Patriotism of Somali immigrants in the UK

It's not often that one's heart is turned and filled with wonder while reading the newspaper on a Monday morning going in to work. The sub-plot of the rescue of the Chandlers from their 13 month captivity by Somalian pirates was what did it for me. Somalian immigrants living in the UK have felt so bad about the Chandlers predicament that they have been fund raising to secure the ransom money for their release. A music video made by Somalis living in the UK brought in almost £150,000. The video was played on a Somali news station called 'Universal TV' and accompanied by a message directed at the pirates 'to remember all the good things Britain has done for Somalis since the civil war'. This kickstarted a worldwide campaign among Somalis to donate money and to express anger at the pirates' actions. The real hero of this story is the former London taxi driver of Somali origin who went back to Somalia to help negotiate the release of the Chandlers. He put himself in danger repeatedly because his children felt ashamed at school (in London)over the whole incident

Immigrants are always the faceless and voiceless victims in our debates on immigration. Society, policy makers and Governments talk about them as if they were a collective noun who should be labelled the human equivalent of parasite. It takes a story like this to debunk the 'which cricket team are you supporting?' theory as the tick-box of requisites to separate the 'us' and 'them'. The patriotism to Britian shown by these people is beyond the call of duty.
Many Somalis seek refuge in the UK to escape the cruel war in Somalia. It is one of the most dangerous countries in the world because of fighting between warlords and radical Islamist groups.  Violence and death are everyday occurences since the central government was overthrown in 1991. Thousands of refugees have been displaced. Reoccurring floods have plagued the country. Famine is widespread and 300,000 people have died because of starvation and malnutrition and thousands continue to suffer. That they feel a sense of gratitude to be in the peace and stability of the UK comes as no surprise. Let us remember this tale of patriotism before the next wave of hate against immigrants comes calling. I hope the Chandlers remember to thank them too when they return home.

What do you call an empty church?

Tesco is the answer. The church, formerly the Westbourne Methodist Church in Bournemouth, had been left unoccupied for a year before being sold to the grocery chain store. The ornate stained glass windows have been retained and serve as a backdrop to groceries.  The facade has the ability to still fool people into thinking it is a church.

Plumbing the depths of prejudice

Discrimination is rife. Discrmination is pervasive. Sometimes we become immune to the reality of it butI came aross something in the press which shocked me to the core. Albino sufferers in Africa live in fear for their lives because-what for it-there's a lucrative trade in their body parts. It is believed that an Albino person's body parts brings good fortune. Albino body parts are sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in Africa.

Coumba Makalou, president of the U.S.-based Salif Keita Global Foundation, a group that looks after Albinos' rights, alleges that those who pay for body parts include rich businessmen and politicians looking to improve their political fortunes. Makalou says body parts sell for as much as $2,000. At least 57 Albinos have been killed in Tanzania and 14 in Burundi since 2007. Thousands of Albinos are estimated to be living in hiding.


Banele Nxumalo, an 11 year old girl in Swaziland, in August this year was fetching water for her family with a group of friends when a car stopped and two hooded gunmen shot her. One then proceeded to chop off her head and right hand. They left her severed body only taking her hand and head, got in the car and drove off.
 
Please include Albino people in your prayers, especially for those living in Africa.

An imaginary interview with Bonhoeffer

Yesterday I bought a wonderful book called 'God is in the Manger' which contains reflections on Advent and Christmas written by a German theologian called Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was executed by the Nazis. The story of Bonhoeffer's imprisonment and suffering is a deeply moving and inspiring one. Bonhoeffer was arrested in 1943 because he had been vocal in his resistance to Hitler and had supplied details of the German resistance to the Allies. While in prison he wrote: 'One waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other-things that are really of no consequence-the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside.' He kept his faith despite knowing that he would be executed. Ten days before the surrender of the German forces Bonhoeffer was hanged on Hitler's orders.
The desolation in his writing conveys the insight that he had about the cruelty and evilness that was to be Nazism. When Hitler declared in 1939 '...the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe' Bonhoeffer responded by writing that 'Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or wiling the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization..'
Imagine if Bonhoeffer had been asked the following question before he died, 'Do you view the ordination of women Bishops as a parallel, in terms of the defeat of the Christian church, to the extinction of human beings as Hitler has decreed?'
Would he have answered, 'I feel very much increasingly that we're in January of 1939. We need to be aware that there is real, serious warfare just around the corner. It's actually arrived in some places already and we are in a challenging and serious situation'.
Somehow I don't think Bonhoeffer would have said that but those words came from a speech given by Bishop Wallace Benn, Bishop of Lewes and President of the Church of England Evangelical Council, at a Reform Conference of Conservative Anglicans. This has been widely reported in the media today.
A statement issued from the Bishop's office in his defence states that he never mentioned Hitler or the Nazis in his address and meant that the sittuation in the church feels like people probably felt as they viewed the year ahead in 1939. The Bishop says that he was being 'Churchillian'.
I looked up the meaning of Churchillian and it means being defiant in the face of overwhelming odds.
Is anyone else sensing a seriously disproportionate interpretation of the 1939 events? Bonhoeffer knew what 'serious warfare' and 'overhwelming odds' really meant. He was living it. The secular society must be laughing at us today and who can blame them?
I really object to the Conservative Anglicans, yet again, presenting the gospel message as being nothing more than a gender and sexuality question. Leaving aside the theological purity consideration about male lineage and women bishops, the Bishop's comments make a mockery of the Anglican consideration for true suffering and injustice. Instead, it invites wholesale ridicule of all Anglicans including people like me who really believe that my faith link with God will not be broken if women are made Bishops. Will God really bypass us on Sundays and head for Rome instead because we have taken on the equality practices of the world?
I conclude by setting forth what I think Bonhoeffer's conclusion to this sorry fiasco would be (in the context of his writings and thoughts):
'God should not be relegated to some last secret place, but that we should frankly recognise that the world and men have come of age, that we should not speak ill of man in his worldliness, but confront him with God at his strongest point, that we should give up all our clerical subterfgues...

