All : Civilian Chaplains to the Military visit British Forces South Atlantic Islands
Submitted by (Juanita Brock) 21.05.2010 (Article Archived on 04.06.2010)

Mount Pleasant and the local community proudly joined together last week to welcome the five MOD-employed chaplains of different faiths on their first visit to an operational theatre.

Civilian Chaplains to the Military visit British Forces South Atlantic Islands

Mount Pleasant and the local community proudly joined together last week to welcome the five MOD-employed chaplains of different faiths on their first visit to an operational theatre.

Mr Attri, the Hindu Chaplain, Imam Hafiz, Dr Kariyakarawana, the Buddhist Chaplain, Mrs Kaur, the Sikh Chaplain, and Rabbi Saunders travelled from all over the United Kingdom to the Falkland Islands to experience how Service personnel live and work on operations away from family and friends.  Highly engaging and ever interested in the lives of their military flock, they moved between units, visiting HMS YORK, the Joint Communications Unit and 905 EAW to name but a few, and lunched in OASIS with the St Cuthbert’s congregation.  The chaplains aimed  to meet as many personnel as possible and brief a better cultural and religious awareness about the Armed Forces, which employs around 183,000 Christians and a growing number of personnel (currently about 2500) of other major world religions..  The chaplains were supported on their visit by Revd (GpCapt) Jonathan Chaffey who is Assistant Chaplain in Chief Operations (RAF) and Chair of the World Faiths Working Group of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Policy Board.

The whirlwind visit ranged from a briefing to headquarters staff on the importance of faith within the military community, to visits to local schools at the Mount Pleasant Complex and Stanley where the children bombarded them with numerous and varied questions on faith, and their roles as Members of both religious and military communities.  Later they also had the opportunity to meet the Falkland Islands clergy who, along with our very own Padre Andrew Wakeham-Dawson, provide spiritual support for local and military personnel.

The visiting chaplains have certainly made an impact in a very short time; preparing vegetarian curries for the Resident Rapier Battery, explaining the various key religious accoutrements carried by the other faiths to curious children and making friends across BFSAI and the Falkland Islands regardless of faith or denomination.

Padre Andrew Wakeham-Dawson summed up the visit as “a great success. We really enjoyed hosting the chaplains in theatre.  It was a unique opportunity to have all these faiths represented at once and the chaplains went away with valuable experience of how Service personnel live and work on operations. Personnel all over the station were very impressed and are asking when a similar visit will happen again”.

Source: Media Ops MPC