Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Mediabox Ramadan Photography Project
This collection of photographs was taken by young people from the South Asian community in Bristol, to explore the importance of Ramadan. The photographs were taken during Eid al-Fitr, a celebration making the end of Ramadan where people gather to pray, eat and celebrate together. These photographs provide an insight into this important religious festival.
Photography by Hira Hanif and Osman Hussain
Labels:
Awaz Utaoh,
Eid al-Fitr,
Mediabox,
photography,
Ramadan
Friday, 26 November 2010
Bristol Celebrates
Last Sunday (21st Nov) at City Academy I went down to Bristol Celebrates festival. It was a great event to celebrate different religions and cultures. I volunteered as a steward for some of the time and I had a great day, it was really inspiring to meet so many different people who want to do positive things across cultural and religious boundaries.
Do you sleep in your hijab?
A group of young people from the Somali Development group had put on their own exhibition about wearing hijabs and I got to try out a hijab style. The girls said they get asked lots of questions by people about why they wear hijabs and decided to make this exhibition to answer these questions. One girl explained to me that she doesn’t always wear hijab, but she feels different when she does. We had a interesting chat about the idea of being modest and how women should be respected. (and in case you’re wondering… no they take them off at home and don’t sleep in them!)Youth together from different faiths + cultures
Bristol Active Youth Service (BAYS) a youth service run by young people also came along to Bristol Celebrates and had their own display, it was pretty cool to hear about what they are doing. So far they have set up study clubs and youth activities and hope to get their own premises soon. What is amazing about this is it has been set-up by young people from Easton and Eastville for themselves and it has really inspired me about what we as young people can do!
Labels:
Community,
Easton,
young people
Monday, 18 October 2010
Portents Pictures
We've finally got the pictures through from the Bristol Portents event back in September. Our awesome tent was proudly pitched up on College Green amongst some amazing contributions from other local artists and community organisations. There were over 11,000 visitors over the nine days to this incredible community art installation.
You can see our pics on our Flickr page here.
You can see our pics on our Flickr page here.
Assembly at City Academy
On Tuesday 12th we headed over to City Academy to deliver an exciting assembly presentation on community activism to inspire AS level students to get involved in the new Mediabox and Inter Act project at their school. The aim was to emphasise the power of community action and how powerful your voice can be. We wanted to inspire young people to take action and speak out about what was most important to them.
The presentation went well and we had several young people sign up with lots of ideas for action projects including a documentary about Islamophobia. We are really looking forward to getting started on this project and can't wait to see what ideas the students come up with.
The presentation went well and we had several young people sign up with lots of ideas for action projects including a documentary about Islamophobia. We are really looking forward to getting started on this project and can't wait to see what ideas the students come up with.
Labels:
action project,
Assembly,
City Academy,
Inter Act,
Mediabox
Monday, 11 October 2010
Mediabox & InterAct: City Academy Visit to Refugee Rights Drop-in Centre
Last week we began the first sessions of our Mediabox and Inter Act project with City Academy. At the start of the week we met with AS level media students who will form the core of the group to introduce ourselves and find out how they would like to be involved.
Welcome Lunch
On Thursday we took 12 of the students to the Bristol Refugee Rights drop in centre for an introductory lunch and a chance to meet some of the young refugees who get support from the centre. Bristol Refugee Rights is a fantastic community organisation that provides a place of welcome for asylum seekers and refugees to meet and get support. They also campaign for human rights and support refugees and asylum seekers to play a full part in the life of the wider community.Many of the students were a little overwhelmed when we arrived due to the sheer number of people who were there for the lunch. Food was provided by Awaz Utaoh, a local South Asian community organisation, and we were treated to an amazing selection of curries, dhal and rice dishes. When the lunchtime rush was quieting down we sat outside where the students were greeted by many of the refugees and asylum seekers who were keen to answer their questions and welcome them.
The afternoon took a slightly surreal turn when the props for the drama workshop taking place in the afternoon arrived.We were suddenly talking to people in amazing hats, masks and animal head dresses which the students found very amusing. This brightened the atmosphere and helped to put everyone at their ease.
It was a great afternoon and we hope that the students may be inspired to look at refugee and asylum issues for some of their social action project in the next few months.You can check out the rest of the photos from the day on our Flickr page here.
Labels:
Awaz Utaoh,
Bristol Refugee Rights,
City Academy,
Inter Act,
Mediabox,
refugees
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
World Peace Day
Today is International World Peace Day, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence where people around the world put down their weapons and join together in the name of peace. Check out this short film from charity Peace One Day to find out how the day came about and why it is so important.
You can find out more about Peace One Day on their website where you can also pledge your personal commitment to world peace.
