Morning at the Oasis

Leaving Paul behind to read, our host Brian Jose took me to the Oasis, drop in centre. Staffed by volunteers from local churches and funded with donations, the Oasis is a women only haven for those of South Asian origin. Jill heads up Oasis, a rented house with a sitting room, a playroom, emergency overnight housing and a prayer/counselling room. The Muslim women who come face a variety of challenges: social isolation, lack of experience in accessing services, family pressure. The south Asian community here has an unusually high occurence of special needs in children. (Perhaps due to the very closed nature of the community) This puts extra pressure on the mums. Oasis is a great, safe place for a chat, a cup of tea, internet access, encouragement and prayer. A list was being circulated to sign up for a coach trip to a seaside resort and Jill was encouraging one young woman who was a little tentative about going a couple of hours away from home without her husband. There are scripture verses, in English and Arabic, in posters up on the wall. The Oasis is very clear that this is a Christian ministry and looks for ways to open doors to Jesus for the women who come. For example, if a woman wants to use the prayer room upstairs for her five times a day prayer time, she is accompanied by an Oasis volunteer who prays for her as she prays. Often, she will ask: what were you doing when I was praying? And the answer is "I was praying for you." So, a conversation opens about prayer, meaning of, purposes of, to whom, and so on. Oasis, like many Christian ministries, operates on the shoe string. Keep it in your prayers.