During National Inter Faith Week, 22-26 November, 2010, Howard Grace of Initiatives of Change, facilitated a variety of events in schools and with community groups. Howard Grace was accompanied by his wife, Maria and Aftab Qayum from Reading.
Aftab had been expelled from school for drug taking at the age of 12. He has been in and out of prison about 25 times since then, mainly for theft and drug crimes. Within the last year, at age 31, his life has taken a different direction.
He told in detail of his harrowing experiences and how two old friends, also former addicts, had helped him clean up his life. They had founded and run BASIAN (Black and Asian Services in Alcohol and Narcotics). Aftab is now one of the volunteers and is keen to share his story with other young people to stop them going down the same path his life had taken.
Their programme in Nottingham included three Sixth Form School groups, two Muslim youth groups and a 45 minute interview on Radio Dawn, a Nottingham community station with a largely Asian audience.
‘Bringing People Together’, a Nottingham offshoot of the IofC programme ‘Hope in the Cities’, also hosted an occasion, in a home setting, which included two short related films, ‘Faith in Leadership’ and ‘School for Changemakers’.
English