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,…
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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…
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. Families received essential food help. On 23rd December 2021, a Christmas service and party was organised by British Asian Christian Association for 20 beleaguered Pak-Christian asylum seeker families in…
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). Shama and Shahzad (RIP) This year during a…
Image of the Nativity to be installed before Ilford High Road Baptist Church We cannot thank our donors enough for their efforts in helping us get a nativity into Ilford in time for Christmas. This will be the first time in 3 years that the nativity will be displayed in our town centre and we owe our grateful thanks to Pastor Andrew Willis and everyone at Ilford High Road, Baptist Church. Our initial figurine project in 2017 was designed around an installation in a grilled entrance to our town hall. When the town hall facilities management team made it extremely…
Across the globe even in countries where Christians are a minority celebrations for Christmas can be seen through discount sales, Christmas trees and festive lights. The celebrations have become more global in recent decades with even Pakistan having a Santa in trains and planes. But this as Christians all know, is not the true message of Christmas and British Asian Christian Association, wanted the original message of hope and salvation to be given to the most vulnerable in our local community. Up until this week when we shared a desperate appeal with all of you, we honestly thought our celebrations…
Image of Pakistan’s first, youngest and longest serving teenage blasphemy prisoner with BACA staff and advocate on 18th December outside Pattoki Court. Nabeel Masih was only 16 when he was arrested in 2016 and imprisoned for an alleged blasphemy. Image: Nabeel at 16 years of age months before his arrest and 4 year imprisonment for a falsely alleged blasphemy. After three years in prison and many failed appeals while under the care of other Christian charities, Nabeel chose to seek help from British Asian Christian Association (click here). BACA were able secure bail for Nabeel within a year allowing him…
Image: Flanked by Advocate Naseeb Anjum Left and a BACA officer right, Nawab Bibi (72 yrs) attends court hoping and praying for her husbands freedom. We wrote about the impending death sentence for Zafar Bhatti. This was being sought in Rawalpindi Sessions Court, by extremists intent on making the elderly Christian convict the first ever man lynched under the notorious blasphemy laws of Pakistan. Read more (here). We have been working with our solicitor in a last gasp attempt to save him from a hanging. Zafar in October gave up with his former legal counsel and sought our assistance . …
The father of a Christian man killed by Muslims for defiling the purity of water from a tube well they owned, has now been accused of kidnapping the son of one of the murderers named Haji Muhammad Razaq. It is believed that the alleged kidnap is an attempt to thwart the current murder proceedings which MR Razaq is currently involved in. Mr Masih now faces the ignominy of a trial for kidnap which he is completely innocent of, despite absolutely no evidence that he has been involved in a crime. Saleem Masih was only 22 years old when he was…
The defence council for the rapist of a 6 year old Christian child in Lahore, Pakistan failed to attend a court hearing on 2nd December 2021, for the sixth time. During the hearing Judge Iftikhar Ahmed expressed great disappointment in the repeated failure for a defence council representative to attend court or to have a defence. He also confirmed that failure to attend and introduce a defence before the winter holidays will result in the appointment of a public prosecutor. The next hearing has been scheduled for 16th December 2021 and should the defence council fail to attend a public…