Jim MacKenzie 24th July, 2010 09:34 AM

Grampian Police

As the Grampian Police Diversity Liaison officer in Aberdeen I have known Habib for about 8 years now. During this time Habib has been a total inspiration to me in my role in promoting good relations with all the local communities in Aberdeen and as a practical teacher of different cultures. His numerous talks and presentations given to our new Constables, Police Cadets, Wardens and support staff including invites to his home for food and friendship have become legend for those lucky enough to experience them. One of his greatest skills is communicating in a way that the audience dispels any perceived barriers, quickly building rapport and getting his message of understanding different cultures and people with great humour and deep personal insight.

A superb ambassador for the brotherhood of the Human Race, warm and welcoming and willing to engage at all levels of society for the good and benefit of others the world over�.

Jim Mackenzie, Diversity Liaison Officer , Aberdeen Division

Gaelle Desir 16th August, 2010 10:54 PM

My name is Gaelle, I am French, I am 28 and I am an English teacher. I came to Glasgow this summer to spend some time with my best friend. Unfortunately during this holiday, Pakistan suffered one of the worst floods of its history. From what I could see on TV, the situation was dire, millions of people were victims of this disaster.

I have known Habib Malik for a few years now and as an active member of Islamic Relief I know that he would have given anything to help these people. So he went to Pakistan within a few hours of receiving the call and tried to do his best to help the victims. When he came back, Habib didn't have a single second for himself, he was either on his phone to organize his tight schedule or on his laptop working but I could imagine that this was just the tip of the iceberg for him!!! I went with Habib to the Ramadan Launch day which took place in Glasgow City Chambers as a volunteer of Islamic Relief. I recorded his conference in which he was describing what he saw, what he heard and above all, what he felt over there, then he thanked the whole press, and some political and religious personalities who were very active in raising money to help these people in need.

When the conference was over, Habib told the press that he had 30 minutes for them before his flight to London to take part in a live fundraising appeal on television. It was around 12 pm. His flight was at 3 pm so I said to myself that 30 minutes was good enough, he would have time to have lunch and to pack. But obviously I was wrong. Every single journalist wanted a written interview, a picture or a video interview. Each interview lasted between 5 and 20 minutes, there were about 8 journalists waiting for their turn to come. As time was passing by I knew that Habib could not answer all of them or else he would have missed his flight. Without taking a break he did at least 3 or 4 interviews, posed for photographers and did two video interviews, then he excused himself because he could not go on with the interviews and told me "Let's go!"

He drove the car trying to handle the bombardment of calls to his phone, whilst eating his lunch (which was some Pakistani sweets and nothing else) and kept on saying “Oh I'm going to miss the flight, I'm late!!!". But he did it; he managed to be on the plane to London to carry on with all his amazing efforts, taking with him only the clothes on his back and his "office" (Rucksack).
This was just an ordinary day in the life of Habib, and having only spent a few hours with him, I felt stressed just trying to keep up. What I will remember of this particular day is that 24 hours are not enough for a person who gives so much to help people in need and 24 hours in a day are definitely not enough for Habib Malik.