Bishop joins walk for the untouchables
On Saturday Bishop Nigel Stock of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich joined an 8-mile walk in Bury St Edmunds to support the untouchables in India.
Some 25 people met for a prayer service at Bury Cathedral, and then walked with him on a round trip to Nowton Park.
The walkers were supporting the untouchable or Dalit people of India, who are campaigning for the right to own land.
Three years ago 25,000 Dalits and tribal people in India marched to demand a new law on land. Christian Aid believes that if the Indian government were to agree, it would lift 400 million people out of poverty.
Since that start of October, Christian Aid has organised a series of walks around England to support this campaign. They are generally ending at Cathedrals, so as to have to aspect of pilgrimage and so that people can pray for the success of the cause.
Bury Cathedral has been especially supportive, in adding a special prayer service for this event on Saturday morning, and including prayers relating to India in the evening.
This month campaigners in India will begin the first of a new series of monthly marches for land rights. Some marchers will set aside two handfuls of rice a month to save up for a big march in a year’s time, which they hope will draw 100,000 people.
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