Representatives from Buddhism, Christianity Church of England, Christianity Greek Orthodox, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism participated in an Interfaith conference of Portsmouth Schools Year 5 children held at St George’s CoE Primary school. Sheikh Fazle Abas Datoo was part of the interactive panel to discuss the theme: Faith and Charity.
Herebelow is a report from the students:
Once in the hall, we met other children from different schools. We were given ‘Getting to know Bingo Sheets’ an icebreaker which helped us get to know each other.
The representatives from other religions such as; Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Greek Orthodox and Judaism were introduced and Mrs Jaffer talked about the common theme for the day. The conference focused on charity as the common theme.
After they spoke we had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss about the commonalities. We learnt that Muslims and Christians give a percentage of their earnings to charities. There is a Buddhist magazine that supports children’s interests. Jewish people run schools for children and Muslims support children in poorer countries worldwide. Christian Aid is also a worldwide charity. We discussed with children from other schools about true meaning of charity and we discussed these with the panel. Normally we just associate charity with giving old clothes and some money to the poor and needy but in this conference we learnt that even helping someone in the playground or smiling is an act of charity.
Finally we all looked at different artefacts brought by our guests. We left with an Easter egg and a lot that we had learnt. We would like to thank the panel and Mrs Jaffer for organising this event.
By Year 5 participants (Dolphins)