Fatima’s first contact with Katherine Low Settlement was in 2013 when she started to bring her young children to The Railway Children nursery which once resided on the same premises as KLS at 108 Battersea High Street. A seed of curiosity about KLS was planted in her mind, and 6 years later this would blossom into a successful application to become a Caseworker for Love to Learn, KLS’s refugee children’s education project. Or her full title, a Bi-Lingual Somali-English Family Education Caseworker.
It wasn’t until Fatima began work in her previous role on Wandsworth Council’s 0-25 Disability Team that she came to find out about Love to Learn. Experienced Love to Learn Caseworker Faaduma had built a relationship with Fatima as she would often refer children from the L2L programme over to Fatima’s Disability Team. She then let Fatima know about the Caseworker vacancy when it arose in late 2018.
Fatima was really interested in the role as she says she “has grown very attached to community work” and saw the role as “an opportunity to be a bridge between cultures.” Particularly because she feels that many newly arrived refugees feel more comfortable sharing about their fears with someone from their own country and in their own language. Therefore, she feels her role is not just about being bi-lingual, it’s about being bi-cultural. Fatima sees her insight into both English and Somalian culture as the key to being that bridge to help refugee children and their families understand and thrive in the UK education system, which is the main aim of her role.
As Fatima begins her second week on the job, she says that she has “never felt so welcomed in a job”, describing KLS as a “great environment to work in.” She is particularly impressed with the direction of the charity, admiring the way KLS has grown since 2013 whilst keeping the high quality relationships with the beneficiaries who are part of the KLS community. She is getting on very well with the other Love to Learn staff and is looking forward to the difference she can make in her new role.
Would you like to work for Love to Learn? We have a job vacancy for a Project Worker who will work alongside two other part-time staff for 21 hours per week on our Learning Mentor scheme. The deadline is 9am on Tuesday 5thMarch. Find out more here: www.klsettlement.org.uk/work-for-us/