THE PROJECT:
2012 was to be a showcase year - a chance to show off the UK at our glorious best as we draped ourselves in Olympic fever. In the ancient Olympics, a truce was held for 50 days before and after the games to allow for the safe passage of athletes to and from the event. So, with the Olympics coming to London in 2012, we introduced a project called 100 Days of Peace Making. We invited our students to think what it could look like to be peacemakers in their communities and to commit to this, not just for 100 Days, but to identify three initiatives that would build sustainable peace and build bridges across divides.
The chaplain at Oasis Academy: John Williams in South Bristol, got hold of this idea and started to work with a group of students. The first thing the young people did was to organise and hold a community forum, inviting people to come and share their views with them, and together work out how to be peacemakers in their local area.
At the forum, people talked, shared and spoke of how it seemed that some young people didn’t really care about the local environment. In response, the young people set up the ‘Oasis Green Team’. Eighteen months later, and young people still volunteer on a regular basis to litter pick in the local community. Local residents love it and love them, and they talk to the young people as they serve.
Others spoke of their concern that young people in the local community didn’t take enough care when they were on their bikes and were worried that something might happen to them. The young people responded by working with the chaplain and the local police to secure some funding to run a cycling road safety course and a bicycle maintenance programme. Since then many young people have taken part so that they are road aware and safe.
The biggest thing that came out of the forum was that older people in the local community were a bit scared of the young people. They knew it was because they didn’t know them, but also felt that there was never a chance to get to know them. The older people said that they sometimes felt ‘shut in’ with nowhere to go and no community space that was fun to be in. The young people realised that this was something they could help with. The decision was made to stop their Wednesday night youth club and turn it into ‘Open House’, where young and old were invited.
Today, Open House happens every Wednesday night. The academy space is alive with young and old playing games, doing craft activities, quizzes, playing table tennis, and most importantly of all, talking to one another; telling stories of lives lived and lives still lying ahead. The young people find themselves connected to a generation that many of them hadn’t really noticed before. The older people have discovered they can still make a massive difference to people’s lives. As a result of the great relationships built at Open House, volunteering in other Oasis Hub South Bristol activities has increased.
All of this has come about because some young people and an Oasis chaplain refused to let the media define who they are, what they do and who they are becoming. It isn’t a flashy project. It costs in tea, coffee and biscuits. But the impact is deep and long and sustainable.
Four ways to help young people make a difference:
1. Know your vision. The possibility of Open House came about because of the Oasis vision for community transformation and ‘shalom’ (wholeness) at every layer of people’s lives
2. Engage young people with immediate effect. Sometimes when we have a great idea, great projects become initiatives we do ‘to’ them or even ‘for’ them. Open House was an initiative we did ‘with’ them; the young people did the original asking, the organising, the questioning and the talking.
3. Don’t think numbers, think real people. This initiative was never driven by numbers. It wasn’t about chasing a giant attendance every Wednesday night. Instead it was about real people and the possibility of their lives being changed and transformed. It was about doing what we could to provide an environment in which young and old could bump into one another and talk.
4. Look at what is in your hands. Open House was not about doing something flashy. It was just a simple idea, and sometimes those are the best ones. We knew what was in our hands - we had a space, we had great young people, we knew some older people who were influencers who, once invited, would bring their friends, and we knew that tea, coffee and biscuits didn’t cost the earth!
