St Wilfrid’s Catholic centre for the homeless, vulnerable and socially excluded in Sheffield recently broke new ground in its efforts to bring communities together by arranging a joint trip to Bradford for the centre’s women’s group and the Asian Women’s Group who attend Roshni, which is a charity providing awareness of abuse in ethnic minority communities.
As a result of Sheffield City Council’s funding for strengthening communities, a trip was arranged to the consulate of Pakistan. The outing also included an opportunity to chat over coffee and a visit to the Asian fashion quarter.
The idea came about from the director Kevin Bradley’s friendship with the consul general, Tariq Soomro, who made several visits to Sheffield last year.
The group was welcomed to the consulate by Mr Soomro and his wife, and after a question-and-answer session were treated to a feast courtesy of the consulate.
Kevin Bradley said: “This event will go a long way towards bringing people together and will enable women of both cultures to provide leadership and confidence to bring about peace and harmony in our communities.”
Mr Bradley added: “It will also foster and promote wider understanding and appreciation of different cultures and help dispel any myths that may prevail.”
The party, led by Angela Satur and Ruth Crowley, St Wilfrid’s project workers, set off from the centre together with the Roshni leader Shabnum Amin. It is the first time that any group from Sheffield has made such a trip and it is hoped that it will help to communities. It has also been arranged to follow up this event by having a six-week Asian and English cuisine cooking course.
Each week dishes from Asian or English culture will be demonstrated for the women. A further course on herbalism will also be held for four weeks where the English and Asian women will gain knowledge on the use of herbs used by both cultures, and their medicinal benefits.
St Wilfrid’s centre held a successful Pakistan Day last year which 200 people attended and the event received television and radio coverage. Mr Bradley said: “People are people and St Wilfrid’s welcomes them all regardless.”
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