Birmingham vicar crowdfunds Bibles for Calais refugees

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/birmingham-vicar-crowdfunds-bibles-for-calais-refugees

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A charity that collects aid for Islamic countries has drawn on the help of a Church of England vicar from Birmingham to send hundreds of Bibles to Christian refugees in Calais.

The Human Relief Foundation, which was launched in 1991 to provide aid to those affected by the Gulf war, has been sending copies of the Qur’an to Muslim refugees in Calais. It recently asked for Bibles, too, so that Christian refugees camped in the French town receive the same level of spiritual support.

Father Oliver Coss, from Birmingham, said he set up a Just Giving page after he was contacted by a friend who works for the charity. “It’s not very often a Muslim friend Facebooks you and says: ‘Can you get me 100 copies of the Bible?’ But that’s exactly what happened,” Coss wrote on the fundraising site.

Coss is trying to raise £500 among Birmingham’s Christians to send 50 copies of the Bible in English and 50 copies in Arabic to Calais on Saturday. At the time of writing, he had raised £420.

“The story of what has been happening in Calais, which has filled our screens, is very much in the consciousness of most people at the moment,” he said. “The charity was going to send copies of the Qur’an to Islamic refugees and asked if we wanted to include Bibles for any Christian refugees who wanted one.

“It’s a way of responding to people who have left everything behind and who perhaps feel that they aren’t able to pray or read scriptures in a way they might have done had they not left their country of origin. It’s a gift some people might consider not really necessary but which might actually attend to spiritual as well as material needs that people have when they’re living in a refugee camp.

“I can’t imagine what kind of pressures would be upon an individual, or somebody who has brought their family all the way from Syria to Calais, with the incredible and acute risks that come with trying to reach this place of safety. We need to consider whether we are able to make a contribution to their emotional and spiritual welfare so that we can begin tackling holistically the issues and the threats to the person that being a refugee consist of.”

Coss added that when he told the bishop of Birmingham about the idea he said the Church of England would underwrite the costs. “We were happy for our church finances to take the hit and then people could contribute as and when they’ve wanted to. The fundraising helps raise people’s awareness and gets them to think and pray about Calais. We’ve had some really generous people contribute. It’s been heartening.”

The Right Rev David Urquhart, the bishop of Birmingham, said: “Seeing the considerable needs of refugees in the media can leave us feeling helpless, but there are lots of practical things we can do. Through the purchase of these Bibles, we have the opportunity to provide essential spiritual nourishment to Christians at a time of great fear and uncertainty.”