March 2009 Schools Programme

March 2009: "Raising a generation of trustbuilders" in Liverpool schools  

During the week of 16-20 March, 2009 Musa Aliyu, Amina Khalid and Howard Grace facilitated sessions in seven Liverpool Sixth Forms, under the auspices of The Desmond Tutu Centre of Liverpool Hope University. Their theme was “Raising a generation of trustbuilders”. Group sizes varied from between 20 and 140. The sessions were usually for about 45 mins.

Musa led the sessions and started by asking why two young African Muslims and a relatively old English Christian would want to work together to visit schools like this. It was to build trust across what is often perceived to be the divide of Muslim/Christian/Western relations.

They asked what they thought was a better background to come from if you wanted to be a trustbuilder. Is it a supportive, trusting, caring family and social background? Or is it someone from a disfunctional, chaotic, untrusting family and social background that makes a better trustbuilder? Usually the immediate response was “The first”. But then opinion became more evenly divided. It seemed that your experience of life, good or bad, could lead you to DECIDE to be a trustbuilder whatever your background.

Bearing in mind the variety of backgrounds that the students came from we were trying to encourage a positive vision in all the students. With this in mind Grace then read a passage from a book which described the author's first day in secondary school, aged about ten. He wrote:

We sat at a table with four other children, and Miss Hefty, an energetic middle-aged woman with short grey hair, took attendance. When she read my full name, I heard titters break across the room. ....a sandy-haired boy behind me repeated the word in a loud hoot, like the sound of a monkey. The children could no longer contain themselves, and it took a stern reprimand from Miss Hefty before the class would settle down and we could mercifully move on to the next person on the list. I spent the rest of the day in a daze. A redheaded girl asked to touch my hair and seemed hurt when I refused. A ruddy-faced boy asked if my father ate people. When I got home, Gramps was in the middle of preparing dinner. I went into my room and closed the door.

Grace asked who they thought might have written that. In two schools a student replied, “Barack Obama” which was the correct answer. But the students quickly got the point that although he had many instances in his life which could have radically disaffected him, Barack Obama eventually decided to rise above all this to his present position. He has become a person who is inclusive of everyone in his vision, not only in the USA, but in the whole world.

Then Amina was introduced. She shared something of her experiences as a young person in Somalia, growing up in a civil war zone. For instance her uncle was shot dead by a neighbour who was an 'enemy'. Also at the age of eight she was playing outside with her four-year-old cousin, when he was shot in the arm in front of her. Her family had ended up as refugees in London, where she was sent to school at the age of 13, hardly speaking any English. She was bullied and racially abused, partly because of wearing a headscarf. She went to four different schools, and had a torrid time.

She asked the students for feedback on what she should have done in that situation, try to fight back or to walk away? In several schools large boys said, “Fight back” because you have to stand up for yourself. But other students felt that that lowers you to the level of those who are bullying you. Amina shared that she had fled from a terrible conflict in Somalia, and she didn't want to be part of conflict in her new home country. She feels that as a Muslim her faith does not permit violence and revenge, it is said that “Revenge is like a poison that flows through a diseased soul” Had she taken revenge on those who harmed her, she would never have found peace and happiness in her heart.

Musa then introduced a ten minute clip of the film, “The Imam and the Pastor” and asked the students what struck them most about the DVD they had just seen. In most schools the first comments were about forgiveness. Then many other issues were raised and the ensuing discussion went along similar lines to schools in other parts of the country.

A good number of students were keen to talk at the end of our sessions, particularly with Amina. They could identify with her experiences. The visitors felt that the theme, “Raising a generation of trustbuilders” was a good one to give students a positive vision to engage with. There is scope to develop this for future initiatives.