Recently I was pleased to be invited to meet The Rt Revd Kaleem John and his wife Professor Rebecca Wilson John on behalf of MWIB. They were visiting the UK from Hydrabad where Bishop John is Chairman of the Diocese of Hydrabad and deputy Moderator of the Church of Pakistan. His wife Rebecca is a professor of Nursing and Principal Head of School of the Isra School of nursing. Their main focus on this visit was young people, women’s health and the welfare of nurses and carers.
We spoke of the lack of awareness in many places, including the UK, of women’s health issues and the need for accesible and easily understood information to be made available.
They expressed an interest in accessing any zoom webinars that we do in particular as they could access these on zoom. They now have access to our website and seen what we have done so far. They are also hoping that a small delegation may be able to attend Swanwick in 2025. They would also like to explore visits or exchanges.
We spoke about the work of MWIB in empowering women particularly with empowerment gifts. They expressed concerns that cultural issues continued to impact on women in some areas preventing them from meeting their potential. They have taken information on our empowerment gifts to explore possible projects around health and education.
I shared some of my experiences of a visit a few years ago to hospitals under the care of the Church of South India and it seems that while there has been a great deal of progress educational and cultural issues still impact particularly of women’s health and wellbeing.
I feel sure this meeting has opened a door to a positive working relationship with Bishop John and his wife and MWIB as there were many clear points of contact and I look forward to further developments.
Maggie Woods Co Chair South
