Category: News

Bristol Multi-Faith Forum (BMFF) is joining hands with the Wellspring Doctors Surgery to host a series of COVID-19 vaccination outreach Clinics at Barton Hill Settlement, 43 Ducie Rd, Bristol, BS5 0AX.

Vaccination is free, but registration is essential as the NHS vaccinators need to keep the right number of vaccines, and the 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞-𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝟓𝟎. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠: info@bristolmultifaithforum.org.uk 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: 𝟎𝟕𝟕𝟖𝟗 𝟎𝟒𝟎𝟐𝟔𝟕, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Kindly register soon, and please attend the vaccination clinic.

The vaccine is the only hope to protect ourselves and others from the infectious virus and gradually bring normality back into our lives. Kindly make the best use of this opportunity. Let’s prepare our community to be healthy and happy.

Cllr Tom Aditya, Chair &

Adv. Tripti Megeri, Secretary,

Bristol Multi-Faith Forum (BMFF),

Barton Hill Settlement, 43 Ducie Road, Bristol, BS5 0AX

NB: Dr. Wil Klinkenberg and Dr. Sarah Jahfar will lead this outreach vaccination clinic. The main purpose of the clinic is to reach people from our local ethnic minority communities who would otherwise have difficulty or feel reluctant to take up a vaccine in the local GP surgery, community pharmacy, or mass vaccination centre. Pregnant ladies are advised not to register for vaccination at this clinic. People with allergies should discuss their concerns related to any allergies with the NHS professionals prior to the vaccination.

Reports show significant portions of our BAME communities expressing hesitation around the COVID-19 vaccine. False information about the contents of vaccines being spread on social media and a lack of public education are contributing to patients not attending clinics or being reluctant to come forward for vaccination. This is very concerning because people from black ethnic groups have suffered a higher impact of the disease. Vaccination is the only hope to protect us and the community. Please make the best use of it.

Bristol Multi-Faith Forum is an equality organisation established in 2004 by the Bristol City Council for interfaith and inter-cultural community cohesion and social harmony and to promote the health and wellbeing of the communities.

Bristol Multi-Faith Forum is actively encouraging the ‘Inter-Faith Week Buddies’ idea as a possible way to mark the Inter-Faith Week. The Inter-Faith Week ‘buddies’ scheme involves two people of different faiths or of a particular faith and of a non-religious belief:

• keeping in touch on a weekly basis during September and October;
• choosing or developing  questions on which to share their thoughts and experiences; and
• during Inter Faith Week, sharing online or at a socially distanced event, in an agreed way, some reflections on what they have gained from this.

Some questions for possible exploration:

• How does your faith or non-religious belief shape your daily life – including at this time of COVID-19?
• What, in your faith or non-religious belief, encourages service to others in society?
• Has COVID-19 brought any lessons about common values and action?
• Why is Inter Faith Week important?

This is an opportunity for sharing and learning, on a one-to-one basis across a limited period of time, about what is important to us, in the context of our wider community. The process may, of course, lead to longer term conversations and new forms of practical co-operation.

INTERESTED IN TAKING UP THE IDEA WITHIN YOUR ORGANISATION?

If you are interested in taking up the Inter Faith Week Buddies idea, please call on 0778 9040267 or email: info@bristolmultifaithforum.org.uk.

• Please know how to build good relations with people of different faiths and beliefs.
  • Building Good Relations with People of Different Faiths and Beliefs 
• Invite interested members to be in touch, asking them if there is any particular faith or belief background or backgrounds from which they would be interested to have an ‘Inter Faith Week buddy’ and securing their permission to share a contact email address or phone number with someone who would also like to be a ‘buddy’.
• Put people who have expressed interest in touch with one another. [Note: It can be helpful for people to have met in person first but no face to face meetings should be arranged at present unless they can adhere to social distancing guidelines].
• Act as a point of contact if any queries or concerns arise in the course of the virtual dialogue.

You may also wish to arrange an opportunity for Inter Faith Week feedback by participants – eg a Zoom meeting or blog section on your website.

If your organisation is a national faith community representative body you may wish to join with a similar body of a different religious community to take part.

All participants remain responsible for all aspects of their activities. 

