International Women's Day Tribute

Women's Day Tributes to: Karen Allen, Aneeta Prem and Sabrina Qureshi

Lisa-Marie Carr Salutes Karen Allen.

Karen Allen is a mother of 5 and ‘super mum’; instead of allowing her situation to hold her down she has transformed her own life and hundreds of lives in the process, she is a life coach, author, conference host, and entrepreneur.

From her home she formed a company called MAD transformations whose aim was to inspire and encourage people to make a difference in their community, she then focused on the issue of youth crime honouring our young people killed through the ignorance of violence.

Karen has had 2 annual marches down the streets of hackney where her church actively aims to support the community.

‘Dare to dream’ is her flagship event in its 4th year; please look at the website, which Karen created herself!

She is an inspiration, I rave about her and people ask me one question -  “why haven’t I heard about her before”.

I believe that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. Karen is a teacher and I hope that both her hard work and her event can be recognised by your amazing organisation.

I hope you can spread the word about her event as both men and women attend. Karen is destined for greatness and I feel that her hard work should be commended and celebrated as she’s determined that she’ll be part of the solution.

Vineeta Thornhill honours Aneeta Prem.

Honouring a kind, generous, inspirational and pioneering woman I know and work with at Freedom Charity

Aneeta Prem, the founder of Freedom Charity, is one of the youngest magistrates in London, specialising in adult, youth and family law. She is involved in the recruitment of new Magistrates.

Aneeta has always been an inspiration to young people and women, as a teenager she was the youngest female to get a black belt in karate. She set up her own karate club and went on to teach self defence and karate to young children in the inner city, especially those from deprived background. She inspired the children and gave them self confidence and self worth.

  She is an active member within her local community and has gained trust and respect for the voluntary work she has done in London, acting as a mentor and a public voice, for which she has received public recognition. She received the Commissioners Commendation for the work she did in an oversight capacity leading the Tsunami Police Rescue effort for the MPA.

Aneeta has always been at the forefront in her community in helping raise awareness of issues that others shied away from as being controversial or politically sensitive. She was the MPA lead member for forced marriages and honour based violence, working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and many victims, survivors and community groups to providing independent advice, and she is helping to develop an information website.

Aneeta also lead on MPA estate and property issues, encompassing over 600 operational buildings used by almost 50,000 police officers and staff, and lead on Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist issues. Aneeta originates from "Himachal Pradesh" (Land of the God's) in Northern India.

Aneeta is a member of London Probation Board and a member of Police Misconduct Panel.

Vivienne Hayes, Chief Executive, Women's Resource Centre pays tribute to Sabrina Qureshi.

Sabrina is the founder and co-ordinator of Million Women Rise (MWR), who on Saturday 5th March 2011 held their 4th annual march and celebration of international women’s day in central London, with approximately 10,000 women and children attending. The biggest women only march in the UK since the suffragettes.

MWR is the first and only unregistered, unfunded coalition of grassroots women in the UK to be led predominantly by Black and ethnic minority women. The annual march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar square brings together the most diverse group of women the feminist movement has seen in solidarity with women across the globe calling for an end to male violence against women.

Sabrina is the vision holder and inspiration behind MWR, she works tirelessly and unpaid all year to co-ordinate the march; including and bringing together many women who have until now been excluded and marginalised within the mainstream feminist movements and discussions.

Million Women Rise is the 21st century face of feminist solidarity and its very existence is challenging and supporting UK feminist activity to become truly inclusive of all women.

Main picture: Karen Allen, Aneeta Prem, Sabrina Qureshi