Working towards a more diverse, equal and inclusive world

This week’s blog comes from the blustery and very wet Fylde Coast. Our trip to India and Nepal, although wonderful, is sadly over. After most days where the temperature was 26 - 30c the change in the weather came as a shock. We made some new friends along the way, both fellow travellers, guides and hotel staff. We had a great time, and thankfully, through avoiding ice cubes, salad and only drinking bottled water, we had none of the potential health problems!

In fact, we had no problems along the way at all except operating the TV in the various hotels we stayed in. As we were travelling without any young people, operating the controls appeared to be beyond our ability. The consequence was until the last day, when someone from reception came and showed us how to access the TV, we were largely cocooned from the outside world. Yes, we had picked up some of the news from the Middle East, but it was only when we were able to see the news reports on the various news channels did we get a sense of the enormity of the unfolding conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Back in 2022 J and I took a Holy Land pilgrimage by way of a belated Honeymoon. Due to family connections, I had long wanted to visit Israel and it had always been a must-do on J’s bucket list. We decided that we didn’t simply want to be tourists and so chose a company that specialised in religious pilgrimages. I’m glad we did, as our guides brought the Bible to life and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. There were so many good memories; perhaps one that stands out for me, was taking holy communion literally on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  

Our guide was a chap called Bassam. He is a Palestinian Christian, and one of the most generous men I have ever met. His kindness, tolerance, biblical knowledge and historical insights were amazing. One of the places he took us to was a small orphanage in Bethany or in Arabic, Al Eizariya, a small town in East Jerusalem, the West Bank. If the name sounds familiar it might well be that it has been consistently one of the most popular girls’ names in the English speaking world. It could also be that you remember it as the place that Jesus stayed during the Holy Week before he was crucified.   

To get to it, we had to pass through an Israeli checkpoint, which was a little unnerving to say the least. The orphanage was a day school for Palestinian girls and a residential school for boys. Most of the boys had been abandoned by their families for one reason or another. None of the children had ever been through the checkpoint and sadly never seen Jerusalem, which lies on the other side of the Separation Wall only 2km away. They had very little in the way of material possessions, and although the rooms and building were clean and tidy, they were very drab and had an institutional feel about them.

On our return to the UK, we contacted the orphanage to ask if there was anything we could do to help make the boys lives better. After a while, we got an email back which said perhaps we could help pay for one or two of the bedrooms to be repainted. They gave us a suggested cost, for a couple rooms. However, based on these costings, we decided we could fund all of the 26 bedrooms being decorated, and paint the corridors and banisters too.

The boys were told and they were given the opportunity to choose colours and their own design and so on. We were sent photos and messages during the entire process, and it was wonderful to see the delight and hear the excitement of the boys as their choices became a reality over that summer. We had hoped to go back this Christmas to see for ourselves, but that now feels unlikely.

This blog is not the place to argue about the rights and wrongs of this long-running conflict in the Middle East, other than to say I absolutely condemn any act of terrorism, wherever this occurs and whoever is responsible.

Our pilgrimage coincided with Palm Sunday. We were able to join thousands of others, waving palm fronds and singing hymns, as we walked from Bethpage on the Mount of Olives descending into Old Jerusalem. It was a hour or two that brought together so many folk from different beliefs, religions, cultures and races in celebration and remembrance. It was an occasion to show peace, love and not hate.

I was surprised therefore, on Friday to see a copy of a letter from Steve Barclay, (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) to all England’s Integrated Care Boards instructing them to stop local NHS provider organisations from employing ‘standalone’ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) post’s. If we persist, then we are to justify why these roles are more important than employing doctors or nurses instead with the money. In our Trust, we have a so called standalone EDI lead, and she provides excellent leadership in our ambition to develop a more inclusive organisational culture. If I’m called upon to defend our decision to employ someone in this capacity, I will draw upon the evidence-based open letter penned by the excellent Roger Kline on diversity in the NHS – you can read it here. 

During our pilgrimage, Bassam our guide noted that the future of Israel and Palestine will only be secured when the rivers of blood spilled over the years become water under the bridge. Wise words indeed. We all need to work together to ensure we create a more inclusive, diverse and equal world. This might be a nation world, a community world, or even, an organisational world. And, maybe, just maybe, our Steve could learn a thing or two from Bassam.