A recent Guardian article about COVID-19’s effect on the Bangladeshi community [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/19/preparing-for-death-coronavirus-england-bangladeshi-community] made me reflect on Legacy WM’s work. To set this in context, 2020 marks ten years since I first set up Legacy WM, with a view to collecting stories of Bangladeshi people in Birmingham. I did a project called ‘Bangla Food Journey’ (www.legacy-wm.org/bangla-food-journeys/) whilst undertaking research for the project I discovered that the health of first-generation migrants is better than that of their children and grandchildren. This stark fact stayed with me and directed my focus. Within five years Legacy WM had been allocated substantial funds from National Lottery to focus on the health of the local community through a project called Family Fit. This was very exciting for us; Legacy WM did not have a background in health delivery, but I knew that we needed to be involved with improving health outcomes for our local community. We appointed a staff team and started to deliver projects that focused on improving the wellbeing of the whole family. We found that women became particularly engaged and wanted to take part in our health services.
Because Legacy WM are not based within a Centre, we have the flexibility to go to out to wherever our community are, and make it as easy as possible for people to participate. We work in schools with mums’ after they drop their children off in the mornings. We undertake non-clinical health MOTs and run various programmes including Zumba, Yoga and Food Nutrition. Working at sites including Aspire & Succeed, Saathi House, Lozells Recreation Centre and Birmingham Asian Resource Centre. We deliver Zumba to women, including a significant number from the Bangladeshi community, with some sessions sometimes having up to forty participants. These women only sessions show the truly multi-cultural aspect of our work, with women entering the sessions wearing their hijab and niqab, and warming up to Ed Sheeran!
Our family badminton and football sessions are also well attended. We run a five-a-side football league with ten teams with up to 80 participants every Sunday. Our bike hub is also well used by the community. However, we have found the hardest group to engage with our health services is Bangladeshi men, who have not led a physically active life in the past. Where Bangladeshi women come out in force and request additional sessions, the menfolk continue to resist participation.
After the success of our Lottery grant, I met with a local GP who is a champion for social prescribing, I told him that we have funding and can provide free services for their patients. We established monthly sessions for them and found that it was largely older women with mobility issues who came along to Legacy’s sessions. We trained two members of our staff team to deliver ‘Chair Zumba’. The sessions ran for two years and the people that we worked continue to be engaged with our work, including our weekly Yoga session. This is where the story gets interesting. We were coming to the end of our three year funding with the Lottery and I approached the GP and asked if they could support us with some funding. I arranged to meet him, however, when I got there I was told that he was unable to join us by the Practice Manager. She informed me that the GP had won an award from the Clinical Commissioning Group for working with isolated people with no costs to them. It was free, because we delivered it. I explained to the Practice Manager, if they supported us with a small amount of funds, this would strengthen our bid to the Lottery and this could be a contract for us to continue to deliver the work. The Practice Manager said that she will speak to the GP and get back to me … I am still waiting for that call back!
I met with the Director of Public Health from Birmingham City Council and asked for some funding as this would strengthen our bid. He said that he would be able to support us with £20,000 when I met him in December 2017, I asked when we could have the funds and if he would be able to put this offer in writing. He told me to leave it with him and that I would receive confirmation by the end of January. Unfortunately, I am still awaiting that call back too!
I have met countless representatives from the Clinical Commissioning Group over the years as they invite me to their consultation meetings. I have asked them where is the money and how can we apply? Unfortunately, these meetings have not led to any funding which will allow us to consolidate our important grassroots wellbeing work. Last year I met the Head of Public Health for Birmingham City Council and I did not ask for funding, I thought he has just arrived, let me see what he does. Two weeks ago, I was informed that a Zoom meeting is being held with the Director of Public Health on the Bangladeshi community. My colleagues asked if I would like to attend this meeting, but my previous experiences have made me wary. Will meetings simply mean that others will take information from us and then commission a large institution to work within our community? As the Director of a small charity, I ask myself three questions before I commit to any meeting;
- Will the meeting create a new partnership opportunity for Legacy WM?
- What can I learn from the meeting?
- Can they “show me the money”, so that Legacy WM can continue its important work?
I have lived and worked in Lozells over the last three decades and the area is amongst the worst affected in regard to COVID-19. Many of the people who live in Lozells have underlying health issues which places them at higher risk. Sadly, the issues that affect our community have become gradually worse over the years, and yet when funding opportunities arise which could benefit Lozells, experience has shown that it is larger white-led organisations who are the beneficiaries of these grants, and the health of our communities continues to decline. The recipients of the grants spend the next few years struggling to engage our community, and to have little effect on improving resident’s health. Why is this? Because the organisation has little or no network or trust established within the community. So when the current COVID-19 health emergency blows over and funds are once again available to be invested into the community, please don’t support the usual suspects. Take the time to understand communities that you aim to serve and employ local people to reach that community. Better still give the funding to the many well-established community organisations that are well placed to serve the community. This is the way that you can truly make the positive change for Lozells that we all desire.
Funding alone will not solve the health problems of the Bangladeshi community. Ultimately people need to become responsible for managing their own health and to move towards a prevention model rather than cure. Far too many people simply give up when they are told that they have health issues, and just passively “keep taking the pilla”. Taking pills now seems to be the norm, but I believe that this should be the exception. There is so much that we can do before we resort to medication. Eight years ago, I was told that I was pre-diabetic and that I had high cholesterol. They wanted to prescribe Statins, but I refused and asked what I needed to do to naturally reduce my health conditions. They told me to change my diet and exercise more. I changed my diet and started to cycle to work, and in my next visit my cholesterol had reduced and I was no longer pre-diabetic.
There are serious issues with the traditional Bangladeshi diet. Our fore fathers were farmers and they had a diet of rice, veg and fish; chicken was eaten maybe every few months and beef maybe twice a year. These days, all those dishes can be found at any one sitting. We are no longer farmers, we have changed our roles to a more sedentary lifestyle and this is having an adverse impact on our health. This is compounded by the cheap availability of fast food and fizzy drinks. Families need to think about the health implications that there diet and lifestyle is having on them and makes the changes to improve their well-being.
I remain a whole-hearted advocate for Lozells and for the people who live there. I know that Legacy WM are well placed to help people to make necessary positive change. I will continue to make a stand for the community that I love.
