A community harmony dinner has been arranged at Bristol ZaZa Bazaar on Sunday, 14th August 2022 as part of the community cohesion campaign by the Bristol Multi-Faith Forum (BMFF) to celebrate the Independence Day festivities of India and Pakistan, jointly and to spread the message of community cohesion and the awareness of Blood and Donation amongst ethnic minorities.
August 14 marks Pakistan Independence Day and August 15 is Indian Independence Day. Due to the trauma of partition and communal conflicts as well as the history of wars between both countries, there are tensions and misunderstandings between both communities worldwide. We need to alleviate such animosities and divisions amongst both communities at the grassroots level in the West of England region. Bristol Multi-Faith Forum (BMFF) is an equality organisation instituted by the Bristol City Council in 2004 for inter-faith and inter-cultural social harmony and to promote community well-being. BMFF is providing a platform for both communities in the West of England region to come together and have an India-Pakistan Friendship Meal, which has been attended by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Mayor, MPs, Chair of the South Glos Council, civic officials and community leaders, as well as representatives from the Indian and Pakistan High Commissions in the UK.
BMFF’s campaign for 2022 – 2024 to promote blood donation among Black, African and Caribbean communities was officially launched by the Lord Lieutenant of Bristol Peaches Golding during this ceremonious gathering.
The friendship meal became a symbolic expression of the harmony and friendship that needs to exist amongst communities in Bristol, and to join hands together with the Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Bahai, Jewish, Buddhist, and Parsi faiths in the West of England region. Earlier, Bristol Multi-Faith Forum was involved in arranging similar events with Palestinian and Israeli communities and was successful in combating prejudice and spreading the message of harmony. We consider it essential to organise a symbolic get-together of these two communities in this part of the world and convey a message of harmony to the rest of the world.
Zaza Bazaar Restaurant, Canon’s Road, Bristol BS1 5UH is a world of culinary adventure with over 300 dishes from across the globe and a wide variety of delicacies from different cuisines. In this global restaurant, you can choose from as many dishes and sweet treat desserts as you can enjoy across 5 continents of flavours, especially from South Asian, Far East, Caribbean, Tex Mex, American and European cuisines. On Sundays, they have a medley of a lot of exclusive ethnic dishes including Rasam, dosa, Uttapams, Cholle Poori, kadhi chawal, Keema, Biriyani, all-day English breakfast and Sunday carvery. Also, the specialist chefs will cook the dishes of your liking at the live cooking stations too. There will be music and cultural programmes to enhance the harmonious spirit of the gathering. The programme will finish by 3 pm.
We invited all people of goodwill to join the “Harmony Buffet Dinner” on Sunday, 14th of August, and to herald the message of peace and harmony amongst communities. This self-funded friendship initiative has been arranged on short notice, yet we are thankful to all the dignitaries, civic officials, community leaders and people of goodwill for their confirmation of attendance. All seats have been booked now. All those who requested seats via email to info@bristolmultifaithforum.org.uk, by the 11th of August were allocated seats and added to the guest list. We thank the Chair of the South Glos Council for offering to help us with the partial cost of arranging this friendship initiative. We express our acknowledgement and gratitude to the Chair of South Glos Council, and its Member Awarded Funding programme for helping us and for enabling us to help the ‘Feed the Homeless initiative’.
With warm regards,
Cllr Tom Aditya
Chairman, Bristol Multi-Faith Forum.
Tel: 07852456253
Afzal Shah, Mohindra Singh Chowdhry, Mohammed Arif Khan and Tripti Megeri
Facilitators- Harmony Dinner.
Bristol Multi-Faith Forum, 43 Ducie Road, Barton Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX
Tel: 07789040267; Email: info@bristolmultifaithforum.org.uk
www.bristolmultifaithforum.org.uk
