It was a real privilege to be invited to the launch of Ahmad Lunat OBE's new book; 'Our Heritage 2'.  The book documents, celebrates and shares real life stories of some wonderful women who moved to Batley and helped make the town the culturally rich and diverse community it is now, to live, work and raise a family.

 

Ahmad Gul Lunat OBE is one of our Members, as well as being a stalwart member of the local community. Through their accounts, these brave and courageous women will be remembered for generations to come. The content of their stories clearly demonstrates that these women were some of the bedrock foundations of the Batley community that we know today. They helped to create the cultural diversity that exists here and their narrative is inspirational as they retell their hopes, as well as the fears they overcame, and the sacrifices they made, to come to Batley to be with their families and begin a new chapter of their lives. We often say in Batley, that community makes us, and the unity in community is key, and these women personify this statement.

 

As the proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child” and our Batley community is diverse, strong, resilient and successful. This was witnessed at the launch event, not only by the life stories of the women captured and showcased by this book, but also by the tremendous young women who read excerpts, bringing the stories of their grandmothers to life in the present.

 

The women featured in the book were resilient, solution focussed and demonstrated a steely determination to overcome the adversity they faced. There are a series of common threads running through these life stories, which are compelling and wonderful aspects of human nature; the kindness shown to them by others including strangers, strong family bonds and love.

 

Our task now is for these stories to be shared with younger generations. For the book to be used in schools; the stories shared in assemblies and used as a tool to empower our next generation of women to also be brave, be pioneers, be ambitious, be resilient, be humble and kind, and to always be the best version of themselves.

 

In a time of such global uncertainty and conflict around the world, these stories bring a sense of hope and belonging, and provide a positive message for the future we can all build together with the understanding that we must be the change we want to see in the world. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? The importance of education is articulated so frequently by the women in this book, and as Paulo Freire once said; "Education does not change the world. Education changes people and people change the world."