On Sunday the 19th of November an interfaith service was held at Wimbledon Shree Ganapathy Temple,through the Merton Sai Centre, with invited guest speakers Reverend Mark Eminson, Asha Newsum, Mrs Mathurini Visakan and Anissa Daud. It proved to be a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable occasion.
Reverend Eminson, the team rector at Holy Trinity Church Wimbledon, spoke about his family life and how he had progressed to his current position in the Christian Church. He expressed his pleasure at being at the temple again, having attended services there in the past, along with his appreciation of the ‘very inspiring, living community’ resulting from the work of Mrs Geetha Maheshwaran, essentially, the temple events organiser.
Next to speak was Asha Newsum, a volunteer with Merton’s climate action group who spoke briefly about the importance of climate change and the need for all faiths to consider the future, including making places of worship ‘greener’. In her opinion, people attending the interfaith service would leave feeling ‘empowered and refreshed’ , a very positive reflection on the occasion.
Mrs Mathurini Visakan spoke as Head of Equalities and Social Purpose in Camden and focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. She informed the gathering that she had recently formed a group for Muslims aimed at offering reassurance and support at this difficult time in the world in general. According to Mrs Visakan, it had been ‘hugely important to understand’ the situation of others and she felt that everyone benefited from the ‘shared power of human connection’.
Finally, Miss Anissa Daud, a programme manager for physical health at the Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network, spoke about how being a Muslim Woman drives her to be the best she can while trying to help other women in the South Asian Community. She started her speech with a short Islamic Prayer for good luck ‘Bismillah- ki –Raah(k)man i-Raheem’ and went on to say how at home she felt at the temple and that she would be attending more often in the future.
All in all the service was a great success and the word ‘privilege’ was frequently heard as a tribute to having been invited to attend this multi faith gathering.
