War rages on between Russia and Ukraine which passed beyond a year’s duration since the invasion on February 24th 2022 .

British Asian Christian Association has been providing aid to Ukrainians in Odessa since the outset of the war via Pastor Vasilev in Odessa and to refugees in Moldova .

Our work in Ukraine has expanded recently to help Ukrainians who in October were freed from Russian oppression in Kherson, but subjected to terrible shelling in retaliation for the forced Russian withdrawal. 

Pastor Vasiliev shared a video update on the dire situation faced  by people who remain in war-torn Ukraine, we would encourage you to watch it:

British Asian Christian Association, has noticed a surge in visitors to our ‘Meals for the Needy’ project based at Clementswood Community Centre in Ilford.  This now includes deliveries to a female supported living for mental health accommodation.

To help struggling families to cope with the economy and our regular homeless visitors, we have been expanding the items we provide on distribution days.

This month, we have been sharing toilet paper, sugar, tea bags, toiletries and much more to help with the demands of our visitors.

We have also continued to serve hot tea, coffee and chocolate for the growing crowd of visitors attending our centre every week.

We wrote to all our supporters in January this year to inform you about bomb survivor Aleeza Masih’s excellent school results and the need for a new prosthetic limb

We are happy to announce that she has now had the new leg cast and it was fitted on 19th February 2023.  Aleeza and is displaying great mobility again and we share a video below.  

We thank all donors that contributed to this work, which has allowed us to keep our promise to this family to cover costs for these prosthetic legs till Aleeza reaches adulthood.

Christmas is the time when children across the world receive gifts and the custom in Pakistan is for them to be gifted new clothes and shoes, usually from their parents.

BACA has always been deeply concerned about the needs of the children of Shama and Shehzad, we have always attempted to reduce their feeling of the loss of their parents. With this in mind, On 15th December, BACA’s team took all three children to a well known shopping mall, so they like other children could buy new  clothes to make their Christmas special for them.

The disfigured remains of a Christian child were found in a playground, in the area of Khaliq Nagar,  Lahore, on Sunday.

Forensic examination of the remains has led investigators to believe the child was sodomized, killed and his body vitriolized, in order to thwart identification of the murderers.  

Police have arrested one of  two Muslim suspects, an all points bulletin (APB) is in effect as a national manhunt takes place.

New statutory guidance on the recording of so-called non-crime hate incidents will ensure police prioritise freedom of expression, the Home Secretary has announced.

Under a new draft code of practice laid before Parliament today, the police will only record non-crime hate incidents when it is absolutely necessary and proportionate and not simply because someone is offended. 

The measure will better protect people’s fundamental right to freedom of expression as well as their personal data.

The draft code follows concerns around police involvement in reports of ‘hate incidents’ which are trivial or irrational and do not amount to a criminal offence.
 

A shocked teenager has joined many voices in condemning the recent death threats to 4 school boys suspended from a West Yorkshire school, for allegedly desecrating the Koran.

The boys faced death threats and in a video shared by the Daily Express a mother can be seen apologizing for her son, who she describes as a ‘very, very, silly 14 year old’ and ‘has some challenges he suffers from high functioning Autism.’ the public meeting was held in a mosque.

Local police interviewed the 4 boys and recorded the incident as a non-criminal hate incident. They also gave words of advice to another  pupil that had sent malicious communications in the form of death threats.  Read more 

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, has raised  “deep concern” over the incident.  She said it raises broader issues of free speech.

A Pakistani Christian student achieved her Duke of Edinburgh scheme (click here), Gold Award at 18 Y/O despite the pandemic lockdown preventing many from achieving their goal.

Initially, Hannah Chowdhry (19 yrs) set her heart on simply achieving the Certificate of Achievement, a certificate that recognized participants who managed to complete their Skills, Volunteering and Physical sections at Bronze, Silver or Gold level, but were unable to do their expedition and/or residential because of the pandemic lockdown (click here).

Hannah achieved this and was one of the first children in the country to attain this certificate especially at Gold level, partly because of her volunteering at British Asian Christian Association, throughout the pandemic lockdown, which also resulted in many other accolades such as the Rotary Young Citizen Award (click here), Young Ambassador for Fairlop Lions Club and Redbridge Council’s Young Citizen of the year (here).

On Saturday 11th February Reverend Amelia Jacob launched ‘The Priest from Pakistan’ an account of journey of faith, at St James Church in Alperton.

The event was presided over by Rev’d Ali Taylor who presided over the event introducing each speaker and shared her own thoughts on the relationship she has with Rev’d Amelia throughout the evening.

Rev’d Ali Taylor and her husband themselves are history makers as one of the first and very rare married ordained couples in the clergy of the Church of England.  Read more (here).

Atiq Chowdhry one of the original founders of British Asian Christian Association, was asked to read an opening Bible passage for the event taken from Philippians 3: 12-14

A mob of hundreds estimated at 800 Muslims stormed a police station in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province.

The mob managed to snatch a blasphemy suspect from his cell and take him outside  of a police station, where they lynched him.

The video below has very graphic content that shows Waris being beaten after being taken from the clutches of local Police.

Senior police officer Babar Sarfaraz Alpa spoke to press the same day, he explained:

“On Saturday a man identified as Waris had been in police custody for desecrating the pages of a copy of Islam’s holy book, the Quran.

“Waris pasted images of himself, his wife and a knife on several pages of the book, displayed them and threw them about in the rural district of Nankana Sahib.”

We share an account of the remarkable life of Esther John who was chosen to represent South Asian Christians amongst the Ten Modern Day Martyrs, above Westminster Abbey’s Great West Door.  These ten statues represent Christians who gave up their lives for their beliefs and include more well known figures such as Dr Martin Luther King Jr (click here) and Oscar Romero (click here).  

The Ten Modern Martyrs were installed on 9th July 1998 only two months after another the death of famous Catholic Martyr, Bishop John Joseph (15 November 1932 – 6th May 1998).  At the time media groups portrayed his death as a suicide to raise the plight of persecuted Christians in Pakistan, a phenomenon that still pervades in articles about his death (click here).  My grandmother Helen Chowdhry was one of his cousins and they always felt that the circumstances of his death were suspicious and he was in fact assassinated, a fact that many Pak-Christians hold to (click here).

The statues were inaugurated at a service presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury and attended by relatives, many church leaders and representatives of different faiths. The Duke of Edinburgh, grand nephew of Grand Duchess Elizabeth, attended with HM Queen Elizabeth II.