Interfaith Reception
29 Apr 2010
HMA Frank Baker hosts an 'Interfaith Reception' to mark the launch of Andrew Thompson's book.
Her Majesty's Ambassador to Kuwait HE Mr Frank Baker hosted an Interfaith Reception at his Residence on Wednesday 28 April 2010 to mark the launch of Vicar of St Paul's Anglican Church, Reverend Andrew Thompson's book - 'The Christian Church in Kuwait, Religious Freedom in the Gulf.'
The book promotes the tolerance and religious freedom provided by the State of Kuwait.
The reception was attended by prominent figures in Kuwait, including the Pastor and caretaker of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait, Reverend Amanuel Benjamin Ghareeb.
Friday, 30 April 2010
Kuwait Times Newspaper 30th April
Catholics hope Amir's visit with Pope will secure their home
Published Date: April 29, 2010
KUWAIT: The inclusion of the Vatican in a state trip by His Highness the Amir to Europe that began this week has left Kuwait's Catholics praying for an announcement that will secure the future of their church and relieve overcrowding that they say is putting their congregations at risk. The Amir was in Germany earlier this week and will also visit Italy and the Vatican during his tour.
The possibility of a meeting with the pope has raised hopes among Kuwait's 350,000 Catholics that Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Sabah will use the opportunity to renew a 50-year lease for church land, which was given to the church by former Amir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and is due to expire in 2016.
Bishop Camillo Ballin, the spiritual leader of Kuwait's Catholics, who has worked in the Middle East for 41 years, including five in Kuwait, said: "I'm trying to see what might happen after six years.
Bishop Ballin said the Vatican never invites other states to visit so the Kuwaiti delegation must have asked to meet the Pope. He said he is not involved in discussions about what the two leaders will discuss, but "we hope that the contract will be renewed for 50 more years".
A diplomatic source close to the issue believes the Amir might use the visit to announce something related to the Kuwaiti churches. He said this "could be the moment of truth" for the Catholic community in Kuwait.
Bishop Ballin said: "I hope to keep this land and besides that to have other land, especially in the boundaries in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, because there are many thousands of Catholics and they need a place otherwise they are lost.
We don't ask for privileges, we don't ask to have special laws, special agreements, we just ask to be able to pray." The church has not asked for the lease to be renewed yet, "because this procedure should start one year before the expiry", Bishop Ballin said. He believes the church's location is coveted by owners of hotels and restaurants.
Two of Kuwait's churches - Evangelical and Catholic - are built on prime sites near the capital's coast. Another Catholic and an Anglican church are built far from the city centre in Ahmadi on land that is owned by Kuwait Oil Company. The government recently relocated the Coptic Orthodox from the city centre to the suburbs because of construction and compensated it with a grant of land 10 times the size of the previous plot. The Armenian and Greek Orthodox denominations also worship in rented villas in the
city.
Representatives of the Evangelical Church were unavailable for comment about their lease. Archbishop Petar Rajic is the apostolic nuncio to Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and the UAE and apostolic delegate in the Arabian Peninsula, making him in effect the Vatican's ambassador to the region. The Archbishop declined to answer questions related to the leases because "I do not feel competent to do so", but did say that the Amir's visit would be "beneficial for both sides".
Another major concern for all of Kuwait's 460,000 Christians is that they are vying for space in existing places of worship. At the Catholic Church on Sunday, several hundred crammed inside for the service while hundreds more gathered on the grounds, ready to file in as soon as the previous congregation left.
Bishop Ballin said his church hosts 28 services on Saturday and Sunday and a total of 46 every week. He said the church is built on 5,000 square meters of land, but it needs at least 40,000. Two years ago, he requested more land from the Amir, but did not receive a reply, he said.
If panic is caused in the church, we will have hundreds of people die. So we are just asking the country for a place to pray: to pray for the country, to pray for the Amir ... We don't want anything else," he said.
Any move to give the country's Christians more land will not be received well by some of Kuwait's Islamists, who believe that no non-Muslim places of worship should be built in Kuwait.
Many other denominations use the grounds of the city centre's two churches. Father Jose Mathew, the spiritual leader of Kuwait's 10,000-strong Indian Orthodox community, which mostly comes from Kerala, hosts two services a week in the Evangelical Church. He said 83 other congregations share the church's two main halls and several smaller rooms.
At a flat in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh under two large pictures of the long, white-bearded supreme head of his church, Baselios Marthoma Didymus I, Father Mathew said a lack of space in his services forces most of his congregation to stand outside the church, and they cannot hold many of their traditional celebrations and feasts because their allotted time is not enough.
Most of the people are hesitating to come. They are coming with their families and they are not getting space inside the church, so they feel that they should stay and pray in their homes. They have the basic right to worship," he said.
Some of the country's largest Christian communities, including Catholics, Copts, Protestants, Armenian and Greek Orthodox, voice their concerns through the Christian Council Forum, which is also attended by a Kuwaiti Christian, Rev Amanuel Ghareb.