Some Practical Pointers

GETTING STARTED

• Agree your expectations, for example about frequency and duration of contact  (you can always agree to change that later), respectful engagement, what you hope to gain from the exchange, etc.
• Set any boundaries of what you are happy to discuss (for example, some might wish not to discuss events in other countries).
• Be realistic about what kinds of questions and responses will work within the format.
• Take a few minutes to go through together Building Good Relations with People of Different Faiths and Beliefs and to agree these or other ground rules that you wish to have.
• Agree that your exchange will be private to you, except what you both agree to share at the end of the process.
• Begin by sharing a little about yourselves and asking a question of each other.
• Bear in mind that this is a time with some major faith festivals and that may have some impact on people’s ability to reply to each other swiftly at times.

SHARING WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

• Agree together, in the last week of October or first week of November what you might like to share with others about your conversations: what you have learned from these and what points for others might have emerged from them.
• Agree how you will share these thoughts – it may be that you are part of a local inter faith body, for example, and they would like to feature some of your reflections as part on an online discussion or event during Inter Faith Week.
• If you would like to share on social media that you are taking part, please use the hashtags #InterFaithWeek and #IFWbuddies and tag @ifweek on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

SAFEGUARDING AND SAFETY

• Safeguarding is very important. Buddies should be over the age of 18 years old and commit to engage in respectful listening and dialogue. They should also respect the privacy and security of other buddies and their families.
• There are many different ways that you could choose to engage, for example, telephone, email, letter, or virtual chats using Zoom, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, Teams, WhatsApp, Facetime or any of the others available.  Whichever platform you choose, it is important that people feel safe and keep themselves safe. All major platform providers give safety and security advice and it is worth having a look at that before you begin.
• Do not share your phone number, WhatsApp, address, email, social media profiles etc unless you are both comfortable with doing so.
• Do not share anyone else’s phone number (including WhatsApp, WeChat, etc), address, email, social media profiles or any other form of personally identifiable information.

DIALOGUE TIPS

For tips on inter faith dialogue, and the different forms it can take, you might like to take a look at IFN’s Let’s Talk: practical pointers for inter faith dialogue resource, which is freely available online: https://www.interfaith.org.uk/resources/lets-talk-practical-pointers-for-inter-faith-dialogue.

THE THREE AIMS OF INTER FAITH WEEK

• Strengthening good interfaith relations at all levels
• Increasing awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society
• Increasing understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs

The Indian High Commission’s (HCI) Consular Camp held on Saturday, 8th February 2020 at Bradley Stoke, Bristol by Mayor Tom Aditya as part of Bristol Multi-Faith Forum’s (BMFF) Community Cohesion Campaign was a big success. Hundreds of people came to attend the day-long camp. It provided the opportunity for all those who wished to avail the services of the Indian High Commission for Indian Visas, passports, Overseas Citizen of India applications, and consular services as well as enabled a platform to promote the message of community cohesion and social harmony amongst the people.

The Bristol Consular Camp arranged free of cost to the applicants by the BMFF as part of the community cohesion campaign, processed 435 applications completely, and handled another 125 queries. A team of 15 officers led by HCI Counsellor Mr. Anil Nautiyal worked tirelessly for extra hours to help all those who turned up at the camp. Massive thanks to all officers for their efficient service. Many people who attended the camp felt that the HCI officer’s service at the Bristol Consular Camp was much better, smoother, and friendlier than even going to the Indian High Commission in London. Hundreds of people gave positive feedback about the Bristol camp. Refreshments and secretarial support were also provided by the BMFF. We appreciate all volunteers who helped to coordinate the camp, especially Advocate Tripti Megeri (BMFF Secretary), Mr. Abishek Aditya, Mr. Noychen Augustine, and Mr. Jayantibhai Rajguru. Also, gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Cllr Franklin.

The Indian diaspora comprises only less than 2% of the 1 million people in the Greater Bristol area. The prominent languages used by this very diverse community are Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. The religious diversity and medley of this 20,000 strong diaspora are also fascinating. BMFF expresses its gratitude to the Bristol Hindu Temple, the Sikh Gurudwaras, the Indian Christian Churches, the Indian Muslim Community, Jain Community, Buddhist Community and all sections of the Indian diaspora for supporting this initiative. BMFF also acclaim the help of friends who shared news about the camp through various media and social networking platforms. Thank you all.