Rema Sherifi says she found a second chance for life in Glasgow
SCOTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR NOMINEE: REMA SHERIFI
EVERYONE who knows Rema Sherifi will tell you what an extraordinary woman she is.
She really has been to hell and back - yet there is not a trace of self-pity and all she can think about is helping others.
Rema (full-name Remzije), 53, came to Glasgow a decade ago as a refugee and has made the city her home.
As an ethnic Albanian living in Kosovo, the former journalist and radio producer fled the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and was airlifted to the UK from a refugee camp in Macedonia. She had already lost one breast and doctors feared her breast cancer had returned.
She was given the all-clear two years ago, but it was a fraught time for Rema and her family - she has three sons, aged 29, 27 and 25.
Rema, who came to this country with no English, is development worker with Maryhill Integration Network. It works with up to 300 people a week, helping asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants make friends, improve their language skills and integrate into their new community.
In the past year, she has been involved in setting up a new integration network in the Merchant City as well as co-ordinating and organising several exhibitions, including one at the People's Palace, and set up the Albanian Scottish Association, AlbScot.
She is driven to do as much as she can and this year won the Public Service Individual award at the Glasgow Community Champion Awards.
"I found a second chance for life here," she says simply.
|
Moira will be involved in preparations for 2014 Games
SPORTS NOMIENEE: MOIRA ORD
THE Government would not fret so about an ageing population if we were all as fit as Moira Ord.
She is 70, but Moira remains on the ball and looks forward to contributing her services to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
Moira is vice-chairwoman of the Sports Council for Glasgow and is a legend in the world of netball.
In 1988, she was awarded the MBE for services to the sport and last year she received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Sport after nearly half a century of playing and coaching netball.
Moira started out as a PE teacher, moving on to lecturing at teacher training college and working for the Scottish Sports Council.
She played for Scotland for a decade, took part in the first world netball tournament in 1963 and has since served as an administrator, coach and umpire throughout Glasgow, Scotland and world netball.
Moira no longer plays competitively, but she has never lost her enthusiasm for the game and still coaches at all levels, concentrating on schools and junior clubs.
Her life has been about sport and introducing youngsters to the fun and benefits."Activity is good for people and it benefits health, but it can also be a lot of fun," she says.
"It still brings a smile to my face every time I pick up a netball."
One of her proudest achievements was bringing the netball world championships to Glasgow in 1987, when she was world president. "It was a big achievement for a small country."
Anne Ward, chief executive of Netball Scotland - an organisation of which Moira was three times president - pays warm tribute.
"Moira has achieved what few have achieved in Scottish netball or indeed many sports," she says.
"With her involvement as an international player, captain, coach and umpire; her administrative experience as Scottish president and world president; and her continued, tireless contribution to the many committees and groups that allow netball to flourish throughout the country, Moira's record is a showcase for what women in sport in Scotland have achieved and can achieve.
"We are immensely proud of her and look forward to her continued invaluable involvement in netball as we work towards competing with distinction in 2014."
|
Elizabeth Roddick shows the benefits of healthy living
BUSINESS NOMINEE: ELIZABETH RODDICK
MAYBE the fact Netherlee, on the outskirts of south Glasgow, seems to have a hale and hearty senior population has something to do with the local pharmacist, Elizabeth Roddick.
She is such a life-enhancing personality you can't help but find her enthusiasm infectious.
At 59 and a size eight, she is the perfect advertisement for her conviction that you don't have to age prematurely.
"There are races in the world where people live dynamic lives well into their 80s, 90s and beyond, " she says. She believes in combining conventional medicine with alternative remedies and therapies, healthy living and exercise.
She also practises what she preaches. So the New Life Pharmacy is no ordinary one and Elizabeth is no ordinary pharmacist, as the customers who have nominated her for this award will testify.
Elizabeth tripled the size of her premises in Netherlee in the summer, adding several new services and says her business has increased by around 70%.
She has a thriving website and her book, Look Better, Live Better, is a popular seller.
She finds time to work as an independent prescriber in a local surgery and represent colleagues at the East Renfrewshire Council and Glasgow-wide.
Elizabeth credits her methods with turning round her own life. "I would like to think my purpose is helping people feel better in all sorts of ways," she says.
|
