New HIV Youth Website

Hello,

“Faith in people with HIV” was generously awarded funding from the Big Lottery to work on a youth led project with the young people’s group they work with.  The project was to develop a website that could act as a support mechanism to other young people who were living with HIV.

The site goes live 1^st December, 2010 and can be viewed at www.pozitude.co.uk the site does not require log in details, so can be viewed by all.  The young people have worked really hard to design their site and have given a lot of themselves to help others.  We hope you like the site and all feedback is welcomed.

Details are as follows

Faith in People with HIV
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (East Midlands of United Kingdom)
The Lodge
Margaret Road
Leicester
LE5 5FW
Tel: 0116 2733377
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.faithinpeople.org.uk

www.pozitude.co.uk

Kind Regards

Michelle Overton
Women and Families Support Worker
Faith in People with HIV
0116 2733377
[email protected]

Faithful Young People of Leicester Act Against Malaria

On Wednesday the 2nd of December 2009, young people from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu and Jain faith backgrounds came together to discuss how the people of Leicester can join the global movement to help end deaths caused by Malaria, one of Africa’s biggest killers.

The initiative has been launched by Michael Tweed and Bilal Hassam who are 2 of 30 worldwide Faiths Act Fellows for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation working in conjunction with the St Philips Centre in Leicester. Their mission is to mobilise people of faith in Leicester to raise awareness and resources to promote the UN’s Millennium Development goals. They are already working to to equip, inspire and empower the next generation of Young Leaders to help eliminate deaths from malaria. Malaria causes up to a million unnecessary deaths each year in Africa, as it is a disease that is both treatable, and preventable.

The night featured games, discussions, fresh-off-the-ground stories from Africa and launched exciting and innovative ways by which the people of Leicester can shape this global campaign. Raheema Caratella, Engagement Worker (Young Adults) at the St Philips Centre said “I am excited at the passion of these young leaders, there was a real buzz. I hope that together we can work to show how people of different faiths can work to build strong relationships whilst helping to tackle a major world problem”.

During the discussions, it was put to Anay, from Leicester, that “Young people aren’t that bothered about other people halfway around the world”. He responded; “the fact that we are here now shows that we care – we are now discussing our understanding of the problems across the world – like malaria. This shows that we all care.”

Leo, a Christian from Leicester, said “We can work together. In our group what we were talking about was that because we live in a globalised world now, in a multicultural society, we are in an ideal position to be able to work together. There are so many areas in the different faiths that agree – for example, “love your neighbour”, and to work alongside one another. We are in an ideal position now, because we are so multicultural, whilst in the past that might have not been the case. We didn’t realise that we shared so much in common”.

Faiths Act is the social action programme of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, delivered by the Interfaith Youth Core. The programme encourages multi-faith initiatives to tackle global poverty by working towards the Millennium Development Goals, with an initial focus on eliminating deaths from malaria. It aims to bring people together across faith divides to achieve even more together than apart.

Worldwide, there are 250 million cases every year, and up to one million deaths annually. Pregnant women and their unborn children are particularly vulnerable.  The economic and social impacts are also devastating: Sick children miss school, tourism suffers, and foreign investment is stifled. Annual economic loss in Africa due to malaria is estimated to be $12 billion, representing a crippling 1.3 percent annual loss in GDP growth in endemic countries.

The Faiths Act Fellows are working on various other programs in Leicester right now, so if you’re interested in getting involved you can follow their progress via their website: www.faithsactfellows.org/leicester

For more information about the Faith Act Fellows in Leicester please contact [email protected] / 07825 770586

St Philip’s Centre can be contacted on 0116 2733459 or www.stphilipscentre.co.uk

National Inter Faith Week Exhibition in Leicester

Leicester Council of Faiths has been asked by Highcross, the city’s flagship shopping mall, to present an exhibition there during National Inter-Faith Week (Sun 15 – Sat 21 Nov). This is in the context of Highcross’s engagement with significant community groups and their commitment to community cohesion.

Highcross management has informed Leicester Council of Faiths they expect up to 400,000 “footfalls” past the exhibition over that week. It will certainly be the highest profile public event for National Inter-Faith Week in the city of Leicester, probably in the East Midlands – and one of the biggest in the whole country!

Highcross management has asked Leicester Council of Faith to provide people to be on the exhibition at all times during that week. The exhibition will showcase the eight religions represented on the Council of Faiths equally. Leicester Council of Faith are looking for a mix of people from different backgrounds and traditions to be available to meet members of the public who stop and look. This message is being sent not only to members of the Council of Faiths, and members of the various faith or cultural communities – but also to friends and contacts who have expressed an interest or offered themselves for helping out with inter-faith activities in the city and people known locally who are creative, inventive and interested in community cohesion. LCF are putting together a rota for this purpose.   LCF has broken each day down into brief slots, so no one should need to do more than around two hours at a stretch. No more than three people will be required at any one time.

No one will be expected to answer any questions about the religions represented, nor will anyone be considered as “representing” any of the faith communities on display. We want people on the stall who care about, and have in some way been working toward, good community relations.

For more information contact:

George M.Ballentyne
[email protected]

The Centre Project

In January 1996 the Centre Project opened its doors with the aim to:

Serve people who are lonely, vulnerable, unemployed, isolated, socially disadvantaged or mentally frail who live in city accommodation or frequent the city centre.

Promote the successful independence of residents who still experience the long-term effects of homelessness by giving support to ensure a continuum of care, so that there is a clear route from the streets to a settled way of life by helping them develop new social contacts and skills.

Read more