Irish | Egyptian
Mixedracefaces have collaborated with UK Parliament to profile some of their staff members and MP’s , helping raise diversity awareness and to highlight that there is a place for everyone in their workplace.
My Mum is from Ireland and my Dad is from Egypt. Combining both their cultures was very difficult for both of my parents. My Mum is from a strict Irish Catholic family and my Dad is from a Muslim family. When my Mum and Dad told their families that they were getting married in a non-religious ceremony, both their parents refused to come to the wedding. Over time, their relationship improved, but when I was born, my parents were in disagreement about what religion I should be. I spent my childhood between mosques and churches (which could be confusing at times). However, religion aside, some of the elements of Arab culture and Irish culture can be very similar. For example, both embrace long standing traditions, like music and dance. I think being mixed-race opens your world up to exploring different cultures and places. Being Egyptian also makes me an Arab, and being an Arab means being part of a wider political and historic culture which I love learning about. I’m so keen to go travelling around the Middle East and learn how different parts interact with each other. I have to say, until I heard of MixedRaceFaces, I have never really spoken to anyone about being mixed-race. I think in most workplaces a lot more needs to be done to improve the culture to make them more inclusive or different cultures and backgrounds. One way of doing this is encouraging more people from BAME and mixed-race backgrounds to come and work here. That means reaching out to those communities and making them feel like Parliament is a place that they can work. In terms of gender, I am surrounded by such amazingly, strong and inspirational women who I often live in awe of. There is a really supportive culture amongst many of my female colleagues, however I do feel like that culture needs to extend to other colleagues across the organisation. If I had the opportunity to be reborn I don’t think I would want to change, I feel blessed to have been brought up the way that I have and even those parts of my life that have been difficult, I have learnt so much from.
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