- Written by: Kamran Mofid
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First published on 24 February 2013. Updated on 4 January 2024.
'I chose the vocation'
Camila Batmanghelidjh (کامیلا باتمانقلیچ) CBE, Founder, Kids Company,
born 1 January 1963, Tehran, Iran- died 1 January 2024, London.
RIP Camila and thank you for the generosity and kindness, help and support, you gave to so many kids. I am praying in my own way for you, may God grant you rest; you were, in the old idiom, a lovely lady, who, if required, may still be a peacemaker in heaven.
Camila Batmanghelidjh. Photo: Sam Frost/Via The Guardian
(Excerpts from an article first published on 22 February 2013)-- Camila Batmanghelidjh ("Batmanjelidge", born 1963, Tehran, Iran). She is founder of two charities - the place2b and Kids Company, where she and her team care for 17,000 vulnerable children and young people in London. The charity operates from three street-level centres in Southwark, Lambeth and Camden, as well as working in 41 inner-city schools. She lives in West Hampstead, London.
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 592
Wishing all our GCGI family and friends, readers and visitors, a very merry, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year
May your days be joyful and may you all enjoy the simple pleasures of life today and all year round.
Our Christmas Greetings and Message of Hope
GCGI Blogs: An Oasis of Hope, Love, Beauty, Wisdom
and Healing for a Kinder and more Loving World
Yes, indeed, these beautiful and truly human values – old-fashioned terms, they appear. They, it seems, are from a bygone era, long before a crudely standardised, values-free and for profit global mass media and lifestyle industry, projecting fake and meaningless goodness. But no. These values belong to all of us, giving meaning and reason to our lives and they must become, once again, the torch shedding light on our journey we call life.
Recently I was at a gathering with some family and friends and the topic of blogging came up. I was asked why I am drawn to, and interested in writing and posting these thought-provoking blogs. It was, I must admit, an interesting question and discussion which I would love to share the gist of it with you too.
For me, blogging is a way of feeling, touching, loving, hoping, and dreaming. It enables and empowers me to capture and crystalise what I have noted or read and stored in my mind, to remember forever, long after I have forgotten everything.
- Written by: Kamran Mofid
- Hits: 1602
Photo credit: pinterest
A Christmas Carol is an integral part of our Christmas tradition because it has a timeless, moral, spiritual and transformational relevance and value. Perhaps in a time when consumerism and monetary aspects of life dominate our daily lives, promising us a happiness that is not ever delivered, it is time to revisit the lessons of Scrooge’s transformation and discover the true path to happiness.
'I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.'
– Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
DICKENS’ CHARACTER (SCROOGE) TEACHES US ALL VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS
This year, A Christmas Carol, has, once again, an added political, socioeconomic and spiritual resonance.
“The mystery of Christmas,” said G K Chesterton, “is in a manner identical to the mystery of Dickens.”
If Charles Dickens were alive today, he’d have no trouble recognising modern-day Scrooges, those who want austerity for the many, tax cuts and prosperity for the few.
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