This year Bath and Wells appointed Anira Khokhar as Racial Justice Consultant to help the diocese explore issues around racial justice. Her work was funded from the Church of England National Justice Fund. As part of her work with the Diocese of Bath and Wells Anira has interviewed people in various roles, from different backgrounds and ethnicities across the diocese and has undertaken a Racial Justice Audit, with the aim of identifying and addressing barriers to equity and inclusion.
One of those Anira spoke to as part of the audit was Revd Rona Stuart-Bourne in Milborne Port. The conversations they had not only informed the work Anira is doing they also prompted Rona to think more about inclusion in Milborne Port.
Rona says, “I was very happy to be involved with Anira’s research. We had a great conversation, and I explained that we are an area without much diversity. She asked if there was anyone from an ethnic minority in the village which made me think of a member of our congregation who has a team of Filipino carers to support her. Anira encouraged me to think about involving them in church in some way. It felt like a positive and exciting thing to do, so I invited them to share their story with us.”
That encouragement changed the way the church looked at itself. The carers were already known to members of the congregation. They’d been welcomed into the church family and had joined services, but their personal stories had not been widely shared and heard.
Fregil who has cared for Ann for three years, describes what it meant to be invited to speak. “I was not expecting it. But when Rona approached me and said the whole congregation would like to hear about my roots and why I came to Milborne Port, I was happy to do that. I wanted to share my story, and how grateful I am to have met these people.”
Fregil is from one of the 7,700 small islands that make up the Philippines. She is a trained nurse and came to the UK to help fill staff shortages in the healthcare sector. She explains why the decision to move to the UK was such a big step for her. “There were many things to overcome. The first challenge was language. I can speak English, but there are terms and slang here that I didn’t know. The second was the climate. In the Philippines it’s 35–40 degrees Celsius most days, but here you have four seasons. For me, fresh from the Philippines, it was really chilly! The third adjustment was food. In the Philippines, we eat rice three times a day. So, I had to adjust.”
Initially Fregil says she was apprehensive about moving somewhere unfamiliar and so far from home. “I was quite afraid when I came. I was hesitant and afraid that I might experience racism. I’d heard stories when I was still in the Philippines.
“It sounds strange, but now every time I go to church, I feel like I’m in my second home because they are so welcoming. All my family are still in the Philippines. That’s why the welcome here means so much. I survived in this country first because of my client, who really helped me, and also because of the Milborne Port community. I really look forward to going to church there.”
For Rona, the invitation to Fregil and her colleagues has been part of her own learning. “I realised through this that although I had always welcomed them, I hadn’t learned their names properly or asked about their stories. Anira’s encouragement opened my eyes, and it has brought such joy and excitement to our church.”
Now the congregation that once thought of itself as largely uniform has come to see that its life already includes voices from different places, and that those voices enrich everyone when they are heard.
Jesus said, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35). Fregil sums it up simply, “It feels like they have treated us like a real family and not strangers.”