Meithrin Gobaith Growing Hope www.stdavidsdiocese.org.uk www.facebook.com/pobl.dewi http://twitter.com/PoblDewi September / Medi 2017 Rebuilding Lives It’s taken a while, says Catherine Hammond, but a pioneering, community-led scheme for refugees is becoming a reality in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion URING the last 18 months Syrian refugee families Dhave begun to be resettled in West Wales. Those involved have worked to build a bridge between two different worlds, between life in tents on the edge of a devastated homeland and life here, in Welsh communities, bounded by sea and farmland. As a Lay Reader I am used to bridge-building, but not on this scale. In the spring of 2016 I was asked “You go into school, could you be our link?” The request came from a lead worker in a growing resettlement team and so began my involvement in the ground-break- ing UK Community Sponsorship Scheme which has spread across Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. Now, after more than a year, fami- lies have started arriving and we begin a new stage of the process. Looking round the plan- ning table in the early days, I was amazed to see how the necessary skills for the project were all repre- America News: Henry Ridgwell of © Voice sented. People had been drawn Syrian refugee camp on the Turkish border for displaced people of the Syrian civil war from the community for the skills they had to offer and the will- ingness to work together. They nity and led by local people. Our buses to the Job Centre or going shared a deep-seated desire to do core group has different interests, with them to community events. something and the belief that our faith and no faith and members live Language learning is key to cross- communities could provide the in different areas of the town. This ing the bridge, but skilled language welcome these people needed. gives it enormous strength and the teachers, who are themselves part It has been a long process, but, ability to communicate across the of the community, can tailor teach- on the way, we have met with enor- community making the first stage ing to needs and back up formal mous generosity from local people. of bridge-building easier. teaching with learning experiences. As we submitted, and re-submitted, Now that some families have As one of the first community- applications to the Home Office arrived, other advantages are led schemes in the country it has we were asked “When are they becoming apparent – problems can been a lengthy process, we hope coming?” But, at last, at the end of be dealt with quickly, like rubbish that other schemes will now be able June 2017 the first family arrived; put out incorrectly or the time to proceed more quickly. For me wrapped in donated blankets they when the family arrived unexpect- the work stems from faith, others climbed out of a minibus into wind, edly at school. have a different motivation but rain and a new life. There are opportunities to together we are building bridges The Community Sponsor- be pro-active in integration – a from somewhere we cannot imag- ship Scheme runs alongside local tea party for neighbours to meet ine to a land that those travelling government resettlement schemes; the new residents, friendly team here cannot themselves visualise. both take in some of the most members to help with catching vulnerable refugees from camps on the borders of Syria. As we have Further information worked, we have seen advantages https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ in a scheme backed by a commu- apply-for-full-community-sponsorship FOCUS ON FAITH AND POLITICS – Pages 10 & 11 Am ddim Free 2 Pobl Dewi, September 2017 Leaving ‘The best job in the Gair y Dydd Published continuously since 1962, Gair y Dydd provides daily Bible readings and reflections in Welsh. Readers interested in Church in Wales’ contributing to the publication, or buying copies, are invited to The Dean of St Davids, Jonathan Lean, retires in September. get in touch He spoke to David Hammond-Williams about what’s passed and what lies ahead AE Gair y Dydd yn cynnwys myfyrdod, T DAVIDS Cathedral has been But it’s the worship that comes M darlleniad Beiblaidd a gweddi part of Jonathan Lean’s land- first and foremost, as it has for S am bob dydd o’r flwyddyn ac yn scape all his life. 1500 years. “It frames the day in cael ei gyhoeddi pob chwarter. He went there first as a boy many ways and it’s something that Dyma’r unig gyhoeddiad Cymraeg for organ lessons and remembers I shall miss.” defosiynol sy’n cael ei gyhoeddi thinking, as the then