Tell me about your background?
I am British born and
bred, Pakistani origin from my mother but neither of which I particularly
associated with whilst growing up as cultural background was more of a
hindrance. Nationalities have become so divisive that it governs us to the
extent of harbouring resentment, hate, arrogance and too much pride amongst
each other. This is what I experienced whilst growing up, the background card
was always played. 'Think of your own Sabiha', 'do not marry outside of this
background', 'continuing the background line is vital we depend on you' and
guess what I did exactly the opposite. This rebellion meant I could be free
from poverty of thought and see all human's as one being.
You are a wife, mother, business woman and run a charity
amongst many other things. How do you
manage this?
The two most important
factors to me achieving this is organisation and family support. I schedule,
make lists, have an entire wall of ideas that is littered with sticky notes and
make sure I try my utmost hardest to achieve every single goal on there. My
moleskin diary is a God send, I carry it with me from the moment I wake up to
the moment I sleep -downloading any brain waves I have onto paper which is how
many of my ideas for events, fundraisers, designs have formed. My charity work
involves bringing children wounded from war's waged in our name across the
globe to the UK (this seems to be my way of helping relieve suffering that our
governments have caused). The children after having brought here on a medical
visa are given the best treatment we can possibly fund, from plastic surgery
reconstructing the face to limb replacement all funded by monies collected via
generous public and regular donators. I try my utmost best to involve my son,
of 2 years old, in all walks of my life so that he can see the realities of
life and also I get to spend more time with him. Though it is not easy at times
and this is where my family have been a pillar of support for me, I cannot
thank them enough for the countless hours my mother has looked after my son. Oh
and I do not own a TV, neither would I ever buy one it removes all temptation
of wallowing on the couch and removes one from their responsibilities, not very
effective if you want to manage a lifestyle like mine whilst keeping things in
perspective. Having said that I only just manage about 4 hours of sleep per day
due to the heavy workload. My mind is always repeating 'there is so much to do
but such little time in which to do so'.
Given your busy lifestyle, what do you do to relax?
I have to be brutally
honest, a relaxing day is an oxymoron. I do not have any such time to do so, my
life as I have described is full of activity. But I am glad I signed up for it.
Holiday's even are often devoid of functionality so I often tend to find some political
conference to attend or be in the presence of like-minded people to speak to
rather than waste my time frivolously. Can you imagine that with such a hustle,
bustle life of mine I would be such a poor relaxer and would probably be
overcome with guilt too. If and on some occasions I find that I have some free
time, I cannot help but embrace the opportunity to plan ahead.
Describe a typical day in the life of Sabiha?
There is nothing
typical about my day, every day is different and I relish this variety. One day
I will working from home, designing graphics or a website for a customer in the
day and in the evening filming political documentaries for my YouTube channel.
Another day may comprise of protest, actions, events against a certain boycott
movement - the activist within is always looking for what some call 'rebellion'
but to which I refer to it is as 'civil disobedience'. I remain peaceful unless
I am shoved, pushed, prodded, handcuffed, held against my will for something I
haven't done or violated as a woman - then authority really pushes my patience;
which is then followed by photographing a wedding in the late hours of the
evening. I think my life is as crazy as can be.
Your faith is extremely important to you. How does it help you in your everyday life?
My beautiful faith shrouds me like a hijab
covers the beauty of a woman. It is through my faith I have learnt how to deal
with difficulties and trials throughout my life (there have been so many). It's
centralises me, brings me optimism, shows me the path to action and brings me
into a moment of sanity when all else is overshadowed with bleakness. Nothing
of my faith was explained to me and I also knew growing up trying to grasp
knowledge of my importance in the scheme of things was that I had to understand
also what each part of my faith meant to me before practicing it. Everything I
do must make logical sense to me before I embrace it and it has been a
completely self-taught experience. I see this faith as a gift, every morning I
thank the Power above for giving me another day, another opportunity to Thank
him for giving me the blessings he has bestowed on me and the abilities He has
given me which I utilise daily. I have
to have faith that what I do today will be for the betterment of tomorrow.
What is your view of multiculturalism generally?
How do you use Social networking sites?
I use social
networking sites to be politically involved, keep up to date with other
projects happening across the UK and elsewhere. My aim is to reach the right
audience effectively and I have an insatiable need to be connected to the
happenings across the globe from real news, which is what twitter has become
from me. Who needs the mainstream media when you have an eye witness account of
someone you know in that particular place tweeting about what is happening. For
me personally social networks is beyond just making connections and
relationships with other's across the globe, it is far more than that ; it is
the way the two individuals planning their ideas together, can campaign and
organise to make something a reality. Many have succumbed to utilising
tracebook...I mean Facebook and twitter for personal drivel which only feeds
into the Big Brother like mentality. Someone said 'Humans are sociable
creatures', well I for one refuse to be someone who is conned into thinking
that these networking sites make it seemingly social to utilise most of my
living hours over. I would rather be enjoying the company of others in real
life.
In your opinion, what is the main benefit of Social Networking?
Twitter
especially has provided me with a space to really huff, puff and have
steam-out-the-ears moments. It is the only way I can rid of the insurmountable
frustration I feel with our governments decisions or lack of.
Where do you see Social Networking going?
Recently what has
concerned me is the heavy political censorship that Facebook in particular
carries out. It has become a white noise, places where you can sink your
precious time into and it is not at all about 'connecting' people as Zuckerberg
would have you believe, it is after all a business and it will be run like one.
The best thing to do is to be completely untruthful about our likes and interests
that should bugger up the advertisers completely. But I really hope one day
Facebook produces in me in those final, dreary visits.
If we hit the fast forward key and its now 10 years
ahead, what would your life look like?
I cannot answer that
question because what I imagine my life to look like is different to what God
may have planned it out for it to be, therefore I live only looking at the next
few minutes and reflecting on my actions constantly wondering how I have spent
my life and thankful that I have been given another glorious gloomy Birmingham
morning to wake up to.
If you could invite 4 people to a dinner party who would
they be?
I wouldn't have a
dinner party, barely any time to (instead I attend other people's dinner party,
gosh that sounds awful) and I would instead have a street party where I would
invite all the greedy politicians and leaders to have their very own mad
hatters tea party in a safe space where the nearest human would be lengths away
from them.
Who are the people that you most admire?
I admire any person of
a moral conscience who works for us all seeking basic human rights and to live
in a better world, just simply that.
