Beinazir Lasharie, who has lived almost all her life in a flat on the Grenfell estate, hesitated when she was offered the post of deputy mayor by Kensington and Chelsea council in the summer. A Labour councillor, she had battled to get her voice heard previously and was sceptical about the unexpected decision to promote her.

“I felt it’s a bit strange that all of a sudden you are appointing me when you’ve never really listened to what I’ve had to say before,” she said. “I think they chose me because I am the only councillor who lives on that estate. The only reason I did it was for the people of Grenfell. I wouldn’t have found the strength otherwise. I want to be there as a reminder of what happened that night.”

I think they chose me because I am the only councillor who lives on that estate … I did it for the people of Grenfell Beinazir Lasharie

Beinazir Lasharie. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

She has found the role immensely hard because she is still recovering from the shock of witnessing the fire. She fled from her flat six metres (20ft) from the tower with her two small children in the middle of the night, as debris from the building fell on her balcony. The family remains in temporary accommodation.

“I am depressed rather than angry – about the fire and the situation afterwards. It is a taboo to talk about depression, but it’s important. A lot of people on the estate feel depressed. Getting through the day is a challenge. It is difficult to work, to be a mother to the children. I have nightmares and flashbacks,” she said.

The shock has affected her whole family; one relative tried to take their own life five days after the fire. “I cry when I go back, thinking about my friends there, looking up and remembering which floors they were on. Emotionally it is raw. I thought I would be stronger at this stage but actually I am worse.”

The majority of the council is white, middle-class and over 50, and she has found it hard since her election as a councillor in 2014 to make her voice heard. “We would be laughed at, mocked in the council chamber,” she said. “I felt the attitude was: well, what do you know? It is pretty clear how unrepresented we are.”

She remains bitter about the attitude of the council towards residents during the protracted refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, which finished last year. In her role as councillor, she took up a number of concerns from residents. As deputy mayor, she wants to see a culture change that will bring a new focus to the issues raised by the disaster.

She has twice tried to move back to her flat but on both occasions her four-year-old son had an allergic reaction and had to be hospitalised. “The people putting the scaffolding up around the tower are wearing protective clothing, but the dust is falling into our flat,” she said.

Six months pregnant, she is worried about toxic substances in the dust. “My son gets sick every time I go there – last time he couldn’t breathe. It can’t be a coincidence.” For a while the family was in a hotel, but her children were told off by hotel staff for running around. “We have been in limbo. The council has been very weak – they have made promises that shouldn’t have been made. Too many people are in hotels. The council is overwhelmed with it all.”

She had seen fires in the tower before, she said. “But they were nothing like what I saw that night. It was like petrol. It should not have spread like that. I still think about the people I saw that day who I will never see again, people you say hello to for 20 years, you see them every day and then you don’t see them again. I feel so sad. I don’t think I can take any more grief.” Amelia Gentleman

The sight of the tower is inflicting extreme psychological damage on people. For it to remain standing is unthinkable Father Alan Everett

Father Alan Everett is the vicar of St Clement’s church, close to Grenfell Tower, which became a focal point for residents and survivors in the aftermath of the fire. He wrote a powerful poem about the community’s anger and anguish.

Father Alan Everett. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

“I hope the service at St Paul’s [on Thursday] will bring a measure of healing, and the high-level representation of the royal family and the government will give people a sense of acknowledgement and solidarity. I hope it will be an important rite of passage.

“Six months on, while there are still large numbers of people wanting to be rehoused, and while residents have the daily trauma of seeing Grenfell Tower standing in their midst, it’s impossible to say more than the situation is ongoing. There has to be significant movement on both those fronts before people can move forward psychologically.

“I hope in 2018 it will become clearer what is to happen with the tower. The psychological damage it is inflicting on people on a daily basis is so extreme that for it to remain standing is unthinkable. It’s the first thing some people see when pulling up their kitchen blind in the morning; children are walking past it every day on their way to school. It will be a massive relief when it comes down, and then we can take time to decide what to do with the site.

‘Children walk past the tower every day – it will be a massive relief when it comes down.’ Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

“We’re still working out the implications of communal trauma and how it differs from individual trauma and what the cumulative effects are. I’ve been reading about trauma and one thing is clear: if you’re already experiencing difficulties in other areas of your life, then the impact of something like the fire is going to be magnified. We’re going to be living with this for a long time to come.” Harriet Sherwood

We did the best we could with the resources we had. But we’re in an area where fire cover had been cut by 50% Lucy Masoud

Lucy Masoud is a firefighter and a senior Fire Brigades Union official. She was first sent to Grenfell Tower the day after the fire and spent every day there for at least a month thereafter.

Lucy Masoud. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

“Firefighters dealt with Grenfell in the best way we could. Our brave men and women who went in there did an absolutely amazing job and I don’t think anyone would ever criticise them. But what we did was all we could do with the equipment and the resources we had.



“When you’re dealing with a job in an area where fire cover has been cut by 50%, it would be reasonable to suggest that, had those savage cuts not taken place, we may have been able to save one more person. Not only are we heartbroken but we’re also angry.

“There is no other brigade in the UK that could have handled an incident of this size because there is no other brigade that would have had the resources on duty that night. Grenfell was a disaster but, had it happened anywhere other than London, it would have been even worse.

