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 Nasrine Abdirachid, 16, with Zakariya Mohamed, 17 |
Bright young Somalis united in achievement
Friends, family and VIPs joined together at the London Irish Sport Centre in a celebration of sporting and academic success – ‘everything that is good’ in the Somali community
LATECOMERS had to be turned away as a capacity crowd celebrated the brightest and best in academia and sport at the London Irish Centre in Camden Town on Thursday night.
In the packed hall, the highest achievers in Camden’s Somali community were lauded by family and a gallery of VIPs in an awards night that was both a celebration and a display of unity.
Prizewinner Nasrine Abdirachid, 16, who scooped the award for the best GCSE results for her six A grades and five Bs at South Camden Community School last year, said: “This is highlighting the ability of Somalis to come together and achieve. We need praise like this to keep going – there is quite a lot of bad publicity about the Somali community but this is a celebration of everything that is good.”
Close rival for top prize and former Acland Burghley pupil Zakariya Mohamed, 17, added: “Most of the adults here tonight lived in Somalia at the time of its greatest troubles. This event shows we can all mix – it doesn’t matter which tribe we’re from. This is the future.”
The awards event has been run for seven years by the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre. Chairman Awale Olad said: “This achievement event awards the best performing 80 students in GCSEs and SATs, and in behaviour and attendance. It is amazing to see how strongly it is supported.”
The event attracted praise from guests including Deputy London Mayor Nicky Gavron, Camden police chief Dominic Clout, former Camden Mayor Jill Fraser and current deputy Mayor Nurul Islam. Somali Olympic representative and Camden activist Duran Farah said: “We have to forget our small differences. This is an organisation for young people, led by young people, and run by young people – it is unusual not just in Camden but in the whole country.” |
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