You can find out more about Peace One Day on their website where you can also pledge your personal commitment to world peace.
www.peaceoneday.org |
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
UNITY at Bristol Portents Event
This month UNITY will be contributing to an exciting event on College Green during September called Portents. It is a community art installation comprising of 50 tents showcasing images from different community groups in Bristol on the themes of Home, Histories and Hope.
The project has been produced by photographer John Easterby in partnership with the Pierian Centre and promises to be a dynamic and interesting exhibition.
We've contributed images for our own tent showcasing some of the work we've done with young people over the past year.
If you'd like to come along the tents will be on College Green from the 18th to the 26th September 2010. For more information check out the BBC news page.
The project has been produced by photographer John Easterby in partnership with the Pierian Centre and promises to be a dynamic and interesting exhibition.
We've contributed images for our own tent showcasing some of the work we've done with young people over the past year.
If you'd like to come along the tents will be on College Green from the 18th to the 26th September 2010. For more information check out the BBC news page.
Mediabox & InterAct: Ramadan Photo Project
On Wednesday 25th August we met with 3 young people from South Asian community organisation Awaz Utaoh to being a photography project exploring Ramadan.We did several activities exploring what Ramadan means to each of the young people and choosing key themes for them to explore in photographs. Here are some of the words they came up with:
Ramadan or Ramzan is a time for fasting where Muslims of all ages do not eat or drink between the hours of dawn until sunset. It is a spiritual time of prayer and reflection and the young people said that fasting made them feel good and have good intentions towards others. Ramzan is also a time when Muslims give charitably, Zakat, and many of the young people were sending funds to their friends and families in Pakistan to help provide essential supplies to survive the terrible flooding.
The key themes they decided to focus on are:
5 practices that are essential for all Muslims.
It was amazing to speak to the young people about their faith and how it impacts on their lives. We hope that the photo exhibition will give an insight into what it means to be a young Muslim in Bristol. Watch this space for more details over the next few weeks.
Word cloud created using wordle.net.
Ramadan or Ramzan is a time for fasting where Muslims of all ages do not eat or drink between the hours of dawn until sunset. It is a spiritual time of prayer and reflection and the young people said that fasting made them feel good and have good intentions towards others. Ramzan is also a time when Muslims give charitably, Zakat, and many of the young people were sending funds to their friends and families in Pakistan to help provide essential supplies to survive the terrible flooding.
The key themes they decided to focus on are:
Eid
The holiday that marks the end of Ramzan. Chaand Raat
The night before Eid, a great time of celebration where families gather to spot the new moon tghat marks the end of Ramzan and the start of Eid. Fasting
5 Pillars of Islam5 practices that are essential for all Muslims.
It was amazing to speak to the young people about their faith and how it impacts on their lives. We hope that the photo exhibition will give an insight into what it means to be a young Muslim in Bristol. Watch this space for more details over the next few weeks.
Word cloud created using wordle.net.
Labels:
Awaz Utaoh,
Mediabox,
photography,
Ramadan,
Ramzan
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Our survey says...
Whatever you think!
Bread is conducting a survey to find out just what you think about our projects. We're looking at how we reach young people, our branding and what people know and think about BREAD.
If you have a couple of minutes to spare then please follow the links below. Your opinions matter to us and we want to ensure we are providing the best possible support and activities for you!
Current volunteers:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q6QQGLJ
Young people not officially involved in BREAD:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7V6TR2C
Thank you for your time and watch this space!
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
UNITY is back!
It's been very quiet here in the UNITY office while we've been waiting for our funding applications to come through but we're pleased to say that UNITY is back with a brand new project for the next few months.
Inter Act
Inter Act is a new project run by the Citizenship Foundation that supports young refugees and asylum seekers aged between 16 and 25 to come together with local young people to identify shared concerns and issues and develop their own campaigns to tackle them.
The project will be running in Birmingham, Swansea and Cardiff and UNITY will be co-ordinating the Bristol project in partnership with the Somali Development Group and other local organisations.
We'll soon be recruiting peer educators to help deliver the project so watch this space for more details.
Inter Act
Inter Act is a new project run by the Citizenship Foundation that supports young refugees and asylum seekers aged between 16 and 25 to come together with local young people to identify shared concerns and issues and develop their own campaigns to tackle them.
The project will be running in Birmingham, Swansea and Cardiff and UNITY will be co-ordinating the Bristol project in partnership with the Somali Development Group and other local organisations.
We'll soon be recruiting peer educators to help deliver the project so watch this space for more details.
Labels:
asylum seekers,
campaigning,
Citizenship Foundation,
Inter Act,
refugees,
Somali Development Group
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
UNITY Guerilla Galleries
Part of the Bristol Festival of Photography, with help from For the Love of it, this quirky little exhibition is already brightening up parts of Bristol.
