Quakers help ease tension after riots
Friends in Barnt Green opened their Meeting house to an interfaith event to help ease the tensions after recent riots
Barnt Green Quakers opened their Meeting house last month for an interfaith event to ease tensions after riots across the UK.
Around fifty walkers – including Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jewish people, Quakers and humanists – made their way from the Meeting house to Bilberry Hill for the annual interfaith walk organised by the group Footsteps.
The walk to the Lickey Hills on 18 August ‘brought faith communities together and helped friendships blossom in nature, after the riots’, said the organisers.
‘We are very grateful to Barnt Green Quakers for providing the Meeting house for a place to chill, eat, drink and socialise, and for the warm welcome they provided,’ a Footsteps spokesperson said. ‘It was wonderful to see so many people really enjoying themselves, especially those who do not often have the opportunity to take part in community walks in the countryside. Children were visibly happy… We are reminded that there is something valuable in people from different communities coming together… in nature… that is a powerful eco-action in its own right.’
Quaker Pete Doubtfire, also from Footsteps, said the aim of the walk was to ‘share different faith perspectives on creation’, and reconnect with the local environment. ‘We can all boost our wellbeing through these activities, but access to green spaces is not equal across the city. By providing support to travel to the Lickey Hills via public transport, we welcome people from different backgrounds to take steps with us towards a low carbon future.’
Fanniza Begum, from Ward End, who is setting up a company to help local Asian women, joined the walk with other Muslim mothers and their children, said: ‘It’s amazing how, despite not knowing each other, we connected so easily. This is something that needs to be shared and spread.’
Comments
Please login to add a comment
