Birmingham Sikh charity leader recognised for selfless service
Labour MP Jas Athwal called Bhai Sahib Ji a "true embodiment of humility, leadership and service".Speaking in Parliament, Bhai Sahib Ji said: "I am greatly overwhelmed and embarrassed to take any credit for what I have managed to do in my life."As Sikhs, we are lovingly advised to adopt the following strategy for spiritual and worldly success."Pray, work, share. To serve selflessly, sing, listen to and absorb divine praise."In a way we become what we serve. To serve the creator through serving creation is the path to living in God's image when done in tandem with prayer and devotion."
Volunteers spoke of Bhai Sahib Ji's service, namely the creation of the peace charter for forgiveness and reconciliation in 2019, which promotes clemency as a way to pave the way for global peace.A trustee of the charity said: "We are celebrating 30 years, but it is not 30 years; it is a lifelong dedication."And added that "the whole foundation is built around humility".The Sikh charity has its headquarters in Birmingham and operates in cities across the UK, in India and in Kenya.In Handsworth, West Midlands, the charity helped regenerate 13 acres of inner-city land.The launch of Zero Hunger and Nishkam SWAT (Sikh Welfare and Awareness Team) has fed thousands and is continuing to do so.Bhai Sahib Ji is the first Sikh to be awarded a Papal Knighthood of St Gregory the Great, which is usually reserved for Catholics, honouring his interfaith work.A volunteer described him as a reminder to "uplift and to unite", while he inspires others to "live truer and serve" through honouring the legacy of the Sikh Gurus.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
20 minutes ago
- Times
Miriam González Durántez: ‘We never holidayed with the Camerons'
Miriam González Durántez, 57, is an international trade lawyer and the founder of the Inspiring Girls charity. She is married to the former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg, who served as deputy prime minister in the coalition government with the Conservatives from 2010 to 2015 and was subsequently president of global affairs at Meta, the parent company of Facebook. She was born in Spain and divides her time between her home nation and London, where her husband is based. She is the mother of three boys — Antonio, 23, Alberto, 21, and Miguel, 16. I was eight years old when Franco's dictatorship in Spain ended in 1975, and it was only then that a lot of middle-class Spanish families like my own really had enough money to go on holiday and explore our seaside. I remember my parents, brother, sister, uncles, cousins and I cramming into a procession of cars with our pots, pans and bed linen for the ten-hour drive from my home town of Olmedo, in the centre of Spain, to Alicante, where we rented shoe-box-sized flats for a couple of weeks; I spent many happy hours playing on the beach there. In my teens, my family and I drove all over western Europe, including Britain, and I've had an affection for the British Isles since then. The last of those trips was to Austria, just before my politician father, José Antonio, sadly died in a car accident aged 58. After Nick became the MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005 we got to know the Peak District well and loved going on day trips, walking and climbing in the magical, heather-clad hills around Stanage Edge. But we regularly returned to Spain with our boys in summer. Sometimes we'd visit lush, mountainous Asturias, on the northwest coast; other times we'd visit Menorca, and more recently Catalonia. It took a while for Nick to adapt to Spanish seaside culture. In Britain, if there are a bunch of people on the beach, one usually goes somewhere quieter, whereas in Spain we love socialising and always sit right by the crowd of people. I think he's got the hang of it now. Our holiday habits changed surprisingly little after Nick became the Lib Dem leader. Naturally, security was more of an issue when he was deputy prime minister, but we carried on going to the same parts of Spain that we had always visited. The only difference was that we had two more people with us, though we tried to integrate the security guards as much as possible into the family, which made it nicer for everyone. Did we ever go on holiday with David Cameron or other politicians? No, it never really crossed our minds, and I have only visited Chequers once; indeed, I only met the Camerons three times socially for dinner. As far as I'm concerned, work is work in politics, and it is healthy not to make it a personal affair. In 2017 our eldest son Antonio was diagnosed with lymphoma — thankfully he's now fully recovered —and to cheer him up during the chemotherapy treatment we told him that we'd go on holiday to somewhere of his choice when it was over, and he asked to go to California. We flew out there as a family and visited San Francisco, Los Angeles and Yosemite National Park. So when we told the boys the following year that Nick had been offered a job