1 January 1963 – 1 January 2024
The poet tells of his relationship with the founder of Kids Company, who was the ‘embodiment of integrity’ in her work for children in need
I first became aware of Camila Batmanghelidjh through the disrupting influence of Kids Company. It was on the frontline of childcare in London, and everybody will remember the strong, vivacious, articulate woman at its head. There was something about her – how she dressed and the words she spoke – that showed me she wasn’t your average founder of a children’s charity. And then there were the stories that radiated out from her. She had a meeting with the queen, and during that meeting she got a call from a child in a panic, and she took the call, left the meeting and went to that child. Most heads of children’s charities would not have that kind of contact. It made her a threat to the status quo of the sector and I liked that.
We met in 2009 while I was artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre, and the artistic director Jude Kelly wanted us to meet inspirational people who saw creativity as the heart of their practice. Down the road was Camila at the Kids Company HQ. I remember sitting in her creative office; I got such a warm feeling of welcome and ease from her. She was Iranian and she was British. She was highly educated but wore it lightly, and she was as at ease speaking to a prime minister as to a child who didn’t know how to talk to her. She wore clip-on earrings because when she worked with children who needed care and help, she was aware they might grab her ear, and that they wouldn’t know how to behave when in disturbed states. She profoundly understood the intricacies of trauma and how it manifests itself in children’s behaviour. Having grown up in care myself, this is why I loved her.
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