Part of an award-winning team C
ongratulations go to old scholar Isobel Chapman,
Operations Director at #techmums, after the charity was named the winner of the 2018 BIMA Advance Award for Inclusion & Diversity. The BIMA Awards are the
or running water. His kitchen is a completely separate building made of mud bricks. He owns one cow, several chickens and a tiny tea plantation. Inside the house, in pride of place, was the bicycle I had bought him the last time we met all those years ago. His needs have certainly changed, but fortunately our gifts were very much appreciated. My birth father was extremely
warm and welcoming. He wore his Sunday best, and he kept smiling all the time. The women prepared and cooked traditional food – a feast on an open fire. It was a real celebration! My birth father gave several excited speeches in Kalenjin explaining my adoption from when he had been a very young man. This was translated into Swahili and English by the local pastor and two relatives. Traditional songs were sung by the women, and everyone joined in with the dancing. There was a lot of laughter and joy! As a teenager at Sibford I never
dreamed that I would ever travel back to Kenya and meet my birth family. I certainly didn’t imagine that my journey to find out about my culture and my Kenyan roots would lead my eldest daughter, Natasha, to write a successful play about her own story (Half Breed). Nor did I think that her next play would be all about my story. I can’t wait to see it and I will be sure to let Sibford Old Scholars know when it is playing at theatres.
8 / The Sibford Rocket
longest standing and most prestigious digital awards in the UK. #techmums
received their award for their ‘techmumsTV’ initiative, a social enterprise that supports mums across the UK, helping them to gain confidence with digital technology and supporting them in boosting their skills and transforming their lives. The awards
ceremony took place in London on 13 September. Isabel, who was a pupil at Sibford from 2005 to 2007, later tweeted ‘This is how excited @TechmumsHQ were at winning a @BIMA #BIMAAward for #techmumsTV for Inclusion & Diversity last night!!’ After leaving Sibford, Isabel
went on to the University of Leeds where she gained a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre & Performance. Today she is a qualified specialist in gender and equality and has extensive experience in diversity and inclusion. She has worked in engaging young people from deprived communities and has helped to design and deliver education, employment and
Training (EET) programmes. Isabel became Head of
Operations at #techmums in May 2018 and was previously Development Officer for Art Against Knives, a London-based charity working with young people at risk of violent crime. #techmums was founded by Dr Sue Black OBE, whose story is reflective of the transformative effect education in tech can have in helping women to bring their families out of poverty. At the age of 25, she was a single mother living in a domestic violence refuge with three children
and few formal qualifications. Sue enrolled on a maths-based university access course which led to a place on a Computer Studies degree. She has since gained a PhD and had a successful 20- year academic career. Sue was awarded an OBE for ‘services to technology’ in the 2016 Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. She is now a UK government advisor, thought leader, Honorary Professor of Computer Science at UCL, social entrepreneur, writer and public speaker.
Picture: Isabel returned to Sibford in September 2016 as guest speaker at the school’s Evening of Celebration which marked the achievements of GCSE and A Level students. She is pictured with Tracy Knowles, the school’s Assistant Head (Pastoral).
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