For A Change articles from August 1998

For A Change archives from August 1998

Great goal.
August 1, 1998... As I travelled to work during the World Cup (do I really need to explain that this was an international soccer competition?) I fell into conversation with a priest. He remarked on the football mania which had gripped England, Scotland and much...

Islam and the West - bridging the gap: Michael Smith encounters the Western face of Islam - and meets British Muslims who are fighting back against Islamophobia.
August 1, 1998... There was an outcry in the south of England cathedral city of Chichester two years ago, when local Muslims wanted to turn a disused church into a mosque. The Bishop of Chichester was in favour, but Christians wrote vehement letters to the local...

Teaching in good faith.
August 1, 1998... Founded in 1985, Bradford's Interfaith Education Centre (IEC) acts as a resource centre for religious education teachers. It also provides faith tutors from the various communities to advise teachers and lead single-faith worship. The...

Muslim/Christian exchanges.
August 1, 1998... In the small south-west German town of Ettlingen, Christians and Muslims have been meeting regularly for some years to get to know and support each other. Many of the town's Muslim community are now second or third generation--their families...

Blowing the stereotypes out of our minds: when Omnia Marzouk, a consultant paediatrician in Liverpool, visited India, she discovered another side to her history.
August 1, 1998... I am an Egyptian born in Spain who did my medical training in Australia and now work in Liverpool. I am a practising Muslim and I am proud of my Muslim, Egyptian and Arab cultural heritage; but I have also been greatly enriched by living in the...

In search of a parliamentary soul: when Cornelius Marivate, South Africa's leading authority on Tsonga literature and folksongs, went into Parliament, he found something missing.
August 1, 1998... When Cornelius Marivate, South Africa's leading authority on Tsonga literature and folksongs, went into Parliament, he found something missing. He talks to Anthony Duigan. Professor Cornelius Marivate's call to the South African Parliament...

Mother Teresa of celery.
August 1, 1998... This year marks the 75th birthday of John Van Hengel, the man who founded food banking. Since 1967, when he launched the concept in Phoenix, Arizona, tons of leftover food from grocers, food brokers and manufacturers have pacified hungry...

Briton helps Thai.
August 1, 1998... The Asian financial crisis left Thailand's economy in peril. When Barbara Chidell of Britain heard about this, she wanted to do something to help. She heard of a body called Thai Helps Thai, where Thai ladies were giving in their gold jewellery...

Shanty town on the Internet.
August 1, 1998... When Luis and Evelyn Puig told a British businessman about the drug trafficking problems in the favelas (shanty towns) of their city Rio de Janeiro, he said, `You must take computers into the favelas.' They thought this was crazy. What use...

Sisterly refuge.
August 1, 1998... `Living under one roof with women and children, sharing in their joy and suffering, hope and disappointment, being there for them and through this constantly helping life to come alive afresh,' is how five young Catholic nuns in Lucerne,...

Newcastle sets the pace for Millennium preparations.
August 1, 1998... It was billed as a conference. It was more an experience. More than 300 people, from many faith backgrounds and none, met in the Civic Centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in June to plan for `social and spiritual regeneration'. The...

Kenyans reject corruption.
August 1, 1998... The sixth All-Africa conference for MRA, which took place in Limuru, Kenya, in May, was marked by plain speaking about the continent's problems--and evidence that individuals can make a difference. The conference was opened by Julius...

Nation says sorry.
August 1, 1998... Last year Australians were shaken by the report of a national investigation into the policy of removing Aboriginal children from their families. The practice--which aimed at assimilating the children into Western culture--went on until the...

Getting close to death: the days immediately before someone's death are among the most important of their life, believes the French psychologist Marie de Hennezel. Her book inspired Philippe Lasserre.
August 1, 1998... The final phases of life have changed dramatically for many of us in the Western world. One reason is increasing life expectancy--which is growing by three months a year in my country, France. This means that more and more people find...

Reconciled being - love in chains.
August 1, 1998... Reconciled being--love in chaos Mary McAleese Medio Media/Arthur James, 1997, [pounds sterling] 5.99 A book by a newly-elected head-of-state is unusual; one of spiritual insight a rarity. The author, who succeeded Mary Robinson as...

Hurdles are for jumping.
August 1, 1998... Hurdles are for jumping by Frances McAll New Cherwell Press, 1998, [pounds sterling] 7.99 Frances McAll and her husband, Kenneth McAll, have each written several books--about their experiences in Japanese internment camps in China during...

Two faces of Australia.
August 1, 1998... Australians are a robust and increasingly diverse people. I have just been at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (or MCG as everyone here refers to it) to watch one of their national pastimes, an Australian Rules football game, a spin-off from Gaelic...

Taking the coracle.
August 1, 1998... Each summer some unseen magnet drew me to Britain's Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a cradle of Christianity from the seventh century onwards. Was this magnet a passing romance, or a deeper call? To find out, I decided to stay there in the...

Struggle for a non-racial South Africa.
August 1, 1998... I was one of those who remained inside South Africa during our struggle, using whatever influence and institutional power I had to obstruct apartheid. Every morning when I left home I would say to my family, `I may not see you tonight.'...