Father Mathew said the group met in December and voiced concerns over a lack of space, and Rev Ghareb promised to bring the issue up when he met the Amir, but he has not yet heard a reply. The reverend declined to comment on anything related to the leases or new land. "We hope and pray" the Amir will announce something on his visit to the Vatican, Father Mathew said.
Published Date: April 29, 2010
KUWAIT: The inclusion of the Vatican in a state trip by His Highness the Amir to Europe that began this week has left Kuwait's Catholics praying for an announcement that will secure the future of their church and relieve overcrowding that they say is putting their congregations at risk. The Amir was in Germany earlier this week and will also visit Italy and the Vatican during his tour.
The possibility of a meeting with the pope has raised hopes among Kuwait's 350,000 Catholics that Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Sabah will use the opportunity to renew a 50-year lease for church land, which was given to the church by former Amir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and is due to expire in 2016.
Bishop Camillo Ballin, the spiritual leader of Kuwait's Catholics, who has worked in the Middle East for 41 years, including five in Kuwait, said: "I'm trying to see what might happen after six years.
Bishop Ballin said the Vatican never invites other states to visit so the Kuwaiti delegation must have asked to meet the Pope. He said he is not involved in discussions about what the two leaders will discuss, but "we hope that the contract will be renewed for 50 more years".
A diplomatic source close to the issue believes the Amir might use the visit to announce something related to the Kuwaiti churches. He said this "could be the moment of truth" for the Catholic community in Kuwait.
Bishop Ballin said: "I hope to keep this land and besides that to have other land, especially in the boundaries in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, because there are many thousands of Catholics and they need a place otherwise they are lost.
We don't ask for privileges, we don't ask to have special laws, special agreements, we just ask to be able to pray." The church has not asked for the lease to be renewed yet, "because this procedure should start one year before the expiry", Bishop Ballin said. He believes the church's location is coveted by owners of hotels and restaurants.
Two of Kuwait's churches - Evangelical and Catholic - are built on prime sites near the capital's coast. Another Catholic and an Anglican church are built far from the city centre in Ahmadi on land that is owned by Kuwait Oil Company. The government recently relocated the Coptic Orthodox from the city centre to the suburbs because of construction and compensated it with a grant of land 10 times the size of the previous plot. The Armenian and Greek Orthodox denominations also worship in rented villas in the
city.
Representatives of the Evangelical Church were unavailable for comment about their lease. Archbishop Petar Rajic is the apostolic nuncio to Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen and the UAE and apostolic delegate in the Arabian Peninsula, making him in effect the Vatican's ambassador to the region. The Archbishop declined to answer questions related to the leases because "I do not feel competent to do so", but did say that the Amir's visit would be "beneficial for both sides".
Another major concern for all of Kuwait's 460,000 Christians is that they are vying for space in existing places of worship. At the Catholic Church on Sunday, several hundred crammed inside for the service while hundreds more gathered on the grounds, ready to file in as soon as the previous congregation left.
Bishop Ballin said his church hosts 28 services on Saturday and Sunday and a total of 46 every week. He said the church is built on 5,000 square meters of land, but it needs at least 40,000. Two years ago, he requested more land from the Amir, but did not receive a reply, he said.
If panic is caused in the church, we will have hundreds of people die. So we are just asking the country for a place to pray: to pray for the country, to pray for the Amir ... We don't want anything else," he said.
Any move to give the country's Christians more land will not be received well by some of Kuwait's Islamists, who believe that no non-Muslim places of worship should be built in Kuwait.
Many other denominations use the grounds of the city centre's two churches. Father Jose Mathew, the spiritual leader of Kuwait's 10,000-strong Indian Orthodox community, which mostly comes from Kerala, hosts two services a week in the Evangelical Church. He said 83 other congregations share the church's two main halls and several smaller rooms.
At a flat in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh under two large pictures of the long, white-bearded supreme head of his church, Baselios Marthoma Didymus I, Father Mathew said a lack of space in his services forces most of his congregation to stand outside the church, and they cannot hold many of their traditional celebrations and feasts because their allotted time is not enough.
Most of the people are hesitating to come. They are coming with their families and they are not getting space inside the church, so they feel that they should stay and pray in their homes. They have the basic right to worship," he said.
Some of the country's largest Christian communities, including Catholics, Copts, Protestants, Armenian and Greek Orthodox, voice their concerns through the Christian Council Forum, which is also attended by a Kuwaiti Christian, Rev Amanuel Ghareb.
Father Mathew said the group met in December and voiced concerns over a lack of space, and Rev Ghareb promised to bring the issue up when he met the Amir, but he has not yet heard a reply. The reverend declined to comment on anything related to the leases or new land. "We hope and pray" the Amir will announce something on his visit to the Vatican, Father Mathew said.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Book Launch of The Christian Church in Kuwait
Book Launch at British Embassy 28th April 2010.
Author’s Speech
I want to begin by thanking H.E Frank Baker for his hospitality and support for this evening. I also want to thank the many people who have encouraged me and gave practical help in getting this book to print. Without you, quite simply there would be no public record of the story of Kuwait and the Christian community.
