Who else can say they have had Rihanna swinging over their head?

A case study about one blogger's learning journey

1.    What was your situation before you got interested in learning?

I was homeless for several years sleeping rough with friends. I managed to get a room in a B & B and received Housing Benefit from Camden Council as it was on their registered list. New owners took over and decided they could evict us and turn in into a backpacker’s hostel. We organised ourselves into an action group fought our case with the help of Shelter and other agencies. After several months of campaigning I was eventually offered a studio flat in Holborn by Camden Council Housing Dept. I think it was to get me off their back and our campaigning.  I would have lost my credibility if Camden Housing had said that I had been offered accommodation and had refused it.  Due to my situation I found it difficult to take up or continue any learning course.

2.    How did you first became interested in learning and what motivated you to take part?

I have always been interested in learning and was always encouraged in this by my parents especially my mother. I enjoy reading and learning I would read all sorts of books but I was never very responsible about doing my homework. When I was younger I did not take learning seriously.  I now feel learning and education as a way to empower oneself. I have learnt that the establishment or officials do not like it when you can put forward your case in an informed manner.

A short brief about my life

My name is Hanad Mohamed.  I’m from Somalia, Mogadishu but now I live in London. I came to the UK when I was 12. I'm 21 years old. I like living in London because it’s big city with a lot of opportunities and it is very popular.

London has many attractions, like buildings and Trafalgar Square. I also like Oxford Circus because of the shops they have there.

My favourite team are from London and they are called Arsenal FC. We are GUNNERS, London’s best team, the home of football. I support them because they are a good quality team with good players and we  are gonna win the Champions League this year.

I’m studying in Careers in Level 1 Business at Westminster Kingsway College and I have just started yesterday. It was a brilliant day. We weren’t able to do  that much of learning because there was  a mix up with the timetable.We did two exams in the morning. We did a numeracy exam to find out what level I’m working at. It was a bit hard but I got through.The second lesson was off because there was no  teacher there. The last lesson we did was a Literacy exam to also find out what level I’m working at.

Today I had one lesson where we worked as group of four and looked up jobs on the internet  and  wrote about what we found. The next lesson was cancelled due to the teacher not being there (again!).

I  would like to achieve a certificate that allows me to study level 2 Business within the same college.