Youth worker vows to continue to break down racial divisions

AN award-winning council youth worker who has spent a lifetime overcoming racial discrimination against himself and others is continuing his mission to break down divisions in local communities.

- By STUART ARNOLD

Oz Sadiq is presented with his Community Ambassador award

Oz Sadiq returned as a young adult helper to a youth club he once attended in South Bank, Middlesbrough, and has gone on to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people through outreach work across Teesside and the North East over a 40-year career.

Earlier this year, the 59-year-old, who is currently employed by Redcar and Cleveland Council, picked up the 'Community Ambassador' award at the annual Tees Valley Equality, Diversion and Inclusion (EDI) Awards while accompanied by his 85-year-old mother Fehmida, a retired social worker. He said this was “encouragement for me to continue working together with communities in Teesside to ensure everybody feels seen and heard”.

Mr Sadiq, who also served in the British Army as a soldier with the Green Howards, is behind a project to raise awareness of many 'forgotten' foreign and Commonwealth soldiers, who fought and died in the First and Second World War alongside their British counterparts.

This brings together multicultural representatives from the likes of local mosques, Sikh temples and African churches in order to lay wreaths at the cenotaph outside the entrance of Albert Park on Remembrance Day, with Mr Sadiq hoping to fund a permanent memorial for fallen soldiers in this category.

Mr Sadiq, who also helps out as a volunteer at a food kitchen for homeless people every weekend in Middlesbrough, said he continued to work hard to battle prejudice arising from the colour of a person's skin and described how he himself had experienced racial discrimination. He said he had also navigated personal difficulties, suffering from anxiety and depression and also being diagnosed with ADHD and autism.