Living in a diverse neighbourhood means that; one comes across people with diverse cultural and religious background. Newham has a large Muslim populati
on (approx 25%) and many people from other communities and faith background don’t quite understand the essence of Ramadan as Tallat found out when her friends say to her ‘it must be hard going without food for a whole month’. Fasting is performed in the month of Ramadan (ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar) and every Muslim who is able to do so must fast from dawn to dusk. The month of Ramadan provides Muslims with a sort of spiritual and moral “Boot Camp” and it is a chance to improve behaviour and seek forgiveness for past sins, so the moral dimension is as important as the physical abstention from food or drink during the day. For conflict and Change an ‘After Eid party; was an opportunity to bring people together across communities.
Within the short time frame (2 Weeks) the planning group was able to organise a successful event. A member of the planning group said ‘ I feel empowered and pleased that we all pulled together and managed to hold the event as planned and have over 60 attendees. The food was plentiful by everyone’s generosity; the music flowed freely as did the conversation’.
The ice breakers and circle activity not only served to warm everyone up but got the quiet/shy ones to talk and introduce themselves and there was much laughter with the "Sun shines on” activity. Everyone felt welcome at the event. Some attendees who had kept a ‘mini fast’ from breakfast to lunch were invited to open their fast with dates and water and then the food was served. It was wonderful to have a wide mix of people from different communities (Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan, African and Polish) and faiths, (Muslims, Christians and Hindus).
