For those who are new to St. Christopher’s Cathedral the above charity is the social outreach to the poor and needy in the community of Bahrain, in other words Christians in action! You will have been given, along with your pew sheets, the ECC Chronicle which outlines in detail the various programmes that one can be involved in if one so desires. Many newcomers to Bahrain often wish to use some of their spare time in worthwhile causes; here is your chance to get involved.

I am the co-ordinator for the Bahrain Community Project, and it is a great privilege for us as Christian brothers and sisters to be working alongside our Muslim brothers and sisters to support them in their time of need, and to spend time with the families we assist and with whom share the love of Christ, not by words, but by works of kindness, hospitality and offering friendship. There are many ways in which we help – by supplying clothes, food, furniture and toys; donations of food and gifts to Orphans’ Days celebrations; further educational support to University students; renovation of homes in the villages, and also donations of art, craft and picture frames to the Rehabilitation Centre at Isa Town.
 

We are at present organizing a food campaign during Ramadhan which involves buying and distributing food provisions to the villages of Nuwaidrat, Jid Al-Haj, Sitra, Karranah, Karzekhan, Jannasun and Sanad plus also to four labour camps. It was on one of these visits that the Rev, Ian Calder and his wife Penny came along to experience the feel of the community life in the village of Jid Al-Haj, and to meet Bahraini people and assist with carrying the food and offering friendship.
 

Rev'd Ian and Penny meet Mr. Juma at Jid al-Haj

Here Mr. Juma and his family accept gifts from Rev'd Ian Calder

We met up with Mr Juma whose name translated means Friday. I jokingly said he’s our good ‘Man Friday’, so Ian replied jokingly “...and I’m Robinson Crusoe”. Well we got the joke but I doubt if dear Juma did!  We then drove around the village together with Juma giving a running commentary - which I translated into English of course!   The pictures below depict our time together, along with photos of Charity volunteers of Karranah and Karzehan villages accepting and sorting through all the food parcels they will be distributing to their more deserving families for Ramadhan.
 

Sorting provisions at Karanah Village Charity Centre

Trolley of gifts for one of the villages

You may ask yourselves, ‘How can we help?’. Well, many of you who may be senior executives of Companies or in similar capacities might like to get involved in a charity which is for a good local cause; such as donations to the ECC for their Bahraini Community Projects; donate building materials etc to be used in the upkeep of family homes in the villages; the Rehabilitation Centre wishes to have a tennis court built for handicapped children and adults. Any ladies who would like to teach cooking at The Centre would be most welcome. If anyone would like a tour of this Centre, please call me on 39668828 so that I can make necessary arrangements. I am told that they restart their training after Eid.

On behalf of all the ECC volunteers we would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to all who have made monetary donations or clothes and household donations to The Charity Centre. We also thank our two wonderful Cathedral caretakers, Francis and Nazir, for their continual support in keeping the Centre clean and also helping with the unloading and loading up of the various bags of donations.

Avril Taylor
 

Mohamed accepting gifts at Karzekhan Village from Rod and Avril

 

These pictures show the conditions of village buildings