Migrants on Paper in London

Migrants living in London are the subjects of a feature in today’s Metro. The free newspaper agreed to collaborate with the Migrant Resource Centre of London, to publish a series of stories about and written by migrants. Part of the reason of promoting this initiative is to fight discrimination and stereotypical portraiture of foreigners.

I took part to the project and talked to an amazingly enthusiast Iranian teacher who came to the UK with plenty of working experience but had to fight her way into her profession and passion: teaching. Ashraf Javdani, featured in the second page of the feature, now is as happy as ever, since she managed to find a job in the same school where the famous English fashion designer, Alexander McQueen went, the Rokeby school in Canning Town.

Not long ago Ashraf was offered a permanent position as a teacher assistant for students with special needs. And she never stopped studying to improve her skills, so now she’s taking online classes in the weekend and was offered a training period outside London. However, although the school would love to keep her place and wait until she returns, the borough of Newham doesn’t seem able to assure that. Work positions in public schools such as the Rokeby are not assigned by the headteacher or administration but by the borough (local administration) the school is in.

Ashraf was very smiley when I met her outside the school to take some pictures for the Metro. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to lose her job and with it, her students.

You can read more about Ashraf’s story here.