Religious Harmony: “Building Bridges of Understanding in a Slum Community”
Social Action for Value Education | Chennai, India
Pamoja Tujenge Arts Festival 2016
Bukavu Youth Action Center | D.R. Congo
NYDP Girls Intercultural Leadership Workshop
Nepali Youth Development Project | Chitwan District, Nepal
ARHS’s African Scholars Program was founded by three faculty, including natives of Senegal and The Gambia. The program was dedicated to increasing access to African studies at ARHS, expanding awareness of Africa in the community, and building personal connections through student exchanges. The program had offered after-school African Studies classes, prompted the addition of African History and African Literature to the curriculum, sponsored community events with African themes, and developed an exchange with an urban school in Senegal and a rural school in The Gambia. It had also established a relationship with a local NGO in The Gambia.
ARHS students and advisors visited West Africa in 2013, and a group from Senegal made a reciprocal trip in 2014. A Gambian group scheduled to visit Amherst that spring was denied visas. A second cohort of ARHS students planned to travel in 2015, but the outbreak of Ebola in nearby countries forced postponement until February 2016. After two years of preparation, including practice in local languages Wolof and Mandinka; reading/viewing contemporary African literature and film; and studying relevant topics in history, current affairs, religion, arts, and science, the group attended classes at host schools, participated in home stays, visited cultural sites, and engaged in community service.
The ultimate goal of these activities was to create a sense of joint purpose and accomplishment among students of different cultures. Lisle funding allowed ARHS to incorporate the inclusion of host students into their program.
Girls in Nepal faced a mountain of cultural, economic, and social risk factors, impeding access to education and economic success. Overwhelmingly, data showed that compared to boys, girls attended school at lower rates, worked more outside the home as children, worked less outside the home as adults, and entered into marriage as children. These disparities were even greater for girls in lower social castes compared to girls in higher social castes.
According to 2006 data, the percentage of Nepali women who had never received any education ranged from 33% among Newari women to 85% among Dalit (low-caste) women in the Terai (Bennett, 2008). The Nepali Youth Development Project (NYDP) was a young, ambitious education program headed by a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer living in Seattle, WA. NYDP participants ranged in age from 16-25 and represented six major caste and ethnic groups in the Terai region in Nepal. They faced gender and cultural disparities every day in their educational programs.
NYDP intended to augment its successful scholarship program in Chitwan District, Nepal by implementing a new program for its participants: a week-long Intercultural Leadership Workshop. The Intercultural Leadership Workshop was designed to facilitate intercultural learning while building concrete leadership skills. The workshop was facilitated by an experienced Kathmandu-based organization with roots in the Chitwan community. A participatory planning model was used to finalize workshop topics, including NYDP graduates in the planning process.
Additionally, local female leaders provided relevant, local examples of the possible career paths available to workshop participants. Through provision of intercultural activities, the workshop promoted principles of social justice.
With a difficult history of war that began in 1994 with the Rwandan genocide, followed by intermittent conflicts in eastern DRC which cost the lives of more than six million people, and continued militia activities by FDLR from Rwanda and FNL from Burundi, youth developed negative stereotypes and attitudes that made youth relationships in the region problematic. Despite efforts by humanitarian organizations such as Search for Common Ground, which used radio storytelling to encourage dialogue among youth of the three countries, there was still a gap in terms of providing spaces for youth relationship-building and healing of the wounds left by extended instability in the region, and in envisioning a future of peace and unity.
Bukavu Youth Action Center (BYAC) focused on youth leadership development through arts and communication. In 2015, BYAC successfully organized the first edition of the Pamoja Tujenge (a Swahili phrase meaning “Let’s build together”) Arts Festival and challenged more than 500 youth from Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi — through the soft power of dance, music, and painting — to stand united for peace and development in the region. BYAC then sought to reach 1000 youth from Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo with the same message through a three-day event that aimed to achieve the following goals: Share messages of peace and development among youth in the region through visual and performance arts; Promote tolerance, acceptance, and appreciation of one another’s cultural richness, and challenge negative attitudes and stereotypes among youth through arts; Discuss avenues for future collaboration among youth organizations for sustainable peace and development in the region.
Lack of proper housing, basic amenities, and the struggle for daily bread were everyday problems for the slum dwellers of Chennai. Slums were divided into Hindu, Christian, and Muslim religions with caste divisions, and there was traditional hatred between these groups. The aggression of religious and caste differences had a strong influence on youth in the slums, who were also more easily manipulated by religious political parties. Often these disputes escalated into gang violence, which could result in serious injury or even death.
Due to lack of proper education and the problems of alcohol abuse and smoking, many slum youths – aged 18-25 – also became involved in gender-based crimes like eve teasing (sexual harassment) and verbal abuse. Police records showed that the majority of youth serving jail terms fell into this age category. Slum youth did not have the opportunity to experience and understand the values and beliefs of other religions. This lack of understanding was especially evident during festivals and rituals within the different faith communities. This attitude created traditional enmity among the slum youth. Hence, the project aimed to bring Hindus, Christians, and Muslims together.
The project consisted of different activities that built the capacity of 200 youth, both boys and girls, aged 15-25 years. The project cultivated learning opportunities for the youth to break barriers in realizing the values of religious harmony, humanism, caste, gender leadership, togetherness, and advocacy skills. Their active participation enhanced their capacity to regain their rights.
Cameroon was a country of destination for many migrants from neighboring countries, such as Chad and the Central African Republic. The instability and crisis situations faced by some of these states and the porous borders had fostered an increase in migration. These migrants needed to be integrated into the socio-cultural aspects of the host country.
In 2007, Cameroon hosted a total population of refugees and asylum seekers of approximately 97,400. As of April 2013, refugees in Cameroon consisted of 92,094 Central African Republicans, 1,591 Chadians, 3,223 Nigerians, 830 Rwandans, 456 DR Congolese, and 394 of other nationalities. Women represented the majority of immigrants, yet they encountered more difficulties in access to social rights, health, and participation in public activity. This was a challenge as immigrants did not always have the opportunity to adapt and integrate easily into society.
The project aimed to promote intercultural exchanges between 10 women migrants identified in the Central African Republic and Chad communities with 10 Cameroonian women living in Yaoundé and involved in local associations. The project team identified participants from local voluntary associations and migrant communities and coordinated socio-cultural activities, workshops, and discussions over four months. Women were invited to participate in creative workshops and exchanges, opportunities for dialogue that allowed them to express themselves, relate their stories, share, and learn the different codes of each society.
The impact was to bring about understanding, listening, and encouraging mutual support among these women to achieve common purposes. This project also provided an opportunity for these women to learn more about each culture, discuss non-discrimination, inclusion, and diversity. This was reinforced by role-playing and practical exercises. Sports tournaments and a picnic were also organized to help create a dynamic of social solidarity.