azadi trust
Birmingham
Azadi Trust was founded in 1991 by Dr. Robin Fisher, a GP working in Sparkbrook,
Birmingham, as a Christian outreach to the large number of drug users in the
area. From these early beginnings Azadi has followed the vision that ‘Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom’ (2 Cor 3:17) which remains our
‘strapline’ to this day, some thirty years on. The surgery and the drugs work
had closed by the mid-1990’s, but the Charity remained and in 1997, with the
support of the local Anglican church, Christ Church, purchased the old surgery
building. This building is now known as Azadi House. In the early days, the
ground floor of Azadi House was the base for activities such as a youth club and
a homework club, mainly run by Christ Church members but designed to be
accessible to the local community; subsequently the Trust supported projects,
such as ‘Bright Sparks’ mother and toddler group and ‘Azadi Tigers’ football
team, which operated away from its base. On the basis of these early experiences
we don’t seek to ‘set up projects’ but rather to ‘follow what God is doing’ and
actively support Christians in the inner-city who want to set up or who are
already actively running projects, people who have a vision (and warmth and
enthusiasm) to reach others with the love of God but do not want the distraction
of establishing a structure to accommodate their vision and who would rather
just ‘get on with the job’. Hope Garden Project, who have been part of Azadi for
over 10 years, are an example of this.
