Helpful Humera lands MBE for work
ACOMMUNITY and business leader has been awarded an MBE for her work in helping diverse populations across Rochdale.
Humera Haqqani, 60, is the director of Drake Street-based community support organisation ‘Let’s Talk’ and has been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Let’s Talk run weekly free courses ranging from basic English skills, preparation for the life in the UK test, domestic violence/forced marriages support group and mathematical skills. The courses help up to 40 women a week.
Originally from Pakistan, Humera moved to Rochdale from the Netherlands in 1999 and realised that a vast population within the migrant community in Rochdale were isolated and lacked basic skills in order to integrate.
She joins two other Rochdale residents in being awarded an MBE.
Catherine ‘Kate’ Connolly, headteacher of Brownhill Learning Community, which provides educational provision for pupils who are out of mainstream schools, was awarded her MBE for services to the education of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people.
Meanwhile Pamela Scarry, head of development, continuous improvement service at HM Revenue and Customs, was awarded an MBE for public service.
Humera said it was a ‘big shock’ when she heard she had been awarded an MBE.
“I thank God and everybody who decided this, it’s a big achievement,” she said.
“I’m really happy, I can’t put into words how happy I am.
“When you’re doing something from your heart you never think of getting rewards. I never thought about this.
“It is a big honour to me that I am receiving this award. It was not in my mind that what I was doing should get an award or something like this.”
In 2008, Humera began her community work by hosting a two-hour Urdu radio show, making her listeners aware of current affairs and national and local matters.
More recently she hosted various shows from home during lockdown, explaining and emphasising the need for compliance from the community and encouraged listeners to get vaccinated.
Since 2015 she has been offering free driving lessons to many victims of domestic violence and organised a weekly soup kitchen providing hot meals and weekly drop-in sessions for the over 55s to socialise and play games.
“I started my work on local radio and I realised my community needed a lot of help and support,” said Humera.
“Britain is a great country to achieve whatever you want. I thought ‘this country has so much to give to the people, why are we not getting it’?
‘‘I realised I needed to do more.”
A couple of times a year Humera organises a drop-in medical health check event for people to get themselves checked by a team of volunteering medics, and runs an annual integration event to help new migrants integrate with the locals.
She also helped deliver supplies to Syrian refugees in asylum camps in France and sent 40kg of hand knitted/sewn items to Australia to help the recovery of animals caught in the wildfires.
Humera said her message to others was to ‘believe in people’.
She said: “Believe in people, give them love, support. If you keep providing help people will learn.
“If you try to do some good work for any human being, do it from your heart. Don’t wait for any reward, just keep doing it and you will get the reward like I am getting now!”