with Facebook in California, they were keen to go because they thought of it as a holiday destination. We spent the next five years in the US. We didn't have green cards during the Covid years, so we couldn't leave the country. Therefore, we holidayed in America and got to visit everywhere from Arizona's Grand Canyon and Montana to Alaska, where we saw bears — it was a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by miles of nothingness. The UK was going through Brexit so — speaking for myself — it was nice to be abroad and not to have to witness the economic and political self-harm that the Brexiteers inflicted on the country. Around then we started going on activity holidays, which involved things like ziplining, swimming with manta rays, jumping off waterfalls and canyoning. This appealed to the boys, and also to Nick; I always find it a bit challenging, but there is no way I am going to be relegated to the hotel. Nowadays I spend weekdays in Spain leading [the non-partisan political organisation] España Mejor, but I return to our home in London to join Nick and my youngest son most weekends. I know it sounds crazy, but it sort of works. Miriam González Durántez is the founder of the Inspiring Girls charity ( In our weekly My Hols interview, famous faces — from the worlds of film, sport, politics, and more — share their travel stories from childhood to the present day. Read more My Hols interviews here
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Leaders of the UK and Germany to sign a treaty on defense, trade and migration
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are set to sign a treaty on Thursday pledging to tighten defense ties and step up law-enforcement cooperation against gangs that smuggle migrants across the English Channel. The center-right German leader is in London on his first official visit to Britain since taking office in May. Starmer visited Berlin in August 2024, announcing plans for the U.K.- Germany 'friendship and cooperation' treaty with Merz's predecessor, Olaf Scholz. A priority for Starmer, who heads the center-left Labour Party, is curbing the gangs behind cross-channel people smuggling. About 37,000 people were detected crossing the English Channel from France in small boats in 2024, and more than 20,000 people made the crossing in the first six months of 2025. Dozens of people have died trying to cross. Berlin agreed last year to make facilitating the smuggling of migrants to the U.K. a criminal offence, a move that will give law enforcements more powers to investigate the supply and storage of small boats to be used for the crossings. Merz is expected to commit to adopting the law change by the end of the year. 'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome,' Starmer said, calling the U.K. and Germany 'the closest of allies.' Germany and the U.K. – Europe's largest and second-largest economies – are also expected to announce a series of investment deals. The treaty builds on a defense pact the U.K. and Germany, two of the biggest European supporters of Ukraine, signed last year pledging closer co-operation against a growing threat from Russia. It includes a promise to come to one another's aid in case of attack. The two leaders also are expected to agree Thursday to joint export campaigns for jointly produced equipment such as Boxer armored vehicles and Typhoon jets, and to develop a deep precision strike missile in the next decade. Starmer has worked to improve relations with Britain's neighbors, strained by the U.K.'s acrimonious departure from the European Union in 2020. He has sought to rebuild ties strained by years of ill-tempered wrangling over Brexit terms. He has ruled out rejoining the 27-nation bloc's single market or customs union, and has been cool to the idea of a youth mobility agreement with the EU, but has sought to reduce trade barriers and to strengthen defense cooperation. 'I make no secret of the fact I very much regret to this day that Britain left the European Union,' Merz told the German parliament last week. 'But if they at least work together with us again in the area of foreign and security policy, then that is a very good sign. Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants that.' ___ Moulson reported from Berlin.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Will the Afghan data leak cover up be a gift for Reform UK?
The revelation that the government concealed a huge story about the resettlement of people from Afghanistan after their lives were put at risk by a data breach has left Westminster reeling. So why was it allowed to be kept secret for so long? And what could the fallout be? The Guardian's political correspondent Kiran Stacey joins John Harris to discuss. Plus, Harris speaks to Ed Miliband, the energy security and net zero secretary, about his plans to tackle the climate crisis, why it's becoming a culture war issue, and how to combat that. And, what does the public really think about net zero? Harris asks Sophie Stowers, a pollster from More in Common
