World Interfaith Harmony Week

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 contests, 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 women 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.