World Interfaith Harmony Week
Coffee Morning, Peace Embassy, Thornton Heath,
February 7, 2024
This coffee morning began with Dolores Read, the WFWP South London
chairperson and her warm welcome to all the guests. She briefly explained the
importance of the interfaith harmony work and outlined the programme for the
event.
The first speaker was Sherifa Carr. As a Christian Minister who is actively
supporting young people in difficult situations and has successfully participated in
two WFWP annual speech contents, she is a recipient of the coveted Ambassador
for Peace award. Sherifa briefly introduced her own stunningly multinational and -
cultural background and highlighted the need for peace in today’s conflict-ridden
world. Only the one common desire shared by all humanity - that for peace - could
be the uniting force to overcome the global threats to today’s society. In
conjunction with this, Sherifa pointed out the importance of faith, of complete
trust, quoting both St. Augustine and the Bible, pointing to the great virtue of
patience. She encouraged all women present to stand strong, no matter the
challenge. Only with vision, hope can be upheld and the one language understood
by all is that of love.
The second speaker was Mrs Asha Singh, a 75 year old lady from India who has
lived in the UK for over 50 years. Equally being a recipient of the Ambassador for
Peace Award for decades of charitable work with the girl-guides and, until now,
for people in bereavement, Asha spoke passionately about personal experiences
with the power of faith across any of the human-made boundaries. She encouraged
all to consider the power of words and do so before speaking and the potential
towards the growth of daily goodness by doing even one good deed per day. The
great importance of deep friendship, of the family and especially of the nurturing
of children from the youngest age were also emphasised. Her words of wisdom
were concluded with a brief explanation about how faith is an entirely personal
thing, in a reference to the meaning of her own name, Queen of hope.
All participants then eagerly shared personal experiences and insights, raising
various points of concern in our societies today. There was discussion about
recommendations made by a number of the ladies, about solutions to the problems
everyone had faced and experienced in different ways. The atmosphere was one of
a deeply shared sense of mutual understanding and a strong desire for positive
change, coupled with the sense for urgency.
A wonderful, light lunch was greatly enjoyed, during which the third speaker
arrived.
Mrs. Shadia Azizuddin is a business person and actively involved in a number of
charities for many years and also holds an Ambassador for Peace award. She spoke
about what had impacted her life and work, centering on the thought…’what God
wants’. Her observation was that fundamentally all religions teach the same
message and that the universe is ready to guide us. To this effect, she presented an
impressive array of brief scriptures from the major religions of the world. Shadia
also testified about the many impactful experiences she had over the years with the
WFWP and encouraged all to pursue knowledge and to continue seeking the
oneness of humanity through love and compassion.
All present felt inspired, hopeful and supportive of each other. A group photo
brought the beautiful event to a close.
Report by Annerose Adams
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