Muhammad Talha
Ahead of a period of celebration the trustees of the Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum held a Faith Reception at Barking Elim Church to mark Inter Faith Week, celebrate the value of faith-based social action and discuss the future of interfaith activities in the borough.
Representatives from the Boroughs faith groups included Churches, Mosques, River Roding Trust volunteers and the young One Third homeless soup kitchen team.
Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum Chair Himanshu Jain addressed visitors, “Thank you all for coming, our diversity is our straight.” He outlined exciting activities which be organised to bring communities together.
Vice Chair, Pastor Lloyd Cheshire opened the event and spoke about love for people and willingness to serve, which United people across faiths.
Councillor Saima Ashraf, Barking & Dagenham deputy leader added, “Our Borough is a United Borough and I’m proud of the hard work we put in to keep people United. Faith is important to people and greatly helpful in bringing people together.”
Abdullah Rahman, a team leader at One Third Homeless Soup Kitchen was pleased he attended, “ We are a really young team and most of out volunteers prefer to hit the town on a Friday night. We loved the presentations and really glad we came and met so many inspiring people. Events like this are really important.”
The last 18 months have proved to be a challenging time, yet faith has played a significant contribution in the borough, supporting the local community as they’ve dealt with the virus and its enormous effects on our way of life.
As people start to emerge from the crisis, this Faith Reception was the perfect opportunity to connect with new friends, make new ones, and recommit to making a difference in the local communities represented.