 Dyrector, I have the honour of requesting that you confer an honorary fellowship upon Professor Farouq Toppan. By virtue of the authority invested in me, I award the honorary fellowship of so as University of London on Professor Farouq Toppan. Professor Farouq Toppan will now address us. Chairman, Lord Michael Hastings, Director, Adam Habib, Professor Adam Habib, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear graduands, good morning. I'm deeply grateful to SOAS for the award of honorary fellowship which I accept with utmost humility. It's all the more special as it is from my own alma mater. And on this special occasion may I also acknowledge and convey congratulations to my fellow recipients of honorary awards in these winter graduations, Aqiyabad, Aisabu, Misan, Hariman, Ensanda, Wajiambu, and I thank SOAS for acknowledging the contributions of people in the African diaspora. Thank you. Congratulations to all graduands on your achievement and it goes without saying that your success has involved hard work and very good and perhaps at times difficult management of time and resources during these years both inside and outside of SOAS. I joined SOAS as a student in 1962 just over 60 years ago when I climbed those famous steps and although the internal and even external geography of SOAS has undergone some changes since then, a constant has been its increasing engagement with diversity. That engagement I have seen from the outside, I have seen it from the inside has developed over the years and somehow SOAS inculcates this ethos of diversity in its student body in various ways, sometimes even imperceptibly. If I may give a minor but perhaps a telling example from the Sohelia Broad program which we introduced in 1995 that is over two decades ago. Two students, let's call them Miriam and Kate, were the pioneers of the program. They had gone to the University of Dar es Salaam and as they were the pioneers we did not have any of course any precedent and therefore we were slightly or perhaps even more than slightly anxious on how the year would unfold. For them. But I shouldn't have worried because they took the change of environment and culture in the stride. They knew that Dar es Salaam is Dar es Salaam. It is an African city, a city with its own personality, its own way of life, its own culture, its own language which they were there to learn. They totally understood that they were not there to impose their values on others. That to me was pluralism in action. The acceptance and respect of difference is normal. And when I was thinking about this example what went through my mind was a thought. Some might say it is anachronistic thought but perhaps some might say it is not because human values have always been with us. And it is one of those if onlys of history. If only. If only the navigators, explorers and the discoverers of the 15th century, the ones in 1492 who went west and the ones in 1498 who went east around the Cape of Good Hall. And those who came in their wake. If only they had the attitude and understanding of Miriam and Kate towards the people they had encountered. If only then our world would probably be rather different today. And so finally my fellow alumni because you're on the verge of becoming alumni. This period of one and half years or two years of the pandemic has not been easy for many, many of us. But we have come through and this is now the time to build on what we have achieved, indeed what you have achieved. And not just academically but in many walks of human life. A time to move forward with confidence, self confidence with understanding with self assurance and the feeling that you are not alone. Just look around you, look on the stage, look at us. So good luck and wherever your own will and destiny takes you, we wish you well. We wish you good luck with best wishes. And in Swahili we say quairini. Quairini is goodbye but goodbye with our blessings, with our thoughts, with our prayers. And may I have a little request that wherever you may end up in the world here abroad, anywhere, please take a little piece of sauce and keep it in your hearts to be very comforting. I have done that and it hasn't done me any harm. So good luck and in Swahili we say asante ni sana thank you very much for your presence and for your contributions.