The 1st Shedfield Beavers Group visited the Al Mahdi centre on 18th March and we had a very enjoyable visit. We had 16 Beavers attend, all boys aged between 6 and 8 years, plus an older sister of one of the boys and 3 Adult Leaders. Rev. Bruce Deans also joined our group for the visit so he was able to help with some of the questions the children had.
On arrival the children removed their shoes and were delighted to find the centre had a lovely deep carpet to walk on! We spent some time learning about the Muslim religion and when we spoke to the Beavers about the visit a week later they had all remembered the important points about prayer and the direction a Muslim would face during prayers. They had remembered that this was associated with "an important mosque".
They enjoyed looking at the Arabic words in the Quran and listening to them being read, they also noticed that the words went from right to left on the page rather than the left to right form we see English written in.
We then had a tour of the beautiful building and saw all the classrooms and the children were all very impressed with the ablution facilities. They also were excited about all the technology you have available. We spoke about how the building could be divided to provide separate areas for the ladies and children.
Before leaving the Beavers were thrilled with the gift of a drink, snack and pencils you very kindly gave them. We very much enjoyed our visit and thank-you so much for being so welcoming and informative.
Report by : Caroline Liller
Leader : 1st Shedfield Beavers Group