Mohammed Akhlak Rauf MBE, is the Founder and Director of Meri Yaadain CiC, a BAME dementia support charity. In an exclusive article for the Dost Project, Mohammad reflects on the last 18 months of dealing with the impact of Covid and lockdown, and the importance of getting the messaging right.

The Covid-19 pandemic started with a thinking that modern science and the world of research would very quickly deal with it.  I suppose no one would have thought we would have national lockdowns, international difficulties, myths and fear-mongering about the virus and the vaccinations.  Who would have thought that we would not be able to meet our parents or grandparents, let alone friends that allow our social connections to support our mental wellbeing?

As a parent, the impact of home-schooling, especially the stress of supporting your 18-year-old to get into Medical School at University without normal schooling, was a huge stress.  Working from home meant new challenges, especially when your work with people living with or caring for dementia was made difficult to manage through zoom meetings rather than the usual face to face work. 

As a practitioner, the inequalities were exacerbated by seeing nationally produced information being inappropriate – I can read Urdu – especially as research was crying out about the higher impact of the virus on BAME communities. Many of the carers we support have literacy issues, language and level, do not use the internet or smartphones. Supporting them was a huge challenge for us as an organisation because well-meaning policies and practices could not fully comprehend community dynamics for engagement and communication.  Hearing ‘hard to reach’ as a term associated with BAME communities was an insult as the families and communities have always been here; we have been asking organisations to think about how they themselves are hard to reach. 

I’ve had both my vaccinations, and we are working hard against the deluge of myths and challenges associated with the vaccine uptake for people in the BAME community.  We continue to live with mixed messages but must listen to the experts.  Nevertheless, we have to ensure we are reflective of Covid-related impact on our mental health to look after ourselves before we continue to support – family, friends, and the wider community.

For information on the work done by Meri Yaadain CiC, please click here.