Recently, Amika George was picked as the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Birthday Honours for this year as she pushed the UK government to provide free period products in schools and colleges.

The 21-year-old student studies history at the University of Cambridge and both her parents are from Kerala in India. She said, “It wasn’t an easy one for me with the Honours system’s association to the (British) Empire and our Colonial past.”

She also said, “It’s really important for me to show that young people have power in our voices, much more than we realize. We have often been overlooked in political spaces, and the MBE shows that we are slowly being recognised as real changemakers who can influence government.”

© Amika George IG

“That change doesn’t have to be done from within the walls of Westminster, or the White House, or the Indian Parliament. Anyone can orchestrate change. I would like young people of colour to see that we are being recognised, and that if we are willing to jump from a place of safety and rise, we can create something better,” she added.

Amika George is picked for Member of the Order of the British Empire which is the third-ranking award on the list. She’ll be receiving this for her campaign against period poverty #FreePeriods.

She had started this campaign at the age of 17 and she started it as it made her angry that so many girls in the UK were missing school every month as they were too poor to afford period products.

© Amika George IG

She then filed a petition and met with the ministers and later the UK government in 2020 funded educational institutes to provide free period products. Free Periods is now a not-for-profit organisation, which continues to fight against the taboo and shame surrounding menstruation.

She said, “On behalf of my family and community who have silently had to tolerate racism over decades, who felt like they never fitted in, who never felt British enough, who never felt seen”.

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