Rising Voices: The Journey of a Young Activist

Why Changing The Food System Matters To Me

My activism journey started when I was 11 years old. I was a typical kid— I loved playing football at lunch time, rushing home to play Xbox with my friends all night. Until my mom would shout up the stairs, “H, dinner”. This was genuinely one of my favourite parts of the day; I have always loved food, I love that food is the one language spoken universally — a good plate of warm food can bring together the most different and diverse group of people.

In Year 6 I was weighed and measured like every other child nationally. A few weeks later, I received a letter through the post saying I was overweight. As a child, I knew I was bigger than most kids but I never really thought too deeply about it. However, when I read that letter, I felt like my little world was over…

So, as recommended by the Government, my mom and I booked an appointment with a “weight loss specialist”, which was awful! It was a man in a community centre, who saw one of many overweight children that day and delivered the famous line, “eat less, move more”. I found it SO uninspiring, and the first red flag in my journey; I saw that the system in place to deal with food-related ill health was not working. The whole process was robotic, and there was nothing personal other than my name. That’s when I knew we needed a change.

At age 11, I started campaigning for a better food system. Since then, I still feel the same — if I can help just one young person then I have achieved my dream. I wanted to, and still want to, change the world.

My Bite Back Journey

I initially got involved in Bite Back because of my previous work around the food environment, and food injustice faced by young people nationally. Honestly, from the jump I saw I could make so much more change for young people when I worked with other young people, on issues that affect us every day.

Five years with Bite Back showed me that there are young people who have experienced the same things as me, and that there are young people whose only meal in a day was a free school meal. My light bulb moment was when I saw how massive corporations exploit and manipulate young people because they know we are more vulnerable to advertising than adults. These decision makers, who aren’t young people, don’t truly understand the environment that young people live in — and that’s why our voice matters.

Bite Back empowers us to not only want change, but to be the change we want to see.

Winning The Diana Award

After five years of hard work, I won the coveted Diana Award last December. Honestly, it was a pinch me moment! I thought I wouldn’t have even been nominated for the award, never mind winning it! I’m just a normal guy from Birmingham; winning this award further stoked the fire inside of me, the fire which gives me my motivation to create change every day, and has done so for the past eight years of my life.

I feel as though we have laid down the runway for the next generation of young activists, and given them the traction they need to take off. I’m so excited to see what fresh ideas they come up with, and how they change the food system to make a healthier and fairer future for young people across Britain. If I could offer one piece of advice it would be to say “YES” — all opportunities are good opportunities, even the ones you are a little wary of. The only way change is made is through social disruption, so be the change, actively see the injustice, and fight back against it. You are armed with the most powerful weapon of all, your voice. Be ready to join the fight and BITE BACK!