Sahera Mustafa grew up in a large family in rural Bangladesh, where her childhood was filled with simple joys walking through muddy roads to school, picking mangoes at dawn, and helping her grandfather in the fields.

After marrying a man who had settled in London, she lived apart from him for two years before joining him with their young children around 1980. The move was difficult: she faced cultural shock, isolation, cold weather, and poverty, living with her family above a restaurant before finally finding a home. Despite these hardships, Sahera was determined to give her children a better life and education than they could have in Bangladesh.

She retained her Bengali identity, teaching her children Arabic and Bangla at home and upholding Islamic values. Looking back, she is proud of her perseverance, her faith and the life she built from struggle, guided by family, resilience and devotion to Allah.