UNITY put up three big and two mini Guerilla Galleries around central Bristol. To check out the Galleries in St Werburghs, St Pauls and Easton, see our collection on Flickr:
Guerilla Galleries Collection
The Love of It
Bristol Festival of Photography: Guerilla Galleries
For further information see: UNITY Blog
UNITY put up three big and two mini Guerilla Galleries around central Bristol. To check out the Galleries in St Werburghs, St Pauls and Easton, see our collection on Flickr:
Guerilla Galleries Collection
The Love of It
Bristol Festival of Photography: Guerilla Galleries
For further information see: UNITY Blog
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Fairfield Students present Assembly at Lockleaze Primary School
Fairfield peer educators visited Lockleaze Primary School on Wednesday May 19th to present an Assembly to over 80 children aged 7-11 yrs. After some nerves in the morning and a few technical difficulties, the Assembly got under way. The peer educators did extemely well, overcoming their nerves to present the Why I Respect project in an engaging and enthusiastic way. They had great interaction from the audience and answered questions really well. There was a focus on diversity and the leap from Primary to Secondary School. The Why I Respect film was shown and then the children asked questions about the project and the school.
Fairfield Student:
'I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I don't normally like public speaking.'
'It went really quickly and it was not as scary as I thought it would be.'
Alison Hendy, Deputy Headteacher Lockleaze Primary School: 'The Assembly fits in well with our work on tackling racism and discrimination, "Say No to Racism"/"Give Racism the Red Card"'.
Charlie Mee: 'The students will get extra merit points for their achievements today and representing Fairfield so well to younger children, who might well want to attend our School in the future.'
Q: How many different languages are spoken at home by Fairfield students?
a: 1-10
b: 11-20
c: 21-30
A: 26
Fairfield Student:
'I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I don't normally like public speaking.'
'It went really quickly and it was not as scary as I thought it would be.'
Alison Hendy, Deputy Headteacher Lockleaze Primary School: 'The Assembly fits in well with our work on tackling racism and discrimination, "Say No to Racism"/"Give Racism the Red Card"'.
Charlie Mee: 'The students will get extra merit points for their achievements today and representing Fairfield so well to younger children, who might well want to attend our School in the future.'
Q: How many different languages are spoken at home by Fairfield students?
a: 1-10
b: 11-20
c: 21-30
A: 26
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
UNITY Street Art Project
Bristol is synonymous with graffiti. It's everywhere you look! And as we all know Banksy, one of the most infamous graffiti artists, is a born and bred Bristolian.
At UNITY we are starting up a Street Art Project to look at the different and diverse forms of graffiti and other street art from all over Bristol. Our UNITY street journalist Ruth has set up a blog dedicated to the project. All updates and events will be logged on here: http://www.unitystreetart.blogspot.com/
We want to gather together opinions and ideas about graffiti in Bristol working towards producing a zine or leaflet about what young people think about street art in their area.
To get started we will be doing a bit of vox popping at the Stokes Croft Street Festival on Saturday 22nd May (this weekend!): http://stokescroftstreetfest.wordpress.com/ The Stokes Croft Street festival is a culmination of a week of activities celebrating the area's exciting and vibrant diversity. Sounds right up UNITY's street!
If you are interested in getting involved with the UNITY Street Art Project, whether it's to write something, take photos or just express your opinion, get in touch.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Peoples Hustings College Green, Bristol
UNITY went down to College Green on Tuesday 4th May to check out the Peoples Hustings, organised by the Speakers Corner Trust.
Speakers’ Corner Trust is a registered charity which promotes free expression, public debate and active citizenship as a means of revitalising civil society in the UK and supporting its development in emerging democracies. (http://www.speakerscornertrust.org/)
Here are some thoughts from Ruth a UNITY volunteer:
I went along today to hear what the politicians had to say at the Peoples Hustings on College Green today. It started with historical speeches, and that was really interesting, especially Emmeline Pankhurst. She talked about things that were most relevant for feeling disenfranchised. I think it is really relevant when she said, ‘No one can govern you, unless you give your consent.’
I thought it was good that there was a variety of people from different organizations in the community. And it was good to have a young person speaking, and not just the stereotype of a young person, but she spoke her own mind.
And the woman who spoke from SPAN was good and she had lots of good things to talk about.
It made me think that our own politics is about telling people that if they have a problem you will fix it, rather than having a proper discussion. Politicians need to be honest if they don’t agree or can’t fix something.
You can also hear three of the inspiring speeches from historical figures, Oliver Crowmwell, Emmeline Pankhurst and Winston Churchill.
