1 June to 8 June

Diverse and yet united

For three years while I was an undergraduate student, I shared a room with one of the leaders of the Muslim community in the college, who played football both for College and for the local team. Myself a catholic, I was President of the College branch of Pax Romana, a member of Young Catholic Students and distributor of the Catholic Standard. On one corner of the table in our study room was the Holy Qu'ran; on the other the Holy Bible; two Holy books presented by One Holy Person - God or Allah.

At faith level my roommate and I were diverse, different in our belief systems, yet at the same time respecting each other for what we were. Ibrahim Seidu, who died a few years ago, was one of my best friends in college and in life. Sometimes on a Sunday, when he saw that I was late in getting up, he would wake me and say, 'Are you not going to church today? It is getting to time for your service.' Our religious differences did not make us enemies. On the contrary, they were a source of unity, a source of belongingness, and of deeper love for one another.

Patrick Norah, MA student, School of Applied Global Ethics