Lucy Garuba
Lucy Garuba, Adult Nursing Student at the University of Manchester shares a personal reflection for Black History Month.
The Black History Month’s theme, ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, resonates deeply with me. It represents an opportunity to celebrate the women who paved the way, making history, inspiring change and building communities for our future and for sisters like me, a student nurse.
As I consider the many inspirational and incredible women who I would wish to salute, my mother Helen is, without question, the first to come to mind. It was she who ensured that my siblings and I learned good values and morals while growing up. She believed in her children, making us understand the power of education and the opportunities in front of us, despite suffering ill-health for many years. She emphasised the importance of hard work, accountability and dedication in anything you do. She remains my greatest inspiration.
In the professional realm, I find so many great women to admire. In recent times, it is impossible to not take note of the courage and tenacity of nurse Michelle Cox, who brought a landmark race discrimination case against her employer, NHS England. She proved the vast importance of speaking up and having the courage to stand up for what we believe.
Equally, there is so much to admire in the leadership of Estephanie Dunn, the North West Regional Director of the Royal College of Nursing, who encourages and fosters belief in student nurses, providing us with platforms for us to succeed. These are just two women amongst a great many who are showing that leadership as a black student nurse could be possible for me.
To succeed in the future, we need to always remember those who blaze a trail for us and to value their contributions. For others to follow, someone always needs to be the first to tread that path and I remain in awe of the contributions made by Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the first sickle cell nurse practitioner and Baroness Valerie Amos, the first black woman to lead a UK university.
Reflecting on how far we have come in diversity within different sectors, such as healthcare, hospitality and art, to mention a few, is inspiring, though we have so much more still to do. Historically, black women have endured the odds being stacked against them. Skin colour and caring responsibilities have created barriers to the leadership paths and positions that black women would be so very capable of filling, if only given the opportunity.
I firmly believe in the absolute necessity of being proud of our culture and of our heritage and, at the same time, the achievements of our black sisters. Being able to speak with our accents, wear our prints and hair in its natural state or dreadlocks in the workplace. To confidently express your identity and enable black women to advocate and continue to contribute to changes in the community. This is the world that we should all aspire to.