In the Community
In partnership with Blackburn Cathedral
Blackburn College are always looking to enhance the learner experience. In addition to our excellent teaching programme we aim to help our students develop their knowledge and critical thinking by attending conferences and seminars at College.
Having the opportunity to hear external speakers can help them become well developed personalities. We have therefore recently forged a partnership with Blackburn Cathedral.
The FWORD
Blackburn College recently hosted a half day Conference as part of their sponsorship of the week long FWORD Exhibition being held at the Cathedral.
The FWORD Images of Forgiveness Exhibition is a thought provoking collection of arresting images and personal narratives exploring forgiveness in the face of atrocity. First launched in London in 2004, it has since been displayed in over 300 venues worldwide The guest panel who were involved in the Bosnian conflict during 1992-1995, were from different faiths (Islam, Orthodox, Catholic). They were accompanied by Blackburn Cathedral’s Cannon, Chris Chivers and Anjum Anwar, Dialogue Development Officer.
The nine speakers were visiting the UK for a series of talks, about living through the trauma of war. Some of the guests had experienced the horrors of war first hand, as young children. Some of the speakers were a little older, and had lived through the ordeal as University students. It was clearly an experience that had deeply affected all who gave emotive accounts of what they had witnessed and lived through.
The message they brought was that although they lived with deep scars that affected them directly (many had lost members of their family - fathers, brothers and sisters in the war) they have found the strength to forgive. They emphasised, communication was key to building safe and cohesive communities. This was clearly demonstrated during the presentation when a male Orthodox speaker’s words were translated by a young Muslim woman.
They hoped their sad history would not be repeated elsewhere. The result of the conflict in their country which ended fourteen years ago had not solved any problems in the community, it had only resulted in putting the countries economy back one hundred years. The young generation were left to pick up the pieces and re-building their country. The conference ended by College students asking some interesting questions. They had clearly been moved by hearing their accounts and said they had genuinely enjoyed the talk.
Photo gallery click on the images below to view a larger version.
