by Junaid Bobat What is a time bank? This week I have been thinking long and hard about the use of time banks as a tool for building community cohesion and social capital. In its simplest form a time bank is a mutual work trading system in which hours are the currency. With time banking, a person with one skill set can bank and trade hours of work for equal hours of work in another skill set instead of paying…
Continue ReadingMoving beyond Tea and Samosa Interfaith
by Ali Amla I’ve been writing blogs for some time and finally found some time to reflect. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was very fortunate enough to have been invited to speak on I is for interfaith on the A-Z of Things Unseen, you can hear the short 5 minute podcast here: The opportunity to share my experiences was powerful, sharing memories, my thoughts on interfaith and how I am nurturing my children from a very young…
Continue ReadingCommunities are made up of individuals, silly!
By Abdul Siddique The Problem For many years our approach to encouraging community integration has been based largely on an assumptionist and imperialist model .This I believe to be a system that conveniently lumps communities under the widest possible category in order to easily manage and negotiate with them. It negates the organic, complex and evolving natures of the very individuals that constitute the delicate fabric of our community. This approach has exacerbated the deep-rooted divisions within and between…
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