‘I have been really blessed to have had some friends staying with me over the past few days. While they are at home [in the UK] for the moment, they are hoping to go back to Afghanistan, and loved visiting Southall and seeing the colours and the Asian atmosphere of our high street. We also ate at the Kabul restaurant, which serves traditional Afghan cuisine, and we reminisced about the food we have eaten!

‘This was all particularly poignant for me, as I will be leaving CMS in the autumn after 10 years. So I won’t be returning overseas to live, although I do hope to visit Afghanistan once again to see my former work colleagues and friends.’

Having been a ‘traditional missionary’, then a not-so-traditional one, does this mean that Sian has stopped caring about the Third World and wants to concentrate on life here?

‘Rubbish!’ is the robust response: ‘I still care passionately about what happens in the third world, and I’d like to focus on peace building activities. [Since working in London, Sian has been completing an MA in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University] Violent conflict within states has increased since the fall of the iron curtain, and this is in great part a legacy of first world intervention. I may choose to live in the first world, but I want to continue to work in a way that has a positive impact on the developing world as well.’

So, Sian, there are no plans to stop being a missionary, then?

‘The Anglican church has 5 marks of mission: one is about proclaiming the Good news, one is about discipling believers, two are about helping people and society more generally, and one is about caring for creation. Mission is –always has been – much more than “preaching to the heathen,” it involves expressing the incarnational love of Jesus wherever and to whomever we meet. I’ll still be part of this great mission wherever I live.’

As Sian moves on – and uses her new learning – we pray for her; and for CMS as they seek to find the right person to continue the work on Southall.

If you want to know more about the work of CMS (and A Rocha, who also work in Southall) see www.cms-uk.org and www.arocha.org.uk