We are incredibly proud to share that Akhina R in Year 10 attended the prize giving and showcase event for the Young Norfolk Writers in July, held at the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall, Norwich.
Akhina was named the overall winner of a special prize category, linked to this year’s Refugee Week theme: ‘Community as a Superpower’. Her powerful and heartfelt piece stood out among over 200 entries from across the region.
Akhina’s writing paid tribute to people she knows from a community in Kerala, India, who endured devastating flooding in 2018. Her moving account highlighted strength, resilience, and the deep sense of community that emerged during the crisis.
Although she admitted to feeling nervous on the night, Akhina said knowing people who knew her were in the audience gave her the confidence to read with passion and pride.
Miss Theobald caught up with Akhina to find out more:
‘I first found out about the competition through Miss Bingham, who introduced it to me. Then Mrs Gill encouraged me even more and gave me the confidence to take part. Without their support, I might not have entered at all.’
‘I enjoy writing because it offers me a safe space and lets me express things that might not want to show or say out loud. It allows me turn moments and emotions into something: – something creative, something special. I love how much meaning a few words can carry and how it can bring people together.’
‘I honestly felt so proud of myself, not only for winning, but to realise my words held power and people felt emotions from it. Receiving the email about the news almost felt surreal. I am so happy that I was able to see the positive result of something that I put a lot of thought and hard work into.
‘They were all so, so good. Every piece had something special about it. Every single piece that was read out just kept getting better. I loved each one a little more than the last. They were all so beautifully written and filled with emotion and meaning. It made me feel honoured just to be standing among such talented winners.’
‘I believe there were 3 other categories, all based on age. 10-12, 13-14 and 16-18. The category that I participated in was called UNESCO. This was introduced for the first time this, where the entrants had to write about this year’s refugee week theme, “community as a superpower”.’
This is an incredible achievement, and we are thrilled to see Akhina’s talent, empathy, and creativity recognised in such a meaningful way. A huge congratulations, Akhina – we’re all very proud of you!
You can read Akhina’s piece below.
Vellapokkām – Akhina R
There is a place tucked along the southwestern coast of India, Kerala. Though very tiny its natural beauty and traditions exceeds way past its size. Known as “God’s own country,” Kerala is a land where lush green landscapes meet endless backwaters. And in 2018, it faced one of the most devastating disasters that might be ever known to mankind. The raging monsoon rains covered the land without mercy, they stripped the very land of its identity. They tore through villages, engulfed cities and seemed to erase the illusion of human control. The calm demeanour of the state didn’t last too long before floods took control. Nature’s fury caused infrastructure to collapse, fields vanished beneath muddy swells, communication lines faded, many were stranded, in a matter of hours and what was once the cradle of life, turned to battlefields of survival.
It was a moment where the only thing you could’ve done was to wait and wait till fear and water swallowed you whole, because no one had a rescue plan, as it was never known to Keralites, they had never seen mother Nature’s fury. They truly felt hopeless and helpless, left isolated to see the sides of their mother which they’ve never known of.
When everything seemed to fall apart, it was not governments or official rescue services that first reached the ones that were in need of saving. It was the ordinary people, perhaps the ones who we saw as the least successful in our community. The fishermen, the ones defined as sons and daughters of Kandalama (mother sea) turned their modest boats into rescue missions, navigating dangerous waters to save lives. Young students, housewives and even old citizens, waded through chest-deep waters, helped others on to makeshift rafts, and brought medical supplies and food to places from all over India, where the officials couldn’t even reach. Strangers turned to family overnight, offering clothes and shelter to anyone in need, without questions asked.
In a land known for its many faiths and castes, those distinctions melted away like the mist under the sun. When a hand came out of the water, another reached out and brought it to the surface. Humanity turned into their only identity that they cared about. Temples became shelters, churches turned to kitchens and mosques were made into clinics. No one paused to calculate status or history or religion before they welcomed others in. What mattered was solidarity. No one needed an explanation for the love and care they gave or was given.
The unforgettable, stitched onto everyone’s memory vellapokkam (flood) exposed the fragility of their cities, but also revealed the fact that we often forget the power we have as a community standing side by side.
That community watched the child being carried across a flooded street, the grandmother being covered in borrowed clothes and the human chains formed to cross untamed waters. There was a silent bond being built under the surface. That community showed us that we survive when we are together or we don’t survive at all. Kerala’s tragic yet remarkably heroic vellapokkam, which lasted over weeks showed humanity that even when everything else falls away, or gets drowned, the human connection and the community that we belong in remains the most powerful force that one can ever break. It makes us realise that true community is not made in times of comfort but rather in despair and helplessness. Sometimes division seems inevitable, but vellapokkam of Kerala showed us a different glimpse of a way forward. It makes us clear that a community has the power to withstand any devastations, man-made or nature given, and that there is no force that can defeat the power of it, but it only comes true when we as individuals forget our differences and become a part of something, something where we all achieve together.