Ending 2025 with a memorable meeting

It started small and grew to something I could never have imagined. It is something that is difficult to explain in words. It all started last year when I saw a poster at my local community centre about getting involved in a project called Changing Realities. I began attending meetings online. At the beginning, I didn’t really know that much about the scope of the work, really, only that it was about documenting life on a low-income for families on children.

But I just thought, I am sharing with them, and they are listening to me. And that matters. Deep down though I feared that the voices of me and the parents like me are weak, and that it was all happening for the sake of it. Nothing will change, I worried. And who will listen to any of us, and especially to me?

So it came as a massive surprise to me that not only were we listened to but some of the things we called for – for example, the removal of the cruel two-child limit – were actually implemented.

I feel so proud of myself, of the whole team who support us all as we start our journeys on Changing Realities, and through every step in between. At the end of the year, we were invited to the most famous address, 10 Downing Street, to meet Kier Starmer, the Prime Minister. He invited over sixty of us through that famous door, with our children too, to thank us for all the work we’ve done to push for change on child poverty.

This is something I never could have imagined, in my wildest dreams. All he wanted was to say thank you, for the work we have done, and will continue to do, and the efforts we’re making to bring the changes we want to see so our kids and families, and the millions of others affected by poverty can thrive.

I am so thankful to the Prime Minister, to the Changing Realities’ team, to Ruth, for her endless efforts, and all the parents and lovely kids who were able to join us. My eight year old son Muhammed was there too. Up to now, he always used to ask me: ‘What do you do when you go away for those meetings?’ Finally, he was able to come with me too, and see exactly what I do and why I do it. And he was so very proud of me. And I was proud of myself too. When I was inside No 10 Downing Street, I felt included and I felt like I was part of something bigger and more powerful than I ever could have imagined. A common person like me was invited into a room normally reserved for politicians and diplomats and this mattered.

But this is not the end. And next year, we will continue to work for change: hopefully stronger, bigger and better.