Alumna Rabia Nasimi's path from child refugee to councillor

Aged 5 in 1999, Rabia left Kabul with her father and mother - then heavily pregnant with her brother - and her older sister. The family travelled over 4,000 miles by both land and sea before attempting a clandestine Channel crossing from Calais to Dover.

"We came to Dover in the back of a refrigerator container," she recalls. "Looking back, my parents said if they'd known it was a refrigerated lorry and not an ordinary one, they probably wouldn't have risked our lives in the same way."

A year later, dozens of people died making the same journey.

"You can call us fortunate," Rabia says. "We survived and came to Dover, and that changed everything for us."

After claiming asylum, the family moved through temporary accommodation before being allocated a three-bedroom council house in New Cross Gate, Lewisham.

"We started in a one-bedroom flat as a family of five - it was cramped and overcrowded. In today's housing crisis, to be offered a three-bedroom house within a year was incredibly lucky. We didn't fuss, we just accepted it and were very happy to move." Latterly Rabia's younger sister joined the family.

Rabia went to primary school in Lewisham and later secondary school in Southwark. Throughout this time Goldsmiths was a 15 minute walk from her family home where she chose to study for a BA Sociology and Politics.

"Goldsmiths already felt like part of my community," she says. "Studying sociology opened the theories behind what I'd seen in real life - capitalism, inequality, how governments shape people's lives. That way of thinking has stayed with me."

After Goldsmiths Rabia completed her Master's at LSE and has undertaken further study at Cambridge. Her research expertise and lived experience has seen her collaboration with Dr Naomi Thompson on research with migrant and refugee communities. "I work from an 'inside-outsider' position," she explains. "I'm part of the refugee community and understand the culture and language, but I also understand the theory. For many refugees, interviews can feel like going back to the asylum process. Being a trusted gatekeeper is crucial."

She is sharply aware of how the politics of refuge has hardened since her family first arrived in the UK. "The politics has definitely got darker and more reactionary," she says. "There's a lot more fear and division in the way refugees and migrants are talked about. For me, it shows why we have to stand up for our values and support people in vulnerable positions. We can't let messages of division define who we are."

In her East Acton ward, she sees that contrast in everyday conversations with constituents, "On one street, people are talking about trees and pavements; a few minutes away they're talking about overcrowding and damp. Every story and every life really matters, and sometimes what people need most is simply to be listened to."

For Rabia, her election is both a responsibility and a form of gratitude.