Fact Bites

Full Name: Kemal Shahin
From: London, Originally from the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus)
Birthday: 18th November 1985
Star Sign: Scorpio!
Religion: SGI Buddhist
Favourite TV shows: Sex and the City, America’s Next Top Model, Desperate Housewives
Favourite Event: Eurovision Song Contest
Favourite Film: Sister Act, Coming to America
Hobbies: Bellydancing, Reading, Writing, Travelling, and Listening to Music
Favourite artists: Elvis, Destiny’s Child, Christina Aguilera, Dana International
Most want to visit: Egypt
Best Holiday: Pattaya, Thailand 2006
Favourite Food: Indian and chocolate

Did you know?

Kemal Worked as a Bellydancer before Big Brother and won several awards as being a renowned Male Bellydancer both in the UK, Turkey and the TRNC

Kemal ate mud as a child – he liked the taste.

Kemal was attending University before Big Brother, on an English Literature, Cultural History and Drama Degree

Kemal smashed his parents car, that they brought him to drive aged 17, by crashing into a lamp post forward, another lampost going backwards and then forwards again, trying to do a U-turn…no wonder it took him FIVE attempts to pass the driving test

Kemal was set to go travelling around Ukraine for 2 months when offered a place on Big Brother

Kemal reached the final 75 on Pop Idol 2003, which Michelle McManus eventually won

A Bit about Buddhism

Kemal says…

‘SGI (Soka Gakkai Buddhist) is the last form of founded Buddhism. It was introduced to me by one of my greatest friend’s back in January 2005. Though a devote Muslim at the time I had always felt shunned by Islam due to my sexual preference and choice of lifestyle. After going to a regional meeting I soon came to find a religion that was both embracing of me as an individual and gave me a tool for working through my own issues and problems, namely through chanting.

Chanting is the process of meditation by where one sits and chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting for me worked greatly, as it allowed me to chant for what I wanted to be and achieve as well as chanting through my struggles. During Big Brother is was my rock.”

The belief as sought from www.sgi-uk.org www.sgi-uk.org

SGI-UK members follow the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, who was born in 1222 in Japan. He taught that chanting the title of the Lotus Sutra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, to the Gohonzon is the practice that enables people in the present age to attain Buddhahood.

Our beliefs and practice direct people to respect that which is of ultimate value: life itself.
Central to the Buddhist teachings is the law of cause and effect, which states that every cause we make (in thought, word or deed) creates an effect in our own life and that of our environment. Through their Buddhist faith and practice, SGI-UK members transform their inner lives and develop the qualities needed to bring about personal fulfillment and contribute to the positive development of society.

To find out more information please visit the official SGI-UK website www.sgi-uk.org