Dean Edward And it is in the worship that yn rheolaidd ac y mae wedi ei Jenkins passed through the Nave, Dean Jonathan’s principal legacy gyhoeddi ers 1962 yn ddi-dor. what a fabulous job his must be. lies, thanks to the restoration Mae’n gyhoeddiad cyd-enwadol, But it was one he never during his tenure of the mediaeval gyda phob traddodiad yn cael expected to have. That said, he has shrine to St David. ei gynrychioli ar y Bwrdd served all his 42 years in minis- “It has had a profound impact Golygyddol. Cadeirydd y Bwrdd try within a stone’s throw of the on the ministry of the cathedral. yw’r Hybarch Hywel Jones, mother church including nine as It has spiritualised the building in Aberystwyth. Y patrwm yw bod Canon Residentiary. So few know many ways and it provides a focal tri gwahanol yn cael gwahoddiad more about it than he does. point for people who come here. i gyfrannu mis ar gyfer pob And he’s well aware that St There seem to be more individuals rhifyn, ac yn ystod un flwyddyn Davids isn’t just any old cathe- making pilgrimage and I’m thrilled felly mae nifer o awduron â Glyn Williams, 12 Coed dral but ‘one of the jewels in the that there is now a place where they gwahanol yn rhan o’r pâtrwm y Glyn, Llandudno, Conwy crown – the national shrine,’ as he and of course the music.” can feel they’ve reached journey’s ac y mae hynny yn dod a lliw ac LL30 1JL 01492 581439 describes it. Music has always played a big end.” amrywiaeth i Gair y Dydd. Nid [email protected]. And, unlike so many of our part in both the life of the cathe- So, as he reaches his own jour- yw’n hawdd cael cyfranwyr, ond Apêl am gyfranwyr. Fe fyddem churches, it’s on the up. “It’s prob- dral and of its Dean. Until recently, ney’s end, what advice would he yr ydym yn awyddus iawn i gael yn ddiolchgar iawn i glywed ably the biggest change I’ve seen. he was also chorister. “We host offer whoever follows him? mwy o gyfranwyr o’r traddodiad gan unrhyw un (neu glywed am Cathedrals seem to be growth around 50 events a year. It takes a “Just enjoy the role. I think it’s Anglicanaidd a Chatholig. unrhyw un) y gallem eu gwahodd points,” he says. “It’s certainly true lot of time and effort but it attracts probably the best job in the Church Mae’r apêl hon yn ddeublyg i gyfrannu. Mae’r myfyrdodau yn here for both pilgrims and tourists. a lot of people. And I hope my in Wales.” felly. fyr iawn ac nid yw y gwaith yn And I think that’s due to the high successor will ensure that tradition Apêl am fwy o danysgrifwyr. drwm nac yn anodd i’r rhai sydd standard of liturgy and worship . is maintained.” Mae Gair y Dydd yn ryfeddol o yn myfyrio yn y Gair. Cysylltwch rad – fe allwch gael cyflenwad â Pryderi Llwyd Jones, Celyn, blwyddyn gyfan am cyn lleied Ffordd Caernarfon, Cricieth, â £10. Fe allech ei dderbyn Gwynedd LL52 0AU 01766 drwy’r post fel tanysgrifydd 523794 [email protected]. Something to celebrate this year unigol, neu fe all eglwys drefnu Llawer o ddiolch am i gael nifer o gopiau. Cysylltwch eich cefnogaeth. Philip Wyn Davies hails those who made the Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament accessible to Welsh speakers ES, we have something to 1559 to 1567, the services in all our the original sources – and the origi- Ycelebrate this year, here in this churches had been in English, and nal language of the New Testament Diocese of St Davids. Not because not many outside South Pembro- is Greek, a language from which this is supposed to be the ‘Year of keshire could understand English. Salesbury could translate. Legends’, we can delight in them at But now, in 1567, with the publi- Richard Davies, Bishop of St any time. A better reason for cele- cation of the Welsh translation of Davids, invited Salesbury to join bration in 2017 is the tercentenary the Book of Common Prayer, the him at Abergwili to undertake the of the birth of William Williams, Welsh people had for the first time translation work, and the bishop Pantycelyn, the great Welsh services that they could understand. and Thomas Huet, Precentor of St Methodist hymn-writer, who was In 1567 the first Welsh trans- Davids (predecessor of the more ordained a deacon in this diocese. lation of the New Testament was modern deans), themselves trans- But has any attention been also published. The principal trans- lated some New Testament books. paid to the most prominent reason lator was William Salesbury, who, The bishop’s translations shows for celebration in 2017: the 450th it appears, was also the translator that although he was a scholar like anniversary of the publication of of the Prayer Book.