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Volume 5 Issue 4 November-December |
November - December News 2002
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Remembrance Sunday On the 10th of November in the centre of Washington more than 500 people came together to remember those who have fallen in the many conflicts over the past 2 centuries. This type of ceremony will have been held up and down the length and breadth of the United Kingdom at the 11th hour of the nearest Sunday to the 11th of November. This date and time were chosen because of the signing of the agreement that ended World War I. Sitting in Court On the 15th of November I began sitting in court again after an absence of some 7 months. This was due to a technical issue with regard to the law. The Lord Chancellor's Department discovered that there was a law from 1701 that indicated that those sitting in British courts needed to be British Citizens. It took 7 months to sort this issue out for me and I was granted British Citizenship in order to be in compliance with the Act of Settlement of 1701. Painting Starting on the 30th of November a group of young men and women from The Sunderland Youth Offending Team began coming for 2 hours each Saturday to do painting in the Church building. These young people are required to do a certain number of hours work in the community as part of the sentence of the court. We were approached by the probation service earlier in the year to see if they could come and do some work for us. They are doing a great job and things are really looking good. The Building As many of you will now be aware Sunderland City Council have agreed to sell us the 111 year old school building that we have been using for the past 8 years as a meeting place. The building has truly been a tremendous blessing to our work here. We ask for your prayers as we look for the additional funds that will be needed to purchase the building and do the renovations necessary to make the building a more functional part of our work. BBC Reporter On the 3rd of December I was approached by a reporter from the BBC that wished to do a report on an Asylum Seeker living in Washington. We were asked to recommend someone and then to arrange contact. The idea being to raise awareness of the realities of life as an Asylum Seeker in Britain. The report has now been done and it truly is a moving and informative piece of work. This and That Michele ordered a tree for the building, the only thing we asked was that it was shorter than the 14 ft. one she had last year. When it arrived she kept assuring everyone that it was only 10-11 ft tall, (It was more like 14ft). The tree was decorated by people from 4 different continents this year and at least as many different languages and cultures. Michele came home exhausted from laughing and having to rearrange things over and over. That was not the worst, when it came time to take the tree down it literally took 3 hours for 2 people to untangle the lights. On the 7th of December we held a Children's Christmas party at the church building. We hired a theatrical group to perform a pantomime (a truly British form of entertainment). In the first few minutes we heard screams of terror as the person who played the villain in the piece came onto the stage. Evidently this form of British entertainment failed to cross the cultural boundaries. Many of the children from other countries around the world were simply terrified. Finally after everything calmed down people were able to enjoy a good day. One of the new activities at the church is a sewing class. We received special funding to buy several sewing machines and Michele started classes on Wednesday mornings. It is amazing how some things can break down the language barrier. Many of the ladies who come just want to stay and sew even hours after the class is finshed.
On the 12th of December a Churches Together Meeting representing more than 500 churches across the City of Sunderland was held in our building. It was a day meant to raise awareness of Asylum Seekers to the entire church community of the City. It was a great success as we shared a meal prepared by some of our Asylum Seekers and discussed the issues faced by these very vulnerable members of British Society. ESOL Classes In October we were approached by Sunderland College to see if we would consider running English classes for Asylum Seekers in the building 3 days a week. This has, thus far, been an extremely successful undertaking and we have more than 30 students registered for the classes. We run a Crèche 3 days a week with the help of a government funded group called Sure Start. It has proven a tremendous way of communicating with people that speak little or no English. We had a very quiet and peaceful time over Christmas, uneventful, (except for the fact that our washing machine died on Christmas Eve), which was very much appreciated after all of the rush leading up to this time. We received many cards and calls from friends and family. It was a time when we could reflect upon the life that we have in England and to thank God for each of those people that provides support for our family and the work here. May God bless you all with His great riches.
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