Oliver Cromwell
Emmeline Pankhurst
Winston Churchill
Vox Pops around Cabot Circus
The Thursday before the election, UNITY was out and about on the streets of Cabot Circus, Bristol to find out the different reasons why people Do and Don't Vote. Oneil was our roving audio reporter, interviewing 14 people on their differing views. We spoke to people of all ages and found people passionate about politics and the elections as well as those disillusioned. Listen to some of the reasons people gave......
For Voting:
For Not Voting:
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Face to Face scheme update
You may remember a few months ago that some of the UNITY volunteers attended a scheme run by the BBC called Face 2 Face. The scheme gave each volunteer the chance to work alongside media professionals and develop their technical skills. We caught up with one of our volunteers, Romayne Graham, to find out more about his experience at the BBC and how this has lead to new opportunities for a career in the industry.
"When Face 2 Face started we split up into three small groups. They wanted us to make a short film, which raised a question “Is the BBC for me?”. The catch was that we only had three days to do it. That gave us one day to come up with an idea and develop it with the intention of shooting it on the following day. We only had the third day to cut it together. It was an intense three days but it was definitely a good experience because we had the whole BBC at our disposal.
After making our short films we were able to attend professional workshops at the BBC once a week for 3 months. To my surprise mid-way through the workshops we were told that three paid work placements would be up at the end of the scheme.
I was one of the lucky three to gain a placement. I would be a Entry Level Runner for three months with pay. Not only that but I would work across the three main departments of BBC Bristol. Which meant working on Points West, post-production and NHU (natural history unit).
I have been working on Points West for the last two weeks and my first impressions are good. I have shown that I have a technical interest so I have been learning how to control the Hub, which is PointsWest super computer.
Reporters give me tapes and I record them onto the server. Once they are on the sever they’re routed to Points West editing suites where the reporters cut together their own martial. This is also where live broadcasts are streamed to the Points West studio.
I have also been fortunate to go out with a reporter by the name of John Maguire and I have helped set up the Points West studio for broadcast.
With the time I have left in the newsroom I hope to learn about vision-mixing. The idea of cutting together a show live on air really excites to me.
I see this work placement as a huge opportunity develop my skills as a media practitioner. Hopefully the skills I learn whilst at the BBC will help me to gain other job opportunities in the media industry." Romayne, 24
We're really proud of what Romayne has achieved and look forward to seeing how his career develops in the future. You can see pictures from the scheme on our Flickr site.
"When Face 2 Face started we split up into three small groups. They wanted us to make a short film, which raised a question “Is the BBC for me?”. The catch was that we only had three days to do it. That gave us one day to come up with an idea and develop it with the intention of shooting it on the following day. We only had the third day to cut it together. It was an intense three days but it was definitely a good experience because we had the whole BBC at our disposal.
After making our short films we were able to attend professional workshops at the BBC once a week for 3 months. To my surprise mid-way through the workshops we were told that three paid work placements would be up at the end of the scheme.
I was one of the lucky three to gain a placement. I would be a Entry Level Runner for three months with pay. Not only that but I would work across the three main departments of BBC Bristol. Which meant working on Points West, post-production and NHU (natural history unit).
I have been working on Points West for the last two weeks and my first impressions are good. I have shown that I have a technical interest so I have been learning how to control the Hub, which is PointsWest super computer.
Reporters give me tapes and I record them onto the server. Once they are on the sever they’re routed to Points West editing suites where the reporters cut together their own martial. This is also where live broadcasts are streamed to the Points West studio.
I have also been fortunate to go out with a reporter by the name of John Maguire and I have helped set up the Points West studio for broadcast.
With the time I have left in the newsroom I hope to learn about vision-mixing. The idea of cutting together a show live on air really excites to me.
I see this work placement as a huge opportunity develop my skills as a media practitioner. Hopefully the skills I learn whilst at the BBC will help me to gain other job opportunities in the media industry." Romayne, 24
We're really proud of what Romayne has achieved and look forward to seeing how his career develops in the future. You can see pictures from the scheme on our Flickr site.
Labels:
BBC Bristol,
experience,
Face 2 Face,
filming,
media,
volunteering
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Why I Respect : The finished film!
This has been a really special project for us and our thanks go to our fabulous peer educators Oneil and Shagia who’ve supported every session and were fantastic with all the young people. We’d also like to thank Charlie Mee and Andy Gove from Fairfield school for being so supportive and helping us make the project possible, we’d really like to work with the school again in the future.
