CYP Now - Remembering a ‘compassionate and radical’ leader

While there are many things that can be said about Camila Batmanghelidjh, who died in January, few could question her fierce determination and spirit to raising and keeping the needs of young people on the agenda. We shall miss her voice and the sector will miss her courage.

Junior Smart: 'Camila cared passionately about the issues affecting young people and their families.' Picture: St Giles Trust

I first met Camila (pictured below) at a roundtable event in 2008 to discuss rising youth homicides. One of my mentors introduced us before quietly saying to me: “Watch carefully how she works the room and listen to the words that she chooses to use…we all could do with being a little more like her in the causes that are important to us.”

I looked and listened with amazement; she was one of those rare people that really understood where young people were coming from. Like a teacher, she would know the names and job titles of everyone in a room. Although softly spoken, she could be direct, almost incendiary, in terms of the words she could use. She could be very Bob Geldof-like in the way she could ask for money and although she was flexible, once she took a particular stance on something I rarely saw her back down.

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