“Around ten days after 7/7, I was invited to a reception at Downing Street for work I had done in the community for a bigger charity. On the way back I switched trains at Victoria and every pair of eyes just looked at me as I got onto the train.
“There were people grabbing rails, people beginning to sweat and I never had a big beard, I never had a backpack, but because of what just happened and the media profiling, those people thought I was a terrorist.
“I remember reflecting that I was just invited to speak to the Prime Minister, which is a great honour, on my way back home I am being made to feel like a criminal in my own country.”
In 2009, Sabir Bham established the Salaam Peace programme, a community engagement group operating in Hackney. Bham was inspired to set up the programme following the 7/7 London bombings, as he felt that the media had fostered negative perceptions of Muslims in the aftermath of the terrorist attack.
For Bham, sport was a way to break down barriers between Muslims and the rest of the London community. The Salaam Peace programme aims to use sports, media and education initiatives to bring people from different backgrounds together and tackle issues that sometimes lead to communities being polarised.
On 14 March, the Hackney-based programme won the first ever Sport Unites award at the London Sports Award at Twickenham Stadium. The prize was presented in association with the Mayor of London.
“It was an honour to receive the award,” said Bham. “The ethos of the award was about the importance of using sport to bring people together, which fits our work perfectly. It’s what we were set up to do, what we do and what we pride ourselves on.
“I know that across the board, there was a high calibre of organisations who do a lot of great work uniting the community through sport,” Bham said. “It was great to be recognised for the work we’ve done. It feels good and for some of our newer staff and participants they feel really proud to be a part of the project.”
The London Sports Awards celebrate grassroots sports in the capital and shine a light on the inspirational stories of how lives have been changed through sports and physical activities.
“Sport is a great way of bringing people together and our ethos has always been that it isn’t just about playing the sport. It’s about developing relationships between people and helping people develop their skills and personalities.
“The word Salaam means peace. The name is based on the idea that if me and you have a disagreement and we both come with a peaceful attitude, there’s a chance we can resolve it. If you come with an open hand and I come with a clenched fist we will never solve anything.”
The programme runs activities throughout the week in a plethora of sports for a variety of ages ranging from 2-years-old to 60+ participants. The programme is open to all.
Salaam Peace has since expanded into a wider community engagement programme that battles negative perceptions of marginalised groups and those who lack education and employment opportunities, such as Eastern Europeans and young black men.
“We have a lot of great volunteers from all ethnicities and backgrounds who are now role models to the community. We are showing a positive image across all the communities,” said Bham.
While sport remains the biggest tool in the programme’s efforts to bring together communities and develop, workshops have been used to provide participants with practical skills such as financial management and public speaking.
Homework clubs and mentoring schemes have been incorporated into the programme in a move to emphasise the importance of education.
“We have a couple of young, highly educated and successful students who help young people in their work in whatever subject, and provide them with an environment where they can grow,” said Bham.
“We want to help people reach their full potential and develop local residents into positive role models who can be the change in their communities that they would like to see,” said Bham.