Our thanks also go out to BBC Bristol and editor Richard Lanciault for providing such excellent technical support and enthusiasm. Last but by no means least we’d like to thank the Fairfield Students themselves for bringing such creativity, humour and flair to the project. We loved working with everyone and the commitment and entertainment they brought to the project was brilliant. They’re an awesome bunch and we hope to work with them again in the future.
"As a school, we couldn't have asked for more from the Bread Youth Project in terms of the professionalism, the enthusiasm and the imagination you demonstrated in the way you managed the whole project, and in the way you worked with our students. The sessions were thoughtfully and creatively put together, with care and attention to detail, and the diverse group of young people were engaged and motivated throughout the six weeks of the project. Add to this the inspiring choice of volunteer facilitators and organisations who Bread arranged for us to work with (including the chance to work with experienced film-makers and to edit at the BBC) and Fairfield would have absolutely no hesitation in working with Bread again, or in recommending other schools to do so."
Charlie Mee, Extended School Co-ordinator, Fairfield High School, Bristol
Labels:
BBC,
BBC Bristol,
BREAD Youth,
Bristol and Avon Chinese Womens Group,
Bristol Sweet Mart,
Diversity,
Easton,
EC1,
Fairfield School,
filming,
St Marks Road,
Why I Respect,
young people
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Clash of the Titans!
See the party leaders go head to head in the first televised political debate tomorrow night on ITV1. You can follow the action online with lots of interactive features on the ITV website.
Don't miss out on the action and your chance to hear what the politicians have to say straight from the horse's mouth.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Make sure your voice is heard this election
The UK general election is being held on 6 May 2010 and if you aren't registered your voice can't be heard.
You can follow all the election action on the BBC website, hear what the politicians are saying to earn your vote and read their manifestos online.
Make sure you register by 20 April 2010 if you want to vote in this election. Go to aboutmyvote and register now!
Top links for first time voters:
How to vote:
The BBC news website it great for info on what to do, where to go and how to vote.
Radio 1: Newsbeat
The Newsbeat site has lots of videos, debate from young people and simple overviews of the events and policies and how they will affect you.
The Parties
Check the BBC page for some of the sites of the political parties contesting seats across the UK in the 2010 general election.
Who to vote for?
Votematch is a great site for helping to work out your voting preference. By answering a few questions on different issues it will give you a rough idea of which party you are best suited to.
UK Youth Parliament have asked lots of party leaders to send them a statement explaining why young people should vote for them. Head over to their site and click onto the party logos to hear what the leaders have to say.
Channel 4 Fact Check
Fact Check goes behind the spin to separate the political fact from fiction.
BBC Interactive Guide
A very handy site that allows you to directly compare each parties policies on a whole range of issues with just a couple of clicks.
Democracy UK
Democracy UK is Facebook's page to bring people and politics together.
Join in the Facebook / Youtube digital debate
We believe your views matter so don't be a bystander, get involved and make a difference to your community and your country.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Your World Your Say Schools Conference
On Monday 29th March we attended the Your world Your Say schools conference at BAWA in South Gloucestershire. The event was attended by lots of organisations with the aim of empowering year 8 students to discuss local and global issues and take action in their own schools. We ran 4 half hour workshops in the morning with 50 students from schools all over Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.
We had two new volunteers supporting the activities, Izzy and Huria and hopefully they’ll be working with us on more projects over the next few months. We ran the UNITY Flag and First Impressions activities which went down really well with students and teachers alike and we hope to have made some new links for project work with other schools in the future.
"I learnt a lot of stuff during the session and enjoyed myself a lot." - Huria, 19
We had two new volunteers supporting the activities, Izzy and Huria and hopefully they’ll be working with us on more projects over the next few months. We ran the UNITY Flag and First Impressions activities which went down really well with students and teachers alike and we hope to have made some new links for project work with other schools in the future.
Here’s what the students learnt and enjoyed:
'You can't judge people by the way they look.'
'Don't judge a book by it's cover'
'Everyone's different'
'I learnt about not judging people and giving people chances.'
'Very interactive'
'It helped me to think about myself'
'It was brilliant and I would love to do it again!'
What the teachers thought:
'There's a lot about my students I teach that I nevet get chance to ask/ know about.'
'Very good. Proof of the difficulties with identity.'
'Friendly and interactive session.'
'Great workshop!'
What our peer educators thought:
"The session went great, I really enjoyed myself. The young people were really enjoyable to work with and Ina and Steph were really great." - Izzy, 17"I learnt a lot of stuff during the session and enjoyed myself a lot." - Huria, 19
Labels:
First Impressions,
schools conference,
UNITY flag,
Why I Respect,
workshops,
Your world your say
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Why I Respect: Fairfield School DiversEC1ty event
Well we made it! We managed the impossible and completed the film in time to be screened at the Farfield School's DiversEC1ty event, so called as it is a celebration of the cultural diversity of EC1, the community surrounding Fairfield.
