A young Asian woman pushed out of her comfort zone
By her own admission, Rehna wasn’t the most reliable of young people and struggled to stay engaged. She is from a Pakistani Muslim family living in Ashton-Under-Lyne, and says that there really isn’t much for young people from her community to do in Ashton.
About 10 years ago, she started attending a local youth project. With the support of project leader, Adnan, Rehna was pushed out of her comfort zone and started taking part in outdoor activities provided by Lindley Educational Trust. She participated in various camping and climbing trips, including the 3 Peaks challenge, winter skills in the Cairngorms and an expedition to Morocco.
Local authority cuts led to youth violence on the streets
However, sudden funding cuts meant that there was no money for a youth club in Ashton and all the hard work that had been done in building trust in the community started to erode very quickly. The young people were bored and disaffected. The Tameside estate was compared to a ''war zone'' in the days and weeks leading up to Bonfire Night as youths, as young as 10, were running wild on the street shooting fireworks with their bare hands.
After 6 months, Lindley Educational Trust knew they had to step in to reinstate activities for young people in Ashton, particularly from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. They did this with the charity’s own money; working with Adnan to run a Monday night drop in group where Rehna started volunteering while she was at university. The young people attending the group were challenging, to say the least, but as Rehna comes from their community, and knows what it’s like to be a young Asian growing up in Ashton, she can relate to them.
A community meeting was called to discuss the violence on the streets of the Tameside estate, and Rehna spent three weeks talking to the young people to get them to attend. At that meeting she was their spokesperson in a room full of angry adult residents.
Voluntary work leads to full-time employment
Rehna has since become a full-time employee of Lindley, working to deliver outdoor activities for children and young people of all backgrounds and abilities.
Rehna is starting to organise female sports sessions, including boxing, dancing, netball and football. Young Asian women need to have an environment where they feel safe to relax and enjoy themselves. Rehna can provide that safety, as she is part of their community and can also be a confidant to them.
Lindley provides residential outdoor activity programmes for children and young people at its Hollowford Centre in the Peak District National Park, where Rehna also works. When I met her she was teaching children from a school in Wilmslow how to make chapattis and cook them on an open fire.
Supporting diverse communities
One of the projects Rehna works to deliver is a Winter Skills Project, which is much more than just a week in the Cairngorms.
Over 12 months the young people have to raise £6,000, learn mountaineering skills at the Hollowford Centre and plan their expedition. It’s a life changing experience for most of the young people who come from conservative Asian backgrounds. Traditionally, young women don't get the chance to explore opportunities as they are expected to use their time to learn life skills such as cooking and looking after their families. The young men often don't get these opportunities either, with the added bonus that they learn some valuable life skills like cooking and cleaning by taking part in this expedition.