I was born in St Mary’s in 1996. I live in Moss Side and grew up here all my life. Growing up here was up and down. When I was younger I would play in Moss Side Adventure and ‘catch joke’. After that it would be a bit more mundane. It taught me a lot of life lessons. I went to Manchester Academy, you don’t drop your old friends, you adapt and make new friends. Growing up it was brilliant, yes there were guns and that but when the sun was up and you were out and there was laughter, it was good. Instead of hearing stuff from other people, I would deal with it firsthand. Like when Jesse got shot I came downstairs and asked my cousin if that was gunshot and he told me what happened, I heard it, not on the news. The shootings affect people and the community, I saw that.
In terms of Religion, I grew up not needing a religion. I learnt morals through my Mum. I converted to Islam a year ago for the morals. In terms of faith, I have faith in humanity, collective and being a good person. Media is powerful, you got to remember it is owned by a certain select amount, so we see want they want us to see. You must base your own opinion.
I started on the Young Roots Project because I started with GIFT on the BEET Project which is a Business Project. I then got nominated for a Bursary and won it, through Sir Robert McCalpine. I said to Henry and Jackie ‘you have done so much for me I want to volunteer and that’s how I got involved.
The future is in the hands of the youth, people like you and me. Even people not born yet will be our youth. We have the power to change – collectively if you live cohesively.
