In memory of her dead son, Hasina Momtaz  spreads the message of  hope and paradise  after life through jewellery design to connect with Muslim community during pandemic. Early life in London Hasina came to the UK in the mid 1970s. She settled in Croydon, south London, from Bangladesh. She could not speak a word of English and was being bullied at school. ‘I remember nobody wanted to be my friend and the teacher assigned somebody to be my friend to look after me and make sure I was okay.’ Although she made south London her home, there was something unsettling for Hasina as a teenanger. ‘So   from the age of that 16, 17, I almost felt like I was on borrowed time because the school that I was at there were three or four Bangladeshi girls who all got taken out of school at the age of 16 and ...actually shipped back home… and married off there against their will.’ She confessed that she also felt the pressure from her father to get married. ‘I was determined that at least I was going to go

Dabirul Islam Choudhury OBE was born in 1920 during period of British imperial rule in India. He is now 101 year old. He observed the collapse of the empire and saw the emergence of a new nation for Bengalis in front of his eyes. Whilst Bangladesh was forming in 1971, he remembers the loss of lives of so many Bangladeshis. The global pandemic brought back memories of the lives lost. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2020 he fundraised over £500,000 to save lives of British citizens. He donated the funds to help protect the NHS. He was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen for his campaign work.

Ruhul Abdin was born in Bangladesh, brought up with six siblings, spends lockdown in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and becomes lead artist for the National Portrait Gallery's project to celebrate 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh in Britain. RUHUL’S CHILDHOOD Ruhul and his siblings emigrated to the UK in 1993. They settled in Darlington, north east of England, in the county of Durham.   ‘We had an interesting kind of couple of years growing up in a very, very white working class neighbourhood. It wasn't that much like East is East , but it wasn't that far off the style. It was interesting, colourful, there's lots of racism.’ His father had two wives   and they were living in two separate houses in Darlington. ‘I’m one of six children, you know, all these kind of crazy narratives that come with that. I mean -  I'm one of six and I have six half siblings.’ As a 13 year old he read a book and ever since he got excited about education and architecture. ‘I was very lucky… I had some g