Teacher wins BBC Make A Difference Award for helping others in his community

A New City College teacher has been honoured in the BBC Radio London’s Make A Difference Awards for his fundraising efforts to support struggling families in East London.

Mentesnot Mengesha walked 100 miles barefoot last year to raise money for a local community association that runs food banks, provides clothes and holds after-school clubs for low income families.

He personally raised almost £1,500, and by recruiting others to join him on his epic trek, he managed to bring in more than £10,000 for the Bonny Downs Community Association in East Ham.

Now his efforts to help some of the most vulnerable people in the community have been recognised with a Highly Commended Make A Difference Award which he received from BBC Radio London in front of his proud son and brother at a presentation at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Mentesnot said: “It is an honour and a privilege for me to receive this award. It has inspired and encouraged me to do more fundraising and I am now thinking of what I can do next to help other people.”

A teacher of employability skills at New City College Hackney, Mentesnot sought asylum in the UK more than 30 years ago after being imprisoned in Ethiopia for ‘political activism’ at school. After arriving in London, he built a successful life for himself, studying for four degrees and developing a career by working in local authorities, the NHS and then as a teacher.

He said: “I was lucky to escape civil war in Ethiopia and I feel fortunate to have found a warm welcome in East London, but I have seen over the years that the gap is widening between the haves and the have-nots, particularly in Newham where I live, and I wanted to help do something about it.”

He was driven to act when he saw a schoolboy walking in old shoes so worn that he could see his toes through them.

He decided to raise money for the Bonny Downs Community Association because of the support they provide for families in the local area. The charity started out as a community centre and later took on the disused Flanders Fields – where, over 125 years ago, children from poorer families were seen playing with no shoes on their feet.

It was learning about this local history and seeing the struggling schoolboy in worn shoes that inspired Mentesnot’s barefoot fundraising walk. He completed 100 miles and encouraged other members of the community to join his mission.

Ahead of the walk, he said: “I have a vision for the future that no child will be walking our streets in a visible manifestation of poverty – and I believe that, by working together, every one of us can make that vision a reality by dreaming big while taking our own small steps to make a difference.”