ISLA FISHER reveals the touching gift Sacha Baron Cohen bought her after her father died… as she shares the personal mission that took her back to Scotland, land of her forefathers

Karen Erskine is a busy woman and her workload is increasing day by day. “More families are coming to us, and we predict more will be referred in the coming months,” she says.

As a service manager for Home-Start in Glasgow North and North Lanarkshire, a community support project working in partnership with Save the Children, Erskine – along with a team of staff and volunteers – helps pregnant women and families with young children struggling with challenges such as mental health, poverty and isolation.

In the past week alone she has supported 120 local families with a range of services, both practical and emotional, from voluntary home visits to community groups and referrals to counselling.

Isla with husband Sacha Baron Cohen

It’s a crisp autumn day when I meet her in an airy church hall in North Lanarkshire, where Home-Start holds many of its group sessions. As the days get shorter and temperatures drop, Erskine predicts many more families will come through the church seeking help. “A lot of mothers say they’re afraid of winter,” she says. ‘Salaries must reach further than ever before. Being a parent is challenging at the best of times, so we need to make sure we are there for them when they need us most.”

Erskine is down-to-earth about the work she does, but I can’t help but feel like I’m talking to one of the everyday, unsung heroes of the Glasgow community.

Isla with her father in 1983

This visit is very personal for me as Scotland is where my ancestral roots lie. In many ways, these are my people. As a young girl I lived just 20 minutes away from this building. My parents are both Scottish and still have relatives spread across the area.

When I return here, vague memories come flooding back: wearing a kilt on my second birthday; scratchy wool tights that hugged my stocky toddler legs; the bracing walks in the Highlands, running and scrambling to keep up with my brothers as the cold wind blew across our cheeks. I remember the LPs of Highland pipe music my parents played to remind them of their youth. Even my name – Isla – comes from Islay, the small island in the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, famous for the peaty single malt whiskeys that my late father loved.

Here in the church hall, boxes full of toys from the rowdy mother-and-toddler play group I was previously a member of are stored under tables. Amid the chaos of kids running around and tumbling over themselves, I saw how these groups can be a lifeline for people who feel trapped by the pressures of parenthood.

Isla’s father with Princess Anne in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia

Faiza joined us with her beautiful three-year-old boy, Zakariya, who flashes me a cheeky grin beneath his black curls. Faiza, a local mother of six boisterous boys, has been coming to the group for almost five years and she says the effect on her mental health and self-esteem has been transformative.

“I haven’t left the house with the kids before,” says Faiza. ‘I found it too overwhelming and put myself in a negative mindset. But the toddler sessions have helped me to grow in self-confidence. They make you forget the struggles you may face. When you are down, the sessions give you the feeling that life is not so difficult.’

Many here are living at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. I hear from parents who earn double incomes and are still unable to meet basic needs; mothers who skip meals so their children can eat; how the crisis is causing many people here to end up in food poverty.

With Faiza and her son Zakariya in the home starting group

In Britain, almost four million children live in food insecure households, meaning they continually struggle to afford healthy meals. In Glasgow, it is estimated that almost one in three children live in poverty. New research from Save the Children shows that across Scotland the same rate applies to families with a baby under one year old – much higher than the national average of one in four. Sometimes families need an emergency injection of money. Save the Children has teamed up with Home-Start to provide just that: an immediate grant of up to £340 for families with children under six who are struggling, so they can put food on the table, pay their heating bills or can buy necessary things. have to survive.

I feel incredibly touched that the women share their stories with me. Motherhood can be isolating at best. Add to that the financial problems, rising food prices, mental health care and I know I’m talking to real fighters.

Isla and her father in Perth in 1987

This is the first time I have been to Scotland since my father passed away in January at the age of 84. Over the past few months, I have learned to cope with the sudden and searing waves of grief that were once overwhelming. Now that I’m here in Scotland, I feel closer to him. I hear his voice in the accents of the people I meet. I see his stoic determination in theirs.

Brian Fisher was born into a working-class family in Bathgate in the year the Second World War broke out. A modest, brilliant man, he was best known for his sense of humor. Jokes were currency in our family and you were rewarded for laughing the loudest. Furthermore, nothing was off limits, something that has undoubtedly inspired my comedic acting over the years – and possibly my choice of husband [the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen] at. But it was Dad’s career that took us to Australia when I was six, where he later became CEO of the Save the Children Fund in Western Australia. And so we come full circle.

Isla in 1979 in Cambridge

He was always proud of his work supporting disadvantaged children both in Australia and around the world – as am I. He described meeting Princess Anne – who took over from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as patron of the charity in 2017 after serving as president since 1970. – as the highlight of his career.

Inspired by his work and my interest in early childhood development, I became an ambassador for Save the Children in 2012. My first involvement with the charity was for a breastfeeding campaign, when I visited the slums of São Paulo and met mothers who were pumping their breasts. breast milk so it could be donated to the neonatal units, giving sick or premature babies the best start in life. Eleven years later, I still remember how inspired I was by this simple, selfless act. And it is that sense of sisterhood and solidarity that I am reminded of while in Scotland. Here I can once again feel the power of human connection, of community. Sometimes it’s the little gestures that make everything right.

Erskine agrees. “Having a cup of tea with families can be so powerful,” she says. ‘We hear from parents that sometimes we are the only people they see that week. They are really isolated. And that’s what we’re all about: empowering families to grow in trust and build strong relationships, both within themselves and within the community.”

Perhaps that’s what I miss most about my father since he left us: no matter where I was in my life, he was there for me and we felt so connected. It’s no exaggeration to say that I talked to him every day, and those varied, sometimes very silly conversations got me through the Covid pandemic in Los Angeles — when the world was on lockdown and human connection was scarce.

After his death, Sacha bought me a ring so that I could keep his memory close to me every day. It is a simple gold band with a delicate Scottish heather. It reminds me of home.

Visit to support children suffering from food poverty in Britain and around the world savethechildren.org.uk/donate-today

Director of the film: Ester Malloy.

Stylist: Nicola Rose.

Stylist’s Assistant: Hope Palmer.

Hair: Ben Cooke at Frank Agency with Bondi Boost.

Makeup: Sarah Reygate at Carol Hayes with Giorgio Armani.