It was a fantastic event with food from all over the world, a Somali fashion show, singing, drumming and activities. UNITY had our own stall showcasing all the photos and information from the Why I Respect project at the event which culminated in a screening of the film.
All the students were really pleased with what they had achived and were able to show off their work to their parents. It was a fantastic way to end the project on such and high and we thanked all the students who were involved with chocolate and certificates.
It was a fantastic event with food from all over the world, a Somali fashion show, singing, drumming and activities. UNITY had our own stall showcasing all the photos and information from the Why I Respect project at the event which culminated in a screening of the film.
All the students were really pleased with what they had achived and were able to show off their work to their parents. It was a fantastic way to end the project on such and high and we thanked all the students who were involved with chocolate and certificates.
Labels:
DiversEC1ty event,
Fairfield School,
filming,
Why I Respect
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Why I Respect: Editing at the BBC
We spent the day editing at BBC Bristol with the Fairfield Students to get the film finished for the DiversEC1ty Event at their school next week. The students had the opportunity to work with professional editor Richard Lanciault and really enjoyed the chance to see all the equipment and decide on the look and feel of their finished piece. We’d like to give a big thank you to Richard for all his time and support on the project, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible!
Comments from the students:
'I enjoyed learning how to use final cut pro.''I really enjoyed going to the BBC and editing and watching our videos'
Labels:
BBC Bristol,
editing,
Fairfield School,
Why I Respect
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Why I Respect: Filming in the Community
After weeks of planning the students went out into the community to film their project today with Shagia and Oneil, two peer educators with UNITY. We split them into 2 groups, one focussing on Chinese culture and the other visiting the multicultural area of St Marks Road in Easton.
The Chinese group visited the Wai Yee Hong supermarket in Eastgate where they filmed all the different Chinese food, tried their hand at presenting and bought a few items to share with their classmates. They then went on to visit the Bristol and Avon Chinese Women’s Group, a local community organisation that supports the Chinese population of Bristol. Students interviewed staff from the organisation about Chinese culture and were fortunate enough to visit an arts project for older Chinese women. Although the women could speak no English they were clearly pleased to see the young people and took great pleasure in showing them how to make various origami animals to their delight.
The importance of the orgaisation was brought home to the students by the workers at the project who described the isolation felt by many of the women who could speak no English and had never learnt to write before. The project gave the women a space to come together, share skills and meet new people in the community. They showed us a fantastic book that the women had compiled filled with beautifully illustrated recipes and batique Chinese characters that they were really proud of.
Group 2:
The second group visited St Marks Road in Easton, an incredibly diverse and culturally rich street with it’s many local businesses and community groups. The young people interviewed varioius shop keepers, from the barbers to the hallal butchers and Mr Abdul Ismail from the Brisol Sweet Mart, who gave them a detailed account of how his family escaped persecution in Uganda and came to this country to start a new life and set up their own business. The group then had the opportunity to sample some of the wonderful food that the Sweet Mart had to offer from pakoras to gulab jamen before heading back to school to compare their footage with the other group.
Over the next few days we’ll be working on the edit before taking the students to BBC Bristol to edit together the final piece. The finished film will be available to view on youtube in a couple of weeks and will be screened at Fairfield School’s DiversEC1ty Day.
What the students learnt and enjoyed:
'I enjoyed going to the chinese supermarket'
'I learnt how to interview people properly.'
'I enjoyed finding out about different cultures.'
What our peer educators thought:
'I really enjoyed going out into the community. The young people were very encouraging to each other and seemed quite professional when interviewing.' - Shagia, 19
Labels:
Bristol and Avon Chinese Womens Group,
Bristol Sweet Mart,
Chinese supermarket,
Community,
Fairfield School,
filming,
St Marks Road,
Why I Respect
Friday, 5 February 2010
Why I Respect: Fairfield School Session 2
This session was great fun as we started off by playing games to get them thinking about their likes and dislikes and also learning each other’s names. Oneil then led a heritage game where the young people had to describe what they thought the heritage of the person next to them was and whether they thought they were born in the UK. This led to some interesting discussion on why they had formed these opinions, some based on surnames and others based on hair and eye colour.
To follow up this activity we got everyone to put stickers on a world map on the countries their family is connected to. This helped them to visualise the diversity of their group.
After looking at their own heritage and cultures we gave them time to plan what cultures they would like to focus on for their project. Each group put forward their ideas and the peer educators facilitated a democratic voting system to give the young people real ownership of the project. The final topic choices were edited several times until the whole group was happy with the direction they were going to take. The students also discussed things they would like to find out about these cultures. The peer educators were fantastic at making sure they considered all the practical elements such as how they could interview people from these communities and ensuring they kept in mind the time frame of the project.
