British Asian Christian Association is collaborating with Chigwell Row Residents Association and Reverend Paula Preston of All Saints Church, Romford Road, Chigwell on a number of projects to help retain community identity and provide support whatever COVID-19 measures are introduced. The outer wall of All Saints Church has already been decorated with a number of prayers for the ‘Chigwell Row community, written by the congregation of the church. Reverend Paula will today be adding further cloths pinned by a ribbon and is inviting people from the community to add their messages and prayers to the church wall for the duration of the…
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Juliet Chowdhry (bottom left) can be seen buying a tea urn, plastic boxes and one package of Kitchen rolls for our homeless feeding centre. Panic has set into the people of London, as concerns about the spread of Coronavirus has stimulated a wave of hoarders. Last night in the London Borough of Redbridge, shops through the borough were missing many regular produce. At the Goodmayes Tesco branch, shelves could be seen to be bereft of any tissues, rice, chapatti flour, pasta, sanitizers and medicines such as paracetamol and cough/flu remedies. Whereas Lidl and Farm Foods in Ilford town centre were…
Image of our former Chairman Wilson Chowdhry presenting a BPCA report on Christian persecution by Desmond Fernandes, to a Senior Protection Officer at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees at Sri Lanka in 2017. We detail below the importance and significance of the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on violations of freedom of religion or belief in Sri Lanka. In September 2015 after a landmark investigation the United Nations released a major report on serious human rights violations committed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war and the surrounding period (2002-2011). The ‘OISL Report’ [1] asserted that…
Image of Suriya Masih mother of Saleem Masih (RIP) with BACA officer Edward Masih. A Christian man was beaten to death after he rinsed himself off in a Muslim-owned tube-well in Chunian Village, Kasur. Saleem Maish (22 yrs) a Christian labourer, had finished his shift unloading chaff collected from fields in Baguyana village on 25th February and rinsed himself at a local tube-well. Saleem had bathed at the location previously which is frequently used by local Muslims for the same purpose. This time however, the landowners of the field in which the well was installed were offended that a ritually…
By Hannah Chowdhry Sometime in the 1920’s a struggling author named Eric Arthur Blair wrote an account of his near homelessness in France and experience of washing dishes in Paris restaurants. He later coupled the publication with a further description of a period of time he spent homeless in London, using artistic licence to create the impression he was actually homeless and not simply living as a vagrant for his research. His publication met with rave reviews and 55,000 copies of ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ were eventually printed by penguin books in 1940. Read more (here) The author many…
We previously reported on the double shooting and axe attack on the Christian community of Sahiwal near Lahore, following attempts to build a church. You can read the full article (here) Azeem Masih (32 yrs) who was shot in the head before his entire 38 family Christian community who were forced to stay back and watch has undergone specialist brain surgery at a hospital in Lahore. He is now out of critical condition but is unable to speak and is recovering many of his other senses slowly. The family have asked for support for the costs of now necessary muscular and…
Asia Bibi held her first ever press conference today and seemed so calm you would have been forgiven for thinking it was her 50th. Asia Bibi was interviewed by BBC 10 O’clock news who mentioned the work of BACA you can watch it here if in UK (click here) The Asianlite also covered her recent interview (here) The conference was primarily for the purposes of promoting her new book but questions within the conference seemed to be about anything but the publication, as amassed reporters competed with one another to get the chance to question her on aspects of her life, pre,…
BACA are proud to announce that they have attained a level 5 during our food safety inspection. An achievement that many professional restaurants would no doubt be proud of and an indication of the level of care we have put into maintaining the best and safest of conditions for our regular weekly homeless feed. We may not be cordon bleu chefs but we sure cook a healthy dish!!! Hannah Chowdhry and her close friend Claudia of Jewish origins have been volunteering at our homeless feeding centre with wonderful results. Despite being in the midst of GCSE’s Hannah has committed several…
Hannah at a collection of food at Collier Row Tesco Metro The most deprived ward in Ilford finally has a foodbank for it’s residents. The food bank which is held at Clementswood Community centre cam about by complete accident. While applying for food share via Fareshare a charity that reallocates donated food from Tesco, Asda and Aldi to name but a few of their partners, for a homeless feeding centre, British Asian Christian Association soon realised that donations from Tesco Collier Row were so large they were surplus to requirements. Dorah Mayah (Trustee for the BPCA) and Bronagh Rigney of…
Image of brother Leighton at Pakistan outreach