Christians under siege

My previous blog post was about Christians in India being attacked. Yesterday, 52 Christians were killed during a siege at a Catholic church in the Karada District, Baghdad. A sub-group of Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the killing. The Our Lady of Salvation church was holding mass when a group of armed men began attacking the churchgoers. The Priest was killed. The same church was previously targeted in 2004.
How does one keep the faith after either witnessing or being involved in such an atrocity? We go to church in this country and come away feeling fuelled by the word of God and the companionship of fellow Christians. By contrast with the suffering experienced by Christians in conflict areas our experience on a Sunday seems like pure indulgence. How fortunate we are to be able to experience the peace and love of God in the way that we do.

''How to attack Christians''

Every Sunday I am mindful of the Christians around the world who do not have the freedom, as I do, to attend a church and worship freely. 'Christian Freedom', as I call it, is the right to publicly proclaim your faith in the gospel and participate in a same minded community in the worship of God. The freedom and right to have a faith of your choosing is pivotal to human well being. We who live in free societies bear testatement to this. An organisation called Release International which represents persecuted Christians in the world is worried about Christians in India facing pressure from militant Hindus to give up their faith. Pastors are being attacked and beaten for preaching the faith. Allegedly a 20 point guideline on how to attack Christians has been produced by the perpetrators. This is pretty hard to understand and reconcile with the fact that India is highly prominent for having a strong democracy. Equality and diversity are sub-components of Democracy. Judicial and Executive intervention is required urgently. Anti-conversion laws (stopping Hindus from converting to other faiths) has been overturned in seven of India's states. Prayer is required for the rest of the states to follow and for the law then to be upheld by the appropriate agencies.

India's manual scavengers

The UK's foreign aid budget is to be ring-fenced prompting questions over why charity doesn't begin at home? Ought we to be donating to countries like India and China who are world super economies when there are needy people at home? I attended the Christian Aid event in London on tackling poverty and heard the most appalling story of how some in India make ends meet. It is as follows:

With the world's eyes on the Commonwealth Games, one Christian Aid partner has used the attention to highlight the continued but outlawed and degrading practice of manual scavenging in India - where mainly dalit women clean 'dry' latrines using nothing but a basket and broom. It's an occupation carried out by dalits (formerly untouchables) in which safai karmacharis, as manual scavengers are known, clean out human excreta from wealthy households' latrines - toilets that are not connected to the sewage system and are therefore not flushable.A manual scavenger cleaning out a latrineThis degrading practice is traditionally imposed upon certain dalit sub-caste groups, especially the women, with the result that 82% of manual scavengers are female.These women are forced to work in unthinkable conditions, humiliated and discriminated against.But another shocking scandal of this story is that this practice continues despite the fact that it was outlawed in 1993. Today, tens of thousands of manual scavengers are still cleaning out other people’s loos by hand with a small brush and basket. Why? `Because local state authorities seem to tacitly agree with the casteist ideology that assigns unclean occupations to dalits claiming that safai karmacharis are content with their work,’ says a spokesperson from Safai Karmachari Andolon (SKA), a movement supported by Christian Aid.Today, tens of thousands of manual scavengers are still cleaning out other people’s loos by hand with a small brush and basket. To coincide with the Commonwealth Games, SKA is organising a series of rallies throughout October to demand that the government enforces the 1993 law, including provision of relief and dignified livelihoods for those liberated from this inhumane practice. ‘India has invested lots of money in hosting the Commonwealth Games in Delhi,’ says Anand Kumar, Christian Aid’s India representative. `In order to meet the games deadlines it has spent millions of rupees and worked through the nights to make Delhi ready to host the events. ‘But India should also show greater commitment to eradicating the practice of manual scavenging and helping to rehabilitate manual scavengers so they can establish dignified livelihoods.’ SKA’s buses will pass through 20 states on the campaign trail before descending on New Delhi for a mass rally towards the end of October. Liberated safai karmacharis will speak at the events and ceremoniously burn the baskets they once used as manual scavengers in a bid to empower others to stop doing this degrading work. Christian Aid has supported the SKA campaign from the outset as part of its wider programme to address the root causes of poverty in India – namely discrimination and exclusion of people because of who they are: because of their caste, ethnicity, religion, gender or disability.
www.christianaid.org
 
This is why we need to continue giving Aid to India because it is a country that has no regard for the poverty that exists on its' land. I firmly believe that we are impoverished by the poverty of others no matter where they live.