Sami - Hold Still

Good morning, I have Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge for you. All right. Sammy, hello, hi. I just wanted to call Sammy to say a huge thank you for sending in your photograph and how thrilled you were to have it as part of the final selection. Thank you so much actually for putting this project together. It's really nice to see you, you look really awesome. That's really cool, thank you so much. No, not at all Sammy, but this is really to celebrate you guys and all the amazing community work that was happening around lockdown and to really celebrate that and really highlight it as well because the work that you were doing was, you know, off your own back and things like that, seeing where you could help out to the community that you're living in and I think it shows real community spirit. The thanks goes to you and the well done goes to you really. How did you first of all get to work with the food hub? What inspired you to go down there and start working with them? So my girlfriend, Helen, she works for the NHS, she works at GOSH hospital and she was participating in the Nightingale, like the organisation, but she ended up getting COVID like the same weekend we moved to London. As we were quarantined, I looked out the window and I saw this woman, right, interesting, I wonder what that is, then we finished the quarantine like two weeks later and then I can go out, yeah, let me go and see if I need help, what's that about? Yeah. So that's when I met Michelle, it's like, okay, so if you want to thank someone, that's the person you got to thank because that's a woman, she is unstoppable, like she got a heart of gold, worked so hard for her community. Yeah. She created this food hub so long ago, like years ago, she kept working on it, it was all about collecting surplus food to help out with the hunger. First day that I went there, it just happened that the photographer, Grey, he's actually the one who submitted the photo. Yes, yes, exactly, yes, I can see his name, yes. He was covering the food hub as part of the National Geographic Society's emergency phone for journalists. Fascinating, yeah, and he just happened to be there whilst you were there, no way! I think Michelle just said, okay, Sammy, why don't you go talk to Grey, and I think it was because, I don't even know why, but for some reason, like I was one of the three people, it was me, Michelle, and another Michelle, and then Grey had to go. No, so it's literally like a fleeting moment in that period of time. Exactly, and that little moment that was here. And then, did he say that he was entering the photograph of you? No, no, I just don't know. I entered this competition, and I was like, wow, this is so amazing. Your story is really fascinating, and this is what the whole reason for doing this, was really to bring to light stories like yours, and to really highlight the amazing work out there. So I'm really glad that Grey submitted your photograph. I think there was sort of a real desperate need, wasn't there? I think the struggles that families and kids had were there anyway, but then it's just everything's been exacerbated. That's exactly how it was, and it's like, I learned so much in my time as a volunteer there, and connecting with the volunteers, that's for life, you know? Like I also learned the power of empathy, you know? Of compassion, of community. Like I'm watching the volunteers, like Michelle in particular, she would work from 7 until like 11pm, going out to her staff to help the community, and it was like, she's a force of nature. Well absolutely, and this is the thing, there's lots of great work going on out there, and actually being able to bring it to the forefront, and to remind people that, you know, although it might not be on their doorstep, but actually this sort of amazing work is going on in communities, and that's why part of the photography project is really just highlighting different acts of kindness, and different ways in which we've all pulled together, and we felt was really important. And how are you finding your time here in the UK? Do you like living here? I loved it, I loved it. It was really special, you know? I can make memories that I'll cherish forever, it was really special. And you've seen at the heart of the British community as well, haven't you? You sort of lived and breathed it. Exactly, that's what really, really, really, made me really appreciate the UK, you know, having that, because it's like such a deep connection, like it's on a human level that transcends where you're from, it's all about like seeing other people as people, and connecting, that was magic, that was magic. Well best of luck to you and your girlfriend, I wish you every happiness in the future. Thank you, and to you too, I wish you all the best. Thank you so much, and good luck, keep up that volunteering. Thank you. Bye-bye.