Faith Youth Manchester - Co-Exist Event
Co-exist Event Sparks Youthful Harmony.
On Sunday, 16th December 2007, Faith Youth Manchester, the youth branch of Faith Network 4 Manchester, held its first event titled "Co-exist". This was a chance for young people from different religions and cultures to meet and interact in a fun and relaxed atmosphere whilst overcoming the barrier that tends to arise as a result of people's different faiths.
Funded
by the Government's Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund and Manchester City
Council's Youth Opportunities Fund, the event was planned and organised by five
Peer Youth Workers. Pictured right (from left) Dee Thompson (Christian), Akeem
Brown (Buddhist), Sara Warner (Jewish), Toby Carr-Brown (Christian) and Saadia
Shafi (Muslim). They have been working with
Jonny Wineberg, Convener of Faith Youth Manchester, since the end of September.
Following a 'human bingo' ice-breaker, a welcome speech was given by the five young representatives who explained the need for the event and the activities that had been scheduled for the day.
There
were several workshops available during the afternoon including t-shirt design,
banner making (pictured left), mural workshop, a drama workshop (below right)
and a discussion session.
While people in the banner workshop were busy getting their hands dirty with paint, others engaged in deeper discussions of ethical scenarios, sharing their personal religious perspective on the issues raised. FN4M Chairperson, Daniel Burton, was one of several faith leaders contributing to the latter and was impressed with the input from the young people.
Everyone
did a great job in creating a fun, relaxed atmosphere, where communication
flowed and new friendships were visibly being made, not to mention the Christmas
crackers that everyone seemed to have particular fun with! After the workshops,
people were treated to a freestyle buffet during which they were able to
interact with one another.
Presentations were then made by the various workshops. The members of the drama workshop provided a short drama sketch of the need and importance of people co-existing. Participants of the T-shirt design workshop showed different designs that had been made on the T-shirts also depicting the need for co-existing. The banner and mural that had been designed were also presented.
The event was considered a great success through the evaluation forms that were filled in by participants at the end of the day. Comments included: "Those things that we share in common are greater than our divisions"; "There can be unity between people from different faiths and beliefs"; "Each religion sees love and peace as very important"; "Although we have different religions, we share similar beliefs"; "It is possible to create a common way of life based on the respect and knowledge of differences better"; and from a young Muslim man, strikingly, "Not everyone is afraid of me".
After the event, participants described themselves as feeling: "upbeat", "enlightened", "spiritual", "really happy" and "fulfilled".
Toby Carr-Brown, one of the Christian Peer Youth Workers, said, "Although the turnout was lower than expected, the event was enjoyed by all and we anticipate higher attendance and even greater success at our next event."
Sara
Warner, the Jewish Peer Youth Worker (pictured left with Dee Thompson),
"It's clear that fundamental ideas within faiths of peace and loving one
another are common and to see young people from different faiths sharing this in
our discussions was very fulfilling."
Saadia Shafi, the Muslim Peer Youth Worker, said, "Our event aimed to provide an opportunity for young people, like ourselves, to socialise with people from other faith groups, and to demonstrate that different faiths can co-exist in harmony. From the positive feedback and the keen responses of everyone I spoke to, I sincerely believe we provided that opportunity."
Jonny Wineberg said, "I am so proud of the way the Peer Youth Workers, themselves young people from different faiths, worked as a team to plan this event. They have shown what can be achieved when we look to emphasise our similarities rather than differences and I hope that many more young people will now wish to take the opportunity to interact with their peers from other faiths."
This next event will be a multi-faith sports event in early March and anyone interested in getting involved can email youth@fn4m.org or call Jonny on 07930 534422.
