Shared Values, Different Journeys.

Meet Our New Inter Faith Week Interns

At the beginning of August, we started our internships at the Faith & Belief Forum, working to help deliver and support Inter Faith Week. We wanted to introduce ourselves, share some personal anecdotes from our respective journeys, offer insights from the induction, and share our excitement about what's to unfold in the next few months!

Who are we?

We both come from very different backgrounds, which have fueled our interest and passion for the interfaith sector.

I’m Adya, currently completing a Master's in Governance, Development and Public Policy at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. I was born and raised in India, a country home to more than six officially recognized major faiths and roughly eighty smaller faith communities and in a household that treated secularism not as an absence of faith but as an active commitment to making room for all of them. My understanding of interfaith has largely been shaped by this upbringing and volunteering with grassroots organizations back in India. Having had the opportunity to be in spaces where people from different communities celebrate festivities together and gather weekly to discuss their shared needs instilled in me a genuine passion to work more meaningfully in this space.

I’m Krish, a twenty-one-year-old based in London. I recently completed Theology and Religion at Durham University and will soon begin an MSc in Social Anthropology. Alongside my academic interest in religion, I’ve always been fascinated by how religions shape, adapt to, and interact with one another, particularly in today's society. This has naturally led me to develop a strong interest in Interfaith Week. Growing up in London, I found interfaith encounters very natural. I attended iftars during Ramadan and Bar Mitzvahs with friends from school. However, when I went to university, I was one of the first practicing Hindus that many of my peers had met. This was often met with a polite curiosity about my beliefs, practices, and traditions, which I tried to engage with while continuing to practice my faith away from home. This experience made me realize the importance of interfaith forums, such as the Durham Interfaith Student Network, which I was involved in, where people can channel this curiosity by learning and understanding other faiths more deeply. This strongly aligns with what I hope to gain from this internship.

Reflections on Induction

During our first week of working, we had an induction which included a broad range of icebreaker questions. These questions sparked meaningful conversations about the values and experiences that have shaped us.

What personality struck a chord for me (Adya) was the spectrum of quietly moving stories. There were stories about a lighthearted moment where a word carried entirely different meanings across faiths, a bond over observed religious traditions and navigating faith traditions being away from our faith communities at home, a story about politically tense faith communities showing each other irrespective of external circumstances. Each story, in its own way, was a small reminder that understanding often begins not with grand gestures, but with everyday moments of shared humanity.

One part of our induction that particularly resonated with me (Krish) was a short activity where Sophie, Adya, and I each shared a value that guides us. Drawing on her Christian background, Sophie chose grace, which inspires kindness and patience. Adya chose compassion, informed by her experience working in charity organizations. I chose seva, a Hindu concept of selfless service to others. What struck me was how our different backgrounds and experiences had come together to create an ethos that we could all connect with, something which is so intrinsic to interfaith work.

Looking Ahead

These powerful moments in our first week left us genuinely excited about our time here as Inter Faith Week Interns. We are both honored to be a part of this inspiring initiative, that will give us the opportunity to travel across the country to meet people from different faith backgrounds and deepen our understanding of interfaith. We look forward to supporting the smooth logistical and administrative facilitation of Interfaith Week, working closely with inspiring youth leaders on the Advisory Panel, and especially to relaunching the Interfaith Podcast, bringing forth new stories of our local interfaith heroes. Here’s to a year filled with connection, learning, and growth.