Children of lynched blasphemy slave couple are excelling at school!
Published: Sat, 01/01/22
Dear all,
Firstly we wish you all a prosperous new year.
It's another start of a new year, the13th beginning of a year that our organisation has experienced from our humble beginnings back in 2009.
As we find ourselves looking at another year under the yoke of COVID-19 we pray that Governments make the right decisions and that world economies recover from the strains that lockdowns, reduced travel and self isolation, have placed on the globe. Through it all our work has continued in a very changed format but it has never halted. We ask that you continue you to pray for our work and our group as we continue our ministry. As Christians we are reminded that the Bible tells us to
trust in the Lord who is a provider, protector and guide.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
Many of you are aware of our work supporting the homeless in the UK, in the London Borough of Redbridge. Though through the lockdown we were serving up to 65 people twice a day we now serve a smaller number around 40. Our visitors reduced drastically this week however as some of our clients failed to understand that we only closed for a week, despite us informing them of the short break so our tired volunteers could celebrate Christmas. Numbers seem to be increasing again
however and we were one of only two meals services that served one day last week and were back the following week, this has made it a struggle to find food for many local homeless people. Read more (here)
We also managed to install a Nativity in Ilford for the first time in two years, a project revived after vandals smashed figurines we bought in 2018 to end a16 year absence. The current silhouettes are in the forecourt of Ilford High Road Baptist Church. They and caused a traffic slow down when installed, as drivers stared at the new arrivals. We want to thank the many donors who made this nativity possible who were from across the globe and across the UK. We are hoping this
project will inspire similar projects across the globe and as that you please share details of any projects that have been triggered because of our efforts. We are willing to help churches and individuals that would like to reintroduce nativities in their home towns - just get in touch. Read more (here).
We became alarmed by the number of insults and threats made to Mo Salah a Liverpool FC Football player. He is Muslim and when he wished people a Merry Christmas and shared images of his family before a Christmas tree he became the target of a backlash. We thought his sentiments were perfect for the season and hope he will not be deterred from the necessary bridge-building between communities that our world needs. Read more (here).
PAKISTAN:
In 2014 Shama and Shahzad a Christian slave couple were beaten, tied to a tractor and dragged across rough terrain, before being burned alive while their children watched. Since the first day that they were taken into the custody of their grandfather we have been providing them with a live-in nanny. Though we are on our third employee for this service the current nanny has now been in position for over 3 years. Shama and Shahzad had always wanted their children to escape slavery
through a decent education and hoped that one day their children would free them from their own enslavement. The two children cannot now free their parents but they are becoming very intelligent and erudite children. We visited them as we do every Christmas and discovered that they need computers to help with their education. We hope with your help to be able to gift these to the hard-working orphans. If you would like to help us reach our target of £700 please
donate by clicking (here). Read more (here).
THAILAND:
We organised a Christmas service and food distribution for beleaguered Pak-Christians in Bangkok. For many this was the first church service they had attended since the lockdown imposed on them due to COVID-19. Children performed dancing, carols and nativity plays while they rejoiced over the birth of Jesus sometime just over 2000 years ago. Read more (here). Many of these
asylum seekers may yet face a further difficult lockdown, the last one left many near starvation. We need your help to be able to increase the number of regular food packages we are delivering. If you would like to contribute please donate by clicking (here).
You can contribute to all our appeals using this link (click here).
Wishing you a wonderful 2022 one filled with God's blessing in your lives.
Hannah Chowdhry
Below we list all the articles above in alphabetical order. You can read all our previous and current international articles (here) and all of our community articles (here). So please check these links if any hyperlinks are not working.
Societal problems palpable through insults and threats to Mo Salah for wishing people a Merry Christmas
Image downloaded from twitter account of Mo Salah.
Mo Salah like Amir Khan joins a list of Muslim sports players who have been condemned by some Muslims for celebrating Christmas.
Mo Salah one of the planets most famous Muslim footballers has been castigated by numerous Muslims for sharing pictures on Twitter of himself celebrating Christmas with his family.
RT News in an article translated some of the messages in Arabic under Mo Salah’s twitter image into English. They read as follows;
“You prostrate to the one on Sunday if you score a goal and celebrate the one on Sunday that has a son,”
“You are a great player, a good human being, and God has blessed you with money, fame, and the love of people, but know that he who has provided you with all of this is capable of taking it from you in the blink of an eye,”This tweet apparently received 7000 likes.
Juliet Chowdhry delivering food to Malachi project on New Years Eve due to COVID-19 infection for our main volunteer Rajeshri Chouhan.
Many of our regular readers are very aware of our work serving food to the homeless, asylum seekers and refugees and economically deprived in Ilford.
We have now be operating for well over a year. During the pandemic lockdown we became the largest foodbank and meals for the homeless project in our Borough. At the time serving up to 65 people a day. Read more (here)
Last week we celebrated Christmas with those that came with music, gifts, crackers, cards, food and prayers (click here). We had more volunteers than ever before including two students who are working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Shadrack McCubbins is working towards his Silver Award and Naomi Chowdhry is
working towards her bronze award. We have helped a total of 8 Duke of Edinburgh Award participants achieve the volunteering section so far and hope this number increases in 2022.
British Asian Christian Association, created a crowd fund for a set of glowing Nativity silhouettes as part of a campaign to reintroduce a Nativity in Ilford, after a two year absence. Read more (here).
We had previously installed a set of nativity figurines to end a previous 16 year absence of a Nativity in Ilford. Rather disturbingly, these were smashed and Jesus was left beheaded on the second year of our installation in 2018. Read more (here)
Though we did not reach our crowd fund total we received enough to transform our project to allow for a smaller set of Nativity silhouettes, we also purchased a Merry Christmas light sign, some lights for the one tree in the forecourt of Ilford High Road Baptist Church (not shown in image), and a waterproof extension lead.
20 families celebrated Christmas in secret in a Bangkok condo by hiring a room as a hall for their worship thanks to donations provided by our donors.
Visitors were given a hearty meal cooked by a Pak-Christian chef who received a donation that would help his family survive the hard economic conditions.
All 20 families received a large bag of food supplies that should provide a months sustenance for their families.
Every Christmas British Asian Christian Association’s team visit the children of Shama and Shahzad to share some prayers and presents with them.
Shama and Shahzad for those of you who are new to us, were a Christian couple enslaved in the brick kilns of Pakistan, burned alive after the accountant of their owner accused them of a blasphemy (click here) . His allegations were made to prevent Shama from
filing rape charges against him – he escaped the justice system as did over 100 men originally arrested for their murder (click here).