“As per usual, when any kind of disaster happens, the prime minister will come out and tell the country how wonderful the emergency services are. But it was that very same government that sat on the frontbench of the House of Commons and cheered when they continued to impose the public sector pay cap.” Kevin Rawlinson

My cat is back to normal. But I have more bad days than good days Kerry O’Hara

Kerry O’Hara lived on the sixth floor of Grenfell Tower. Two months after the fire, she was reunited with her cat Rosey. O’Hara has now been rehoused in the Kensington Row development, two miles from Grenfell.

Kerry O’Hara and her cat. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian

“I’m still upset and angry after six months. I’m sad about my friends that I lost. I’m glad to be in permanent new accommodation, but I feel isolated and lonely. There’s no proper community there, just posh restaurants and bars. So I come back [to North Kensington] as often as I can.

“Rosey is completely back to normal. I don’t think she cares as long as she’s warm and fed and I’m there with her. My cat is my life. She’s not just a cat, she’s my baby.

“My health is still not good since the fire. My depression’s got worse – I have more bad days than good days. I get some support, but I’d like more.

“I’m not really celebrating Christmas this year. I’m just not in the mood. The Salvation Army is putting on a Christmas dinner, but I’m not sure how I can get there. I’m trying to sort out transport. Christmas is going to be grim this year. No one is in the mood for celebration.

“I don’t really have any hopes for 2018. It will be a long time before I can put this [the fire] behind me. Some people will never be able to get over what happened.” Harriet Sherwood

We’ve got 127 children here who were impacted … what happened has changed life and we have to work through that Sarah Cooper

Sarah Cooper is the headteacher of nearby Oxford Gardens primary school, which lost a current and former pupil in the blaze and opened its doors to affected families.

Sarah Cooper. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

“I heard Grenfell Tower was on fire from someone who works in our school office. She phoned me around 4am and said: ‘It’s really bad, Sarah, it’s really bad.’ I’ll never forget those words. The tower was still smoking when we got here, and there was talk of it collapsing, but we decided this needed to be a safe space if people wanted to bring their children in, so we sent out that message and made breakfast for everyone.

“We lost a year 3 boy, Mehdi El Wahabi, and a former pupil, Biruk Haftom. We’ve got 127 children here who were directly impacted because they lost a relative or friend, or they were displaced or witnessed the fire to a horrific level. But Mehdi’s year group have been especially affected.

“We decided to have a day where we aren’t saying ‘it’s six months since the fire’, we are saying ‘it’s six months in which together we’ve built strength’. We’re doing prayer flags and the children are drawing pictures of things that have given them strength – their families, their friends.

“What happened has changed life and we have to work with that. Naturally it brings up emotions and upsetting thoughts but that is an important part of us learning from day to day, and a way of the people who lost their lives being with us. It’s still very up and down. Six months is not a lot of time. But it is about building something back that is stronger and much more resilient, and making sure the young people here get every chance they can in life and that they’re supported every step of the way.” Susanna Rustin

We can’t see the future. You don’t know if you are going to survive Mahboubeh Jamalvatan

Mahboubeh Jamalvatan, who escaped from the third floor of the tower, is still in temporary accommodation with her two children, both students. She has been sharing a bedroom with her adult daughter for the past six months.



Mahboubeh Jamalvatan. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

“I have no idea how long I will be here for. It has been very difficult for all of us. The families are broken and the council is responsible. What I don’t like is how they keep us in the dark. I’m afraid that their support and help will arrive too late, so by the time that we are rehoused we will be so tired and so shattered.

“I don’t want to go back to the area because of the memories. I can’t look at the building. I often think about what happened on the night, how the firefighters were advising people to go back to their flats. I feel so sorry that in such an advanced country, the fire service had to deal with such a fire in a 23-floor building with such poor equipment. They didn’t come and get me out. They were only just starting to arrive when I got out.

“I don’t understand why it is taking so long. Kensington and Chelsea council is a very rich council. They can afford to get a flat for me and my children. I know that the housing team cannot work miracles to rehouse everyone at once, we have to give them time and we have to be fair with them, but they aren’t sharing information with the residents, keeping us informed.

“It has been very difficult for us all. I feel very bad mentally. We are all very stressed. We can’t see the future. You don’t know what is waiting for you after going through these difficulties. You don’t know if you are finally going to have a normal life. You don’t know if you are going to survive.” Amelia Gentleman

What shines out is the bravery of survivors. It’s a privilege to try to help Martin Howe

Martin Howe is a founding partner at the law firm Howe and Co who specialises in social justice cases. He has been working with survivors and bereaved families from Grenfell since shortly after the fire.

Martin Howe. Photograph: Handout

“We have been at the frontline, working with highly traumatised people who very often are telling their stories to us for the first time. Their lawyer is often the first person to whom they have spoken in detail about what happened that night. What shines out is the bravery and dignity of the survivors and bereaved families. It is a privilege to try and help.

“People break down and are very distraught. It’s not only adults but children who died. We are not counsellors or trauma experts, and listening to the stories of such horrific tragedy has a traumatic effect on us too. I defy anyone not to be deeply moved when listening to the recordings of 999 calls. We have provided counselling services for the lawyers in our firm because they need it. None of us has experienced anything like this before.

“The individuals and families we represent want to bear witness for family members and friends who died. They want to make sure their voices are heard loud and clear. There were enough warnings, enough signs along the way. The tenants had spoken up, had made their concerns obvious. Tragically, it seems no one with decision-making power was listening.

“As a human rights lawyer, I’m responsible for handling the trust I have been given by 66 survivors and bereaved family members to help to look after their interests in this awful tragedy. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that there’s not a single page left unturned, a single stone not looked under, so that together we get to the truth.” Owen Bowcott