‘You don’t always get lucky with people who guide you the right way,’
Eda first came to the Cardinal Hume Centre aged 11, after moving back to London without a school place. What began as help with school enrolment became a much longer-term relationship.
Her mum was unwell. There were legal issues, housing challenges, and systems that were hard to navigate – especially without good English. Eda became her mum’s translator and carer while she was still a child.
‘You don’t always get lucky with people who guide you the right way,’ she says. ‘Most people aren’t bothered or they’re rude.’
At one point, a social worker told her mum she could lose her home – and her daughter. It wasn’t true, but the attitude left its mark.
‘I remember even as a child, I wasn't comfortable around that person,’ Eda says. ‘But the Centre was different.’
Against that backdrop, one relationship stood out.
‘I’ve known Jenny since I was a child. She was always someone my family trusted.’
Over the years, Eda kept coming back – not just in moments of crisis, but whenever things felt uncertain.
‘When things start going around in circles, I feel comfortable asking Jenny’s advice because I know she’ll direct me to the right place.’
It wasn’t just what support was given, but how it felt.
‘It never felt like we were under threat. It never felt like we were a problem. It just felt like we were in the right place to get the right help.’
With that steady support, Eda stayed in education, took some time out, and then found the confidence to start again on a new course. When others told her, ‘Maybe education isn’t for you’, the Centre helped her rebuild – supporting her application, portfolio and reference to art college.
I don’t know how my life would have turned out without that support,’ she says. ‘I think we would be in a very different place.
She went on to study fine art and graduated with first-class honours.
‘So going from feeling that maybe education wasn’t for me to actually getting a first!’ she says.
Today, she is planning her next steps, including further study and a career that keeps art at its centre.
‘I don’t know how my life would have turned out without that support,’ she says. ‘I think we would be in a very different place.’
The support was there as Eda’s life changed – from childhood, through caring for her mum, through university, to building her own future.
‘Even now, when I’m overwhelmed, I know I can ask – and I’ll get the right kind of help.’