It was during the coronavirus pandemic that Samia Egeh, Mimo Hersi, Zainab Ibrahim, and Muna Noor decided they wanted to do something for the young people in their area. The four women, all mothers, had been taking walks around their local area of Grangetown and, while walking through the park, began speaking to young people - socially distanced, of course.
"We realised while we were walking around the local community in Grangetown that there were a lot of young people just sitting in the local parks, not having anything to do, and not really up to any good," Samia, 49, explained. The women began to speak to the young people they passed while out walking more often, listening to what they had to say about their experiences of growing up in Cardiff.
"They started expressing their concerns. They were talking about their experiences of growing up as young Black boys," Samia said. "I have a youth work experience background and I really, really wanted to support these young people, and so did the other mothers." From there, United2Change was born.
Based at the Reach Centre in Grangetown, the youth engagement organisation runs a wide range of workshops, trips, and activities for residents and young people in Grangetown and the wider Cardiff area. Now in its third year, Samia feels a lot of work has been completed in the community in that time.
"Everything that is done is voluntary," Samia explained. "We've built relationships with young people and their parents and carers. We've also worked with decision and policy makers to try and get them to understand the needs that need to be met in the community."
"As a mother myself and having two young boys, I feel that I've always enjoyed listening to young people. They're not so complicated," Samia added. "I feel that society has also neglected them as well. Young people are under so many pressures and they're not given chances and opportunities.
"When it comes to Black and ethnic minorities, there's been a lot of inequality as well, which has been a concern for me as I've had those lived experiences where I've faced them myself. I always wanted to not allow my children to go through what I went through."
Once lockdown restrictions lifted, meetings began in coffee shops and parents of young people in the area started to get involved. "Because we're mothers, we've got teenagers and children and it was coming from a very special place," Samia explained. "We were born and brought up in Cardiff and we understood a lot of the cultural barriers where the young people weren't always connected."
As mothers, Samia, feels she, Mimo, Zainab and Muna can provide a unique perspective to run the organisation. "The young people are very clever and they know when people have their interests at heart. They know we have their interests at heart and can see how passionate we are and how we want to help them," she said.
"We don't promise things we can't deliver. We've helped them into jobs and to build careers for themselves. They're not being judged - we're a safe space for them." United2Change runs programmes around confidence-building and communication skills, and has partnered with organisation St Giles on a project called WeMove. The project has employed three young people who are set to receive support from St Giles in leadership roles putting on activities within the local community.
The organisation runs focus groups for young people, asking them directly what they want. After girls requested to learn hairdressing as a new skill, weekly sessions were arranged with a qualified hairdresser to teach them everything they needed to know.
But it's not just young people United2Change is seeking to help. From the Reach Centre, the organisation runs a branch of Big Bocs y Bwyd, a food sharing project for the local community, as well as growing their own food and opening a soon-to-be community café. For Samia, the project is about creating a better community and, therefore, better outcomes for that community.
"People take responsibility for their living, people get to know each other, it helps with wellbeing," Samia said of why such a project would benefit local residents. She hopes that the loneliness felt during and in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic can be tackled through bringing people together through the project.
The organisation also works specifically with women and girls in the area, running workshops on mental health, the impact of social media, and empowerment. "It's about giving them the power to believe in themselves. We're mothers and we believe in ensuring young girls get fairness and opportunities," Samia said.
The organisation has been working to get girls in the area engaged with sport in particular. Over a million girls who thought of themselves as sporty at primary school lose interest in physical activity as teenagers, according to estimates based on a Women in Sport study.
The study, which surveyed over 4,000 teenagers, found that a fear of being judged and a lack of confidence were the main reasons cited for a waning interest in sport among teenage girls. The poll found that 43% of girls felt they were sporty at primary school but no longer saw themselves this way, which, the survey pointed out, would equate to 1.3 million girls across the UK.
"There's a lot of focus on the boys and not much on the girls. They've asked for personal trainers, so they're going to have a personal trainer working with them," Samia said. "It's important to do things like this so they feel confident, they believe in themselves. I think being healthy and happy will give them better future prospects."
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