Nearly two thirds of the world’s population is either Muslim or Christian. The future of our planet depends on our ability to not just tolerate one another but to co-exist and co-operate with one another in the daily business of living. The problem is that the history between our two communities has been a chequered one. Periodic outbreaks of persecution by one community against the other is only too depressingly the pattern. But not in Kuwait.
This is what makes Kuwait special for me. In contrast to her neighbours (and indeed some Western countries), Kuwait has found a model of interfaith community which works. In my research I have found very little in the historical records where there was blatant mass hostility or persecution towards Christians in Kuwait. In my albeit admittedly short experience of living in Kuwait I have always felt welcome as a Christian leader by Kuwaiti people. Yet their hospitality is firmly rooted in their Islamic tradition.
I wrote this book for two reasons.
1) To retell the story of Christianity in Kuwait and to show how Christians have made a positive and vibrant contribution to this part of the world. This was facilitated by the genuine hospitality of the people of Kuwait .
2) To celebrate the model of religious freedom which we enjoy here under the Kuwaiti government. It is a great achievement which is actually little known outside of the country. Back in the UK people constantly express their surprise that Christians are allowed to worship freely in Kuwait. They assume that because Kuwait is an Islamic nation that there is no freedom. This is simply not true and I for one want to share with the wider global community that the Church is alive and well in Kuwait and we sincerely thank the Kuwaiti people for their welcome
It is good to celebrate friendship and faith between Muslims and Christians. Ultimately, we all worship the one God who created the heavens and the earth and that we believe he has revealed himself through scripture as a God of mercy, compassion and justice. To God be the Glory.
Thank you all for coming tonight.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Where is Rupa?
A YOUNG Nepali citizen arriving in Kuwait to work as a maid, has ended up a victim of an organised human trafficking ring based in Riggae. She was carried unconscious into the place used as a brothel and later made a desperate appeal to be rescued so that she could go home.
Unfortunately a visit to the premises revealed that the gang have now moved Rupa to another apartment. It was through the Arab Times that her message was sent. Since then we have been trying to locate her, so that we can send her home.
Rupa is not alone. According to one person in authority that I interviewed, there are several ways in which girls get exploited by the flesh trade. One is that they are duped into coming on bogus company visas. Second they are runaway maids who have absconded from abusive employers and ended up in the clutches of a gang or thirdly they are bought in on private sponsorship and either willingly or unwillingly end up in a brothel.
Human trafficking is a global problem, but there is always a local solution. One of the local solutions proposed by Kuwait Parliament is to abolish the private sponsorship system and establish a mechanism by which maids and other domestic workers have their working conditions and salaries monitored and administered by a government appointed agency. This is an excellent idea. The thorough application and enforcement of such a mechanism could possibly reduce as much as 70 percent of the misery experienced by some of the most vulnerable workers in Kuwait.
In the wake of yet another critical report on human rights issues the whole issue of the ‘kafeel’ system (private sponsorship) deserves to be examined again. While it is true only a minority of employers abuse their workers, the present system allows no protection or enforcement of law. The result is the continuing ugly spectre of maid suicide, unjust imprisonment of absconding workers and general human misery.
This week the season of Lent draws to an end. The global Christian Church enters Easter Holy Week, a time when we recall the Passion of Christ. In the midst of this story of suffering and injustice, hope and divine purpose triumphs. To Rupa! Wherever you are. In the midst of your suffering I pray that you will find hope. May you find your way home soon!
Unfortunately a visit to the premises revealed that the gang have now moved Rupa to another apartment. It was through the Arab Times that her message was sent. Since then we have been trying to locate her, so that we can send her home.
Rupa is not alone. According to one person in authority that I interviewed, there are several ways in which girls get exploited by the flesh trade. One is that they are duped into coming on bogus company visas. Second they are runaway maids who have absconded from abusive employers and ended up in the clutches of a gang or thirdly they are bought in on private sponsorship and either willingly or unwillingly end up in a brothel.
Human trafficking is a global problem, but there is always a local solution. One of the local solutions proposed by Kuwait Parliament is to abolish the private sponsorship system and establish a mechanism by which maids and other domestic workers have their working conditions and salaries monitored and administered by a government appointed agency. This is an excellent idea. The thorough application and enforcement of such a mechanism could possibly reduce as much as 70 percent of the misery experienced by some of the most vulnerable workers in Kuwait.
In the wake of yet another critical report on human rights issues the whole issue of the ‘kafeel’ system (private sponsorship) deserves to be examined again. While it is true only a minority of employers abuse their workers, the present system allows no protection or enforcement of law. The result is the continuing ugly spectre of maid suicide, unjust imprisonment of absconding workers and general human misery.
This week the season of Lent draws to an end. The global Christian Church enters Easter Holy Week, a time when we recall the Passion of Christ. In the midst of this story of suffering and injustice, hope and divine purpose triumphs. To Rupa! Wherever you are. In the midst of your suffering I pray that you will find hope. May you find your way home soon!
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