This week we introduced another peer educator to the team, Shagia so it was her turn to sit in the hot seat for the 'First Impressions' activity. The young people were still way off on a few topics but it also led them to ask other questions about religion and travel as well as other topics which shows they are really thinking about all the elements that make up a persons identity.
What the students thought:
'I enjoyed the word association and learning about different cultures.'
What the Peer Educators thought:
'I feel this session went very well and the kids felt they had a lot of control over the ideas which was what we want.' Oneil, 22
'At first I was really quiet but then managed to speak to everyone. The whole experience was really good and getting to know everyone. I really enjoyed working with the kids on this project and I hope it goes well in future sessions.' Shagia, 19
To follow up this activity we got everyone to put stickers on a world map on the countries their family is connected to. This helped them to visualise the diversity of their group.
After looking at their own heritage and cultures we gave them time to plan what cultures they would like to focus on for their project. Each group put forward their ideas and the peer educators facilitated a democratic voting system to give the young people real ownership of the project. The final topic choices were edited several times until the whole group was happy with the direction they were going to take. The students also discussed things they would like to find out about these cultures. The peer educators were fantastic at making sure they considered all the practical elements such as how they could interview people from these communities and ensuring they kept in mind the time frame of the project.
This week we introduced another peer educator to the team, Shagia so it was her turn to sit in the hot seat for the 'First Impressions' activity. The young people were still way off on a few topics but it also led them to ask other questions about religion and travel as well as other topics which shows they are really thinking about all the elements that make up a persons identity.
What the students thought:
'I enjoyed the word association and learning about different cultures.'
'I learnt alot about different cultures.'
'Awesome, best ever!'What the Peer Educators thought:
'I feel this session went very well and the kids felt they had a lot of control over the ideas which was what we want.' Oneil, 22
'At first I was really quiet but then managed to speak to everyone. The whole experience was really good and getting to know everyone. I really enjoyed working with the kids on this project and I hope it goes well in future sessions.' Shagia, 19
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Why I Respect...
The Project
Why I Respect has been developed in response to an idea put forward by the UNITY steering group of peer educators. The project aims to encourage young people to explore the diversity of their own communities and promote cultural understanding and respect for others.
Our aim is to run workshops with different groups around Bristol from schools to youth groups, actively encouraging young people to get out into their communities and engage with different groups.
The Pilot: Fairfield School
Our pilot project is taking place at Fairfield school where a team of peer educators from UNITY will work with Year 9 students. Students will work with the peer educators to investigate ideas of cultural identity in their local area (EC1) and create a 5-minute video celebrating cultural diversity.
The finished film will be shown at the schools Bristol: DiveEC1ty event in March and will be used as an educational resource for workshops and assemblies given by the Year 9 students at Fairfield's feeder primary schools.
Session 1
This first session was all about getting to know the young people and allowing our peer educators Claire and Oneil to get a feel for the project and their involvement. We played lots of icebreaker games to get the young people to feel relaxed and help us find out more about them. One of the best activities was the Heritage Flag. We asked each group to draw a flag and draw or write in each corner:
We had some great discussion around these points and it led the group to find out more about the people they see at school everyday.
The 'First Impressions' Activity was the most popular though. We asked the young people to answer a series of questions about the peer educators and UNITY staff based only on their first impressions of us. The questions ranged from how old we were to what music we liked and how rich we were! On some aspects they seemed to have us pretty well sussed out but other things were way off and it served as a great tool to show them how wrong their first impressions and assumptions about people can sometimes be.
What our Peer Educators thought:
'I felt it went very well. The main thing is that the kids enjoy themselves. They learnt that you can't judge a book by its cover.' Oneil, 22
'I was impressed with the kids behaviour and how thy responded to us. They were coming up with lots of ideas.' Claire, 24
Overall it was a fantastic first session, filled with energy, ideas and enthusiasm and we can't wait to go back next week!
Why I Respect has been developed in response to an idea put forward by the UNITY steering group of peer educators. The project aims to encourage young people to explore the diversity of their own communities and promote cultural understanding and respect for others.
Our aim is to run workshops with different groups around Bristol from schools to youth groups, actively encouraging young people to get out into their communities and engage with different groups.
The Pilot: Fairfield School
Our pilot project is taking place at Fairfield school where a team of peer educators from UNITY will work with Year 9 students. Students will work with the peer educators to investigate ideas of cultural identity in their local area (EC1) and create a 5-minute video celebrating cultural diversity.
