A Multi-Giving Experience

By David Young

Immigration and Asylum seekers are much in the news these days. Policies, plans, numbers and other proposals are bandied about. The media put the interest in this subject down to the forthcoming election expected in the summer.

In the midst of all this, my wife and I got an inkling - and a very encouraging one - of the potential for Britain of what immigrants can do for our country when we spent a day in Birmingham recently.

The day started with a visit to a Muslim Faith School in a poor area of the City. In a fairly run down area, the school shone out like a jewel. The entrance was orderly with a welcoming receptionist. The children were neatly turned out, orderly and purposeful.

The Head greeted us and offered to show us round. There were 700 children in the school, divided into three groups consisting of the primary school, which had boys and girls together; a boys secondary school; and a girls secondary school. Each had its own area in the one big building.

The corridor walls were covered with pictures, drawings, paintings and photos done by the children to illustrate their activities. Some were of their school work, some of their extra curricular activities, some of their outings to places of interest or of religious pilgrimages in Europe or the Middle East . Through these outings, they were clearly getting a wide view of the world.

As we were about to take our leave, the Head took us to the library, where a meal was laid out for us - a quite unexpected bonus to the visit.

We made our way back to our Birmingham host's home where we met with a Catholic couple who are involved with Interfaith work in the city. Here we learned an important lesson, because we got embroiled in an argument about views of a detail from old history, which important as it was to historians, did not improve the atmosphere of interfaith relations. We learned that even if you win the argument, you could fall out with the person with whom you are trying to work.

The husband then took us to the Sikh Gurdwara ( Temple ), where we had some insights into the part the Sikhs play in the City. Of course, Sikhs are known for their hard work (and hard play also) and it is very rare to find an unemployed Sikh. The Gurdwara is impressive, with the big meeting halls and the round the clock kitchen which distributes food free to all who come to worship (several thousand meals a week are served there). We were shown round by a solicitor, himself an immigrant from Kenya , now taking responsibility for the administration of the Centre there. The last visit  was to the very top of the building where there is a room just under the temple dome. This room provides a place for quiet meditation and has a view right across the city reaching out to some 15 miles. The inside of the dome itself is decorated with thousands of pieces of glass, all hand cut and place in position to provide a most wonderful reflective pattern - and interestingly it was done by a local Muslim craftsman, who had seen what was going on there during the development of the Gurdwara and offered to help.

The final encounter of the day was with a South Indian Hindu couple, who are both doctors. The husband is a cardiac specialist and is on the Examination Board of those trying to qualify as Cardiac surgeons, while his wife is a member of a family practice. They had lived in Britain for nearly 30 years and had made friends wherever they went. Perhaps his cricketing skills were a good introduction to many people and their outgoing open-hearted attitude is something that we native English could learn a great deal from.

We came away with the picture in our minds of a future for Britain , where we can show the world that there is a way of working together, of finding teamwork and unity. If we can build on this, the future is golden.