According to the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of refugees and forcibly displaced people increased to a staggering 82.4 million by the end of 2020; more than 26 million of whom are refugees, a number which is larger than the entire population of Taiwan. As recent tragic events in Afghanistan clearly show, the world is as a troubled sea, raging and dashing against a rock of growing global inequality; and the global Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating things, making a bad situation worse.

2. Truer words have never been spoken, namely: “Troubles are the trials of friendship.” For when a man is afflicted he will see who are his friends indeed and who are but pretenders; a brother is born for adversity.

3. The Kamugasa Challenge is delighted to present to you the 1st Episode of ‘Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa’ Podcast; and our special inaugural guest is, The Rt. Revd. Dr Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham.

4. This inaugural episode is entitled, “Refugees and Foreigners Are Welcome.” The refugee crisis is the background canvas upon which the discussion will proceed; and more specifically, the discussion will endeavour to answer a more specific question, namely: “Who is my neighbour?”

5. “Who is my neighbour?” is a pertinent question of our troubled times – both at home in the UK and abroad – especially when we call to mind a wise old saying: “Those that wrong their neighbour may thereby, in the end, wrong their own children more than they know.”

6. Bishop Wilson was born in Edinburgh, and was brought up in East London and Kent. He was educated at St John’s College, at the University of Cambridge; and then Balliol College at Oxford University, where he completed a Doctoral Degree in modern historical theology. Dr Wilson has been the Bishop of Buckingham since 2003; and is a member of the Council of Christians and Jews, the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Wyndham Place Charlemagne Trust, and the Ecclesiastical Law Society. Dr Wilson is the author of ‘More Perfect Union: Understanding Same-Sex Christian Marriage.’

7. Do you want to learn more about Bishop Wilson? Follow him on Twitter, Alan Wilson @alantlwilson or visit his blog, http://bishopalan.blogspot.com/

8. This Special Episode is dedicated to ordinary men and women, who did much to help Stephen Kamugasa during his sore years of distress as a penniless refugee in England. The Episode is also dedicated to Windle Trust International for verifying Stephen Kamugasa’s identity in an independent report requested by the University of Buckingham.

Kindly look up Episode 001 of Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa, and please subscribe to Conversations with Stephen Kamugasa podcast through your favourite podcast app to listen to the latest insights from our guest thought leaders.

Recommended Reading:

a) Doctrine in the Church of England: The Report of the Commission on Christian Doctrine Appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 1922.

b) A Plot to Kill: A true story of deception, betrayal and murder in a quiet English town. By David Wilson.

c) The Independent Safeguarding Review: lessons learnt from events in the parishes of Stowe and Maids Moreton, 2012-2019. By Dr Adi Cooper, OBE.

d) Striking the Balance: Upholding the Seven Principles of Public Life in Regulation.

e) History: Whose history is it anyway? By Stephen Kamugasa