The finished film will be shown at the schools Bristol: DiveEC1ty event in March and will be used as an educational resource for workshops and assemblies given by the Year 9 students at Fairfield's feeder primary schools.
Session 1
This first session was all about getting to know the young people and allowing our peer educators Claire and Oneil to get a feel for the project and their involvement. We played lots of icebreaker games to get the young people to feel relaxed and help us find out more about them. One of the best activities was the Heritage Flag. We asked each group to draw a flag and draw or write in each corner:
- Something you like doing
- Something that represents who you are
- Something that represents where you live
- Something that is important to your family
We had some great discussion around these points and it led the group to find out more about the people they see at school everyday.
The 'First Impressions' Activity was the most popular though. We asked the young people to answer a series of questions about the peer educators and UNITY staff based only on their first impressions of us. The questions ranged from how old we were to what music we liked and how rich we were! On some aspects they seemed to have us pretty well sussed out but other things were way off and it served as a great tool to show them how wrong their first impressions and assumptions about people can sometimes be.
What our Peer Educators thought:
'I felt it went very well. The main thing is that the kids enjoy themselves. They learnt that you can't judge a book by its cover.' Oneil, 22
'I was impressed with the kids behaviour and how thy responded to us. They were coming up with lots of ideas.' Claire, 24
What the students thought:
Overall it was a fantastic first session, filled with energy, ideas and enthusiasm and we can't wait to go back next week!
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Winter Wonderland
Happy New Year everyone!
Well 2010 is here and although we’ve had a rather slow start to the year with all this snow the end of December was busy for us with lots of celebratory events of the years work.
Face 2 Face
A special screening was held at the Watershed cinema to celebrate the work all our young people did with the BBC as part of their Face 2 Face scheme. All the films they made during the initial 3-day training workshop were screened at the cinema and each received a special certificate from the BBC acknowledging their work. We look forward to watching these bright stars make their mark during 2010 as they undergo more training and have the chance to compete for a job with the BBC at the end of the scheme. Good luck guys!
Filming ‘A Drunken Mistake’ in Lawrence Western
All last term UNITY staff and peer educators travelled out to Lawrence Western to support young people at one of Bread’s other youth projects Juicy Blitz. The aim was to film a script the young people had written about underage drinking, a big problem in the local area. We supported planning sessions led by an amazing team from BBC Bristol and braved the cold before Christmas to start filming. During January and February we hope (weather permitting) to finish shooting so watch this space for more information on the project and a chance to see the finished piece.
Coming up in 2010…
We have a whole host of opportunities for volunteering with Bread and UNITY this year. We have 3 new members of staff (Becky, Janene and Natalie) who form the new V team, dedicated to getting young people the skills and experience they need. V is for volunteering and by signing up with the team you can access any volunteering opportunities within our 4 projects (including UNITY) as well as developing your own ideas. You can achieve awards and recognition for the hours you do so it's great experience for those looking to build up their CVs.
The V team are a great bunch and you can find their contact details on the Bread website here and find out more about V here.
We have lots of exciting film and peer education projects coming up this term so sign up to get more information.
Well 2010 is here and although we’ve had a rather slow start to the year with all this snow the end of December was busy for us with lots of celebratory events of the years work.
Face 2 Face
A special screening was held at the Watershed cinema to celebrate the work all our young people did with the BBC as part of their Face 2 Face scheme. All the films they made during the initial 3-day training workshop were screened at the cinema and each received a special certificate from the BBC acknowledging their work. We look forward to watching these bright stars make their mark during 2010 as they undergo more training and have the chance to compete for a job with the BBC at the end of the scheme. Good luck guys!
Filming ‘A Drunken Mistake’ in Lawrence Western
All last term UNITY staff and peer educators travelled out to Lawrence Western to support young people at one of Bread’s other youth projects Juicy Blitz. The aim was to film a script the young people had written about underage drinking, a big problem in the local area. We supported planning sessions led by an amazing team from BBC Bristol and braved the cold before Christmas to start filming. During January and February we hope (weather permitting) to finish shooting so watch this space for more information on the project and a chance to see the finished piece.
Coming up in 2010…
We have a whole host of opportunities for volunteering with Bread and UNITY this year. We have 3 new members of staff (Becky, Janene and Natalie) who form the new V team, dedicated to getting young people the skills and experience they need. V is for volunteering and by signing up with the team you can access any volunteering opportunities within our 4 projects (including UNITY) as well as developing your own ideas. You can achieve awards and recognition for the hours you do so it's great experience for those looking to build up their CVs.
The V team are a great bunch and you can find their contact details on the Bread website here and find out more about V here.
We have lots of exciting film and peer education projects coming up this term so sign up to get more information.
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