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Breaking Down Barriers, a project of the Leeds Muslim Youth Forum, aims to empower young people across Harehills to come together to organise activities that challenge racial tensions, misconceptions of the other and foster friendships. This project, supported by National Lottery funding, began in July.
The Youth Steering Committee applied successfully to the Concord Namaste fund for a grant of £150 for a local excursion—the first application the fund had received. The aim was for a group of thirteen young people to successfully plan and facilitate a sailing trip, in the hope that through food, conversation and skills-building exercises, the group would form into a much more bonded team, breaking down barriers between participants. The hope was that the participants would then come on board as BDB Champions, helping to inspire new ideas for the project to engage other young people.
On October 25th, at half term, the long-awaited trip went ahead. It was led by Dr David Randolph-Horn, who lent the use of his canal boat, BDB Project Leader Ustadh Adam Aslam, and Gab Kamei, a multi-talented youthwork volunteer who identifies with a universalist approach to faith and spirituality.
The day began with the volunteers and young people taking taxis from their meeting point in Harehills down to Castleford 11 miles away, where the boat was moored. This was an opportunity for the young people to get to know each other, including a sing-along and the start of an interfaith bingo in order to learn at least one thing about each person in their taxi. The diverse group included young people from Muslim, Christian, Jewish and no faith backgrounds, as well an array of cultures — Caribbean, Kurdistani, Pakistani and Kashmiri.
For many of these young people, aged between 10-15, this was their first experience on a canal boat. They were kitted up with life jackets kindly provided by the sea cadets. David Randolph-Horn gave a safety talk, showed the young people around the boat, introduced boating terminology and rope tying techniques and then we were ready to go.
The youngsters had access to an inside kitchen area where a group worked alongside Gab to prep and cook a light picnic lunch, whilst others took it in turns to learn to steer the canal boat and others simply sat to take in warm weather, clear blue skies and surrounding greenery. The journey was a mere three miles in total, along the River Aire up to Lemonroyd Lock.
One group of girls, sitting on the roof, began to create an A3 poster, inviting others to add drawings, thoughts and expressions as they built a picture of their shipmates aboard and added their feelings and new learned facts about each other to the page. Through this they became very close as they took pride in their poster. Some of the young people were particularly impressed by the friendliness of local Yorkshire folk, often waving and shouting warm words of welcome and praise as they passed us by.
At nature reserve next to Lemonroyd Lock we moored for toilet breaks followed by a fine lunch kindly led by Gab, with new friendships beginning to form as bread was shared and the young sailors took in the clear air, welcome sunshine and the sound of rustling leaves and birds in the distance.
After lunch the group, led by Adam and Gab, headed off on a mile long walk in the countryside, as the teens played in the grass and posed in front of the wetland islands, looking out for rare birds and insects. It is a totally different experience from the forest of red brick terraces and tarmac streets with which the young people are far more familiar. Yet the energy levels did not seem to fall as the group orienteered through the stretch of wetland and hills.
The day came to an end with the young people sailing the canal boat back to Castleford, where they worked as a group to tidy up the boat, remove any mess and then sit with snacks and warm drinks by the indoor fire as they reflected on the day, debated about spirituality vs religion, the lace of faith and culture in their own lives and the value of new skills learned and people met on this trip.
It was clear to see that at the start of the day there were some nerves, a concern about boredom without WiFi, the fear of bugs and a fear of not being liked, and yet by the end of the trip, on the taxi journey back to our meeting point, not a complaint was to be heard, in part because we had finally tired the group out. It was excellent behaviour and a well-deserved trip for this group, which would not have been possible without the kindness of the Concord Namaste Fund.
Since the trip, 2/3rds of the group have been heavily involved in organising a winter welcome event in the local park for 150+ residents, a Christmas feast for over 50 young people and their families and several litter picking exercises have brought new faces to the team. The group now looks forward to growing and fostering new interfaith relationships as the New Year dawns.
“I don’t get out much, and I don’t really like water, or talk to kids from outside my ends. But you know what, it’s weird when it’s just you and a few others on a small cramped boat, surviving and sailing together. You get to see people’s real side and talk to them about what makes them tick. There is no room to argue when you need to get from A to B and not crash…kids are kids, we all want the same peace and fun in life.” Nadeem K. (Aged 12)
Adam Aslam