Pam Evans
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Pamela Christine Evans, known as Pam Evans, is the founder of the Peace Mala Youth Project for World Peace. She is an honours graduate of the University of Wales and an experienced teacher of World Faiths. Pam taught at High School level for 34 years before taking early retirement. In her last teaching post she worked as Head of the Department of Religious Studies in Coedcae Comprehensive School in Llanelli, Wales. Pam was born in Morriston Hospital, Swansea, on the 11th of January 1950.
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[edit] Interests
Pam Evans has been fascinated by the mystical traditions of all faiths for most of her adult life. She also has a keen interest in History, Egyptology, Anthropology and travel. At the age of eleven she declared herself an atheist and stopped attending church. Seven years later whilst studying Religion at A level she discovered Liberal Theology, Biblical Exegesis and Form Criticism. This opened her mind to "a new and exciting way of studying holy scripture"[1] and made her think again about the possible existence of God. She went on to study Mains Divinity at Trinity College, Carmarthen where she was eventually baptised and confirmed a member of the Anglican Church in Wales by the Bishop of Saint David's in the college chapel.
Pam describes herself as an open-minded Christian who has a healthy respect for and interest in all compassionate, spiritual traditions. She practices meditation and prayer daily and also 'whirls' on a regular basis, having received the 'opening' from Sufi mystic and Dervish, Sheikh Ahmad Dede.
[edit] Early career
Pam is an honours graduate of the University of Wales and a former student of Trinity College, Carmarthen where she studied Mains Divinity and Drama and History as subsidiary subjects.[2] Her first teaching post was at Trench Boys School in Donnington, Shropshire. After completing her probationary year,she returned to Swansea and joined Seatown Morning, a local pop/folk group, whilst teaching Drama, English and History at Olchfa Comprehensive School in Swansea. After two years at Olchfa, she joined the teaching staff of Llanelli Boys Grammar School (now known as Coleg Sir Gâr) in 1974. She was one of the first female teachers at the school where she taught Religious Studies, History and Music. Pam introduced a new course in World Faiths for the sixth form students who included Huw Edwards (BBC News Anchorman). The course proved popular with the boys and led on to field-work trips in London where Pam took her students to meet up with members of the Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist communities. Later Pam introduced World Faiths to third year pupils at the school. This innovative move was met with opposition from some teachers in the county who believed that Religious Education should only focus on the Christian faith.
Following reorganisation of the Llanelli schools into the comprehensive system, she was moved to Bryngwyn Comprehensive School. Her last position was at Coedcae Comprehensive School, in Llanelli, Wales where she ran the school library and worked as a pastoral Head of Year whilst teaching A level Religious Studies. In 1997, she became Head of the Department of Religious Studies.
In the Autumn Term of 1997, the first ever National Religious Education Festival of the UK took place. Pam saw this as a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the diversity of faiths she had been teaching about since the mid seventies. She set about organising a whole school event and invited members of the faith communities of South Wales to take part. The day opened with a procession of the faiths along with music, art and sacred dance/drama performed by the Kiran Ratna Hindu Dance Company. The Hoop Dance was performed by Rising Eagle Native Canadian Dance and sacred music was performed by ISKCON Wales. Workshops, prayers for world peace, and Inter-Faith debates, took place throughout the day. The event received press, TV and radio coverage. On 15th October, the Director of Education for Carmarthenshire, who attended the event, wrote the following letter:
Dear Pam,
If ever I needed an example to show how hard work and detailed preparation results in a first class presentation, then last Friday at Coedcae would have been a model example. I think that all present witnessed and experienced an event that will stand apart from most others in their educational career, be it pupil, a member of staff or a school visitor. It was a first class 'production', well planned and managed, and one that did and will contribute to the educational experiences provided by Coedcae for its pupils. I am looking forward very much to see it on 'Heno' - it is an action replay that I am very keen to see. Thank you for the kindness in inviting me and please give my grateful thanks to all those at Coedcae who contributed in making it such a memorable experience.
Yours sincerely,
Keith Davies
Director of Education
[edit] Peace Mala
Pam started the Peace Mala project in the year 2002 during her time as Head of the Department of Religious Studies in Coedcae Comprehensive School. The idea came after a series of class discussions about the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11. Islamaphobia had increased dramatically. This was something which became apparent when one of her own pupils, Imran Sheikh, had been receiving racial taunts at school and his local mosque had been attacked.
In 2005, she gave up her position in room 37 of Coedcae school to focus on her work with Peace Mala. On 16 November 2006, (25th Shawwal 1427 AH), Pam was awarded the Noble Soul Award 2006 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to challenging Islamaphobia in schools. The award was presented by RAHMA (Racial Attacks and Harassment Monitoring Association) on the International Day of Peace.
[edit] External links
- www.peacemala.org.uk/ - The Peace Mala official website.
