Raz Begum was recently awarded an MBE for her work among young Asian people. She spoke to JENNY SCOTT...

RIAZ Begum's childhood memories span two continents and include the joys and difficulties of growing up in multicultural Coventry and a comic misunderstanding about stockings.

So varied were her experiences they left her with an ability to connect with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Now her work, for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council's youth team, has seen her awarded the MBE in June for her 19 years of service.

Much of Riaz's daily routine involves working alongside young people of Asian heritage, either through organising creative writing or performing arts groups, or even accompanying them on residential weekends.

"I understand being between cultures," explains Riaz. "Because of that, I think I can help people."

Riaz travelled from Pakistan to Coventry at the age of 10, together with her mother and five siblings. Her father was already living in England and had found work in a factory.

Riaz remembers: "When I was a little girl in Pakistan I remember seeing this English woman on the platform at Lahore station.

"I looked at her legs and I could see this seam running up the backs. I thought all English women were stitched up! It was only later I found out they were stockings."

Riaz grew to love her life in Coventry, eventually going on to study at an art college in the city.

"Coventry was great," she recalls. "It was a multicultural community where people of all faiths lived together.

"At school there were people from Africa, Pakistan, the West Indies and Ireland. It gave me a foundation for coming to Blackburn."

Riaz made her first trip to the North West to study for a post graduate art teacher's diploma at Liverpool University. After a few years of teaching adults and children, Riaz came to Blackburn in 1985 to work mainly with people of Asian heritage for Lancashire County Council's youth service.

"My brother was already living in Blackburn, so I had some contacts here," she says. "I saw the job advertised and I got interested. I thought, 'I was brought up in England. I know about this'."

Riaz's new job, as a youth and community worker took her into some areas of community life that had previously gone ignored.

"Hardly anybody had done this kind of work in Blackburn before," she recalls. "At first I was dealing mainly with young, Asian women who had run away from home because they were unhappy."

And because of the nature of her work Riaz, who since 1995 has been employed by Blackburn with Darwen Council's lifelong learning department, finds no two days are ever the same.

"For example, I spend one evening a week working with young, deaf people," she says. "We find a lot of deaf people from the Asian community sitting at home, feeling quite frustrated."

In December Riaz travelled to Buckingham Palace to collect her MBE.

"The ceremony was done beautifully," she smiles. "It was nice to talk to Prince Charles. I felt he was aware of Blackburn's multicultural identity and he was talking to me about how he would like to make a multi-faith garden in Blackburn similar to the Shalimar Garden in Lahore.

"My great grandfather also received a medal from Queen Victoria for burying the dead following an earthquake disaster in India, so it obviously runs in the family.

"My parents are quite proud of me. I come from a large family, where it's hard to make your mark. I was always an artist, while my family are mainly scientists, so it's good to show you can do something well too!"

Anyone interested in finding out more about Blackburn with Darwen's youth services should call (01254) 585826.