An asylum seeker who came to Britain as a young girl has become the head of an Islington-based charity supporting vulnerable women from minority backgrounds.
Marchu Girma is the new Chief Executive of Hibiscus, an organisation supporting foreign nationals and black, minority ethnic and refugee women in prisons and detention centres in the UK.
Having travelled from Ethiopia to the UK aged 11, Hibiscus hopes that Girma will “bring the insight of her own lived experience” to “advocate for and achieve systematic change”.
Girma’s appointment comes at a time when minority ethnicities make up 27% of the British prison population but 13% of the general population and women, particularly from BAME backgrounds, are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic’s financial and psychological suffering, according to research published by The Fawcett Society.
It was in the school playground Girma first became aware of racism in the UK. Told to ‘go back home’, she learned that skin colour impacted how she was treated and wanted to change society’s perception of her.
With a career devoted to social activism and education, Girma aims to raise awareness of the experiences faced by people of colour in British history and society and the intersecting role of race, migration and gender in female oppression.
She believes that stories about immigration and black figures must become “common knowledge…then the narrative around migration and racism will change”.
Girma’s announcement as chief executive comes as Islington celebrates Black History Month. In the words of Addai Addai-Sebo and Ansel Wong, this aims to elevate the “achievements and innovative contributions” of black figures as a way “to heal, reconnect and celebrate our common humanity, giving meaning and real value to Great Britain.”
