incredibly hard work of helping people get back up on their feet and start walking again somehow. I get to be a part of their immense works but from the back of the room if you like, and every so often get to step in and help out where I/my teams can. “It’s an honour and such a privilege to get to do any of it. And a good day is hearing of a survivor or refugee not just ‘making it’, but thriving and healing too.”
Inspiring hope and change So, although hardship and injustice is bound up in all of Onjali’s work – the overriding feeling is one of hope and positive change. She firmly believes that individuals can make change happen, and that this positivity is amplified when we work together. “Along with all the bad news of the world, I think all of us are also inundated with the message that the issues are ‘too big’ for us to get a handle on. That we’re each ‘too small’ to change whatever maddening course the world is on.
“But it’s not the truth. I get to see, every single day, how one person is changing another person’s life for the better. And that’s it! That’s all we need to do to start the revolution: take it one person, one human being at a time. Listening and heeding the survivor – respecting their reactions and needs, is crucial. We are only now seeing the immense damage ‘saviour’ and dictatorial complexes can have on peoples and nations, especially when it comes from a certain whitewashed ideal or image of who that saviour is. Nobody needs ‘saving’ that way – not when it comes with an elimination and stomping over of ‘othered’ voices. “The game-changer is truly listening, heeding, and being a true and equal friend. Sometimes it’s a long and hard route to take – especially when so many barriers like language, cultural and religious differences etc. are at play. But it reaps the most wonderful, long-term changes, and breaks just about every barrier there is in the end.” As if Onjali isn’t busy enough, she recently took up the six-month role of Book Trust Writer in Residence. Perhaps not coincidentally, this news was revealed on International Women’s Day. Onjali says she will use her time in the role to “celebrate some of the most awesome authors and illustrators out there who have helped open up worlds and eyes to some of the biggest issues of our day”, adding: “That’s all I want to do really! That and get children celebrating some of the s/heroes in their real worlds too. If I can do that before I leave, I’ll be incredibly happy.” Finally, Onjali reveals she is currently
Spring-Summer 2021
Onjali and Lord Alf Dubbs with a Campaign for Safe Passage for refugee families to be reunited with their children, in Parliament Square, Westminster.
working on a fourth book for Hachette, The Lion Above the Door. However, that is a story that will have to wait for the time being, as Onjali says: “Seeing as I’m already three months late handing it in and it’s due out in October, I’d better
dash! (So I was never here, and you never saw me!).” PEN&INC.
l
www.osrefugeeaidteam.org l
https://makingherstory.org.uk l
www.thediversebookawards.co.uk
Campaign for Safe Passage outside Downing Street. PEN&INC. 9
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