This is Bahrain!

THE kingdom’s expat community will be singing the praises of Bahrain to international audiences with London as the first port of call, writes Stan Szecowka.

THIS IS BAHRAIN will be staged by the Bahrain Federation of Expatriate Associations (BFEA) on Friday, May 16, at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in Westminster.

Around 100 delegates from Bahrain representing Sunni Waqf, Shi’a Aqaf, Discover Islam, churches, mosques, mata’ams, synagogues, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Temples, clubs, societies, associations and schools will take part in the exhibition and conference to be officially opened by the UK’s Prince Andrew. The Duke of York will also be a keynote speaker at the event.

Betsy B Mathieson, The BFEA’s secretary general, said: “We are celebrating our freedom of religion and the fact that we all live together in peace and harmony in the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect as we have done for centuries in Bahrain.

“THIS IS BAHRAIN is the first event of its kind as we strive to show the world the reality of life in the kingdom. We are one big family united by a love of Bahrain.”

Expats living in the kingdom hope the meeting, which is set to be rolled out globally, will dispel some of the myths and counter the negative, biased and ill-informed international TV, radio and newspaper reports the island suffered during, and after, the unrest and they will be joined by many former British expats who fondly remember their time on the island.

The non-political, voluntary This Is Bahrain initiative was launched at a press conference on Saturday at the Alumni Club in Adliya.

The Bahrain Rugby Football Club was represented by Chris Kennedy, a senior flight engineer, at the gathering and he will be one of a five-strong party of delegates, including club chairman Mehdi Honar, attending the London event.

“We want to tell people about the club’s forty years of existence and also highlight the charitable endeavours of the club and the support its members give to local and international causes.”

The club has strong links with the UK-based Crusaders rugby team set up to promote men’s health awareness and has also raised thousands of pounds for research and treatment of cancer.

For some of the religious groups in Bahrain it will give them a chance to celebrate the freedoms enjoyed by the various ethnic minorities living here.

Sushil Muljimal, a company director and chairman of the Hindu Temple, said his community had roots dating back 200 years in Bahrain and he welcomes the opportunity to express to the world how harmonious life is. “We have nothing to fear in Bahrain,” he said.

Thai Daranan Nitipipatgosal, representing the Bahrain Buddhism Meditation Centre, told the meeting that the people of Bahrain were particularly supportive to expats. “We know that if we are ever in difficulty we can call on our Bahraini friends to help and if they cannot immediately assist us, they will call on their own Bahraini friends to step in. It is an amazing place where you can quickly build up a network of support.”

The sincerity of the expats gathered clearly moved the Bahrainis in attendance that included Houda Nanoo, a Jewish former Bahrain ambassador to the US, and Karim Ebrahim Al Shakar, Undersecretary for International Affairs, and a former Bahrain ambassador to the UK and China.

Mr Al Shakar said: “I am sure this will enhance the image of Bahrain as a place of tolerance and mutual respect.”

A morning exhibition will be followed by an afternoon of debates and speakers in what has been called ‘The Bahrain Dialogue in London’ conference. British MPs, representatives of the House of Lords and Scottish and Welsh parliaments, Bahraini students studying in the UK, and a possible ‘celebrity’ will be in attendance.

Getting British royalty to back the event was a coup too for the organisers. The Duke of York recently showed his support to the kingdom in a visit to Bahrain where he met with the royal family and agreed to be international patron of the proposed King Hamad Awards Programme involving a series of personal fulfilment activities and team-building exercises for young expat and locals alike.