Salaam Peace is not just an organisation, a project, it is a real community, with amazing participants, parents, young leaders, working all together for a better future.

Sab Bham, “Ari was a huge asset and we were blessed to have her share her time and knowledge with all the SP Family. It was as if she was a SP Engagement Officer every day for the last 2 years. Ari is a fantastic human being who has charisma, kindness and an unbelievable work-ethic, a great role model and Icon not just to Women and Girl’s but to all.”

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BACK-DROP FOR SALAAM PEACE

Fourteen years ago, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the terror strikes at the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. The World watched, traumatized, by images of people jumping out of windows, some from the 106th floor of the World Trade Centre, to escape the heat and suffocating smoke as the building burned and collapsed around them. 1,140 more deaths have been linked to the attack on the Twin Towers that day – people who worked, lived, or studied in  Lower Manhattan at the time of the attack have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of “exposure to toxins at Ground Zero”. Over 1,400 emergency response/rescue workers who responded to the scene in the days and months after the attacks have since died.

People, on a global scale, came together to condemn the attacks that occurred that day and, in its aftermath, began to ask questions such as “what could possibly lead a person to act with such callous indifference towards the life of another human being?” The American President at the time, George W. Bush, used a lot of biblical rhetoric in his speeches, such as “Good” versus “Evil” and believed that the terror attacks had invoked the wrath of a vengeful God and that he had the responsibility of carrying out God’s plan to combat Evil in the Middle East and at home.  During this so-called biblical war, we saw a sharp rise in the number of hate crime incidents in communities across the USA and in Europe.

Faith communities were among the first to come together and reject hate and the call for vengeance and called instead for the spreading of messages of peace and harmony. Community initiatives were developed and run by grass roots organizations in churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, school halls and parks to counter the polarization (and further isolation) of communities that occurred in the weeks and months after the attacks. After the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London in 2005, there was again a call for greater collaboration between diverse communities to promote values of respect, tolerance and understanding in neighbourhoods across the country.

In Waltham Forest, a town with one of the most diverse populations in the United Kingdom, Sabir Bham developed a community project called ‘Salaam Peace’ that would use sports-based initiatives as a way of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds and tackling issues that could lead to communities becoming polarized by, for example, promoting positive images of Islam.

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Through his work, Sabir uses every possible opportunity to shine a light on the achievements of members of the community who also work tirelessly to promote community cohesion and human values such as fairness, kindness and compassion. The active and dedicated volunteers at Salaam Peace mentor and inspire young people to achieve their full potential and ‘give back’ to the community.

The Salaam Peace ‘Be the Change’ Awards Ceremony was one such event – a fantastic opportunity to showcase the work of local volunteers and to thank them for their persistent efforts to bring people together to promote cohesion and celebrate community. Young people and adults from all faiths and backgrounds were presented with awards (sponsored and supplied by B&W) in recognition of their personal achievements and for their role in inspiring and mentoring others to also get involved in voluntary and community initiatives.

There were inspiring speeches from mentors and everyone was absolutely delighted when Manish from YOUR MOVE estate agents presented Salaam Peace with a cheque for £10,000 to support its programme of sports-based community initiatives.

Waltham Forest Community Awards were presented to the following community mentors:

Jane Brueseke (LBWF Youth Advisors/YIAG)

Dyon Munroe Robinson (Youth Support Service/Summer University)

Munaf Abhram (FC Leytonstone / Salaam Peace Leytonstone)

Neil Barratt (Lamas School Sports Leadership programme for young people)

Lee Hagger (Norlington School for Boys / Fulham FC)

The following Young People were presented with wards in recognition of their hard work and outstanding achievements:

Azi Bham (Salaam Peace/Kelmscott)

Ausine Sauklyte (Salaam Peace/Lammas School)

Keon Reeves (Salaam Peace/Women’s United)

Agne Daunoraviciute (Salaam Peace/Lammas School)

Abdi Rashid (SP Hackney)

WF Youth Provider Awards:

Karishma Mahomed – Young Advisors

Alex Muhumuza – Young Advisors/Salaam Peace/Worth Unlimited

Shehnaz Bham – Young Advisors/Young Champions/Salaam Peace

Shai Green – SAS Martial Arts

Reece Lindsay – SAS Martial Arts

Sarah Alla – SAS Martial Arts

Asha Greaves – SAS Martial Arts

By Mayor Saima Mahumd

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