|
|
Fair play: Games help youth cross cultural & religious boundaries
Darryn Causby grew up like many Northern Ireland boys — throwing rocks, breaking windows and blocking roads. As a Protestant in Portadown, he wanted to fight Catholics wherever possible. Then in 2001, Causby had a chance to go to the United States through a group called Friends Forever. The catch: Half of the group would be Protestant, half Catholic. “When I got to know those people, I thought, ‘Wise up. There’s nothing wrong with these people,’ ” Causby said. He never got to America; the Sept. 11 attacks scuttled trip plans. But the names and numbers of those Catholic friends keep popping up on his cell phone. Now 19, Causby runs midnight soccer and other youth programs for the Portadown YMCA, trying to help his side of town experience the other side of the religious divide. That work is not easy. Terence Watson, Portadown YMCA director, said few Catholics dare come to his highly Protestant neighborhood. “These young people wear the same clothes, they attend similar schools, they worship the same God,” Watson said. They also often share a similar hatred, learned early in life from their respective families and peers. Tim Foley, who works with Mennonite Mission Network in Portadown, said segregation in housing, education and religion limit Catholic-Protestant interaction. So the Portadown YMCA uses sport, art, dancing and other youth activities to create an atmosphere where kids can learn about themselves and examine their own views. To the southeast, the Greenhill YMCA in Newcastle brings Catholic and Protestant kids together through outdoor education. And across the Atlantic, a program in Chicago helps children cross boundaries of race, class and culture through play. “Jesus was a peacemaker and … I’m supposed to be modeling that behavior,” said Maria Tschetter, a Mennonite Voluntary Service volunteer with Play for Peace Chicago. “I’m helping them do that by playing a game.” Tschetter watched students at a Chicago elementary school stand in a circle, glancing warily at the others surrounding them — strangers whom, in some cases, they did not want to meet. Some of the children, Tschetter knew, had learned at home not to touch those from different ethnicities, classes, cultures or schools. A high-school volunteer, trained by Tschetter, instructed each child to hold out their left palm. Then all the children placed their right index fingertips onto their neighbors’ palms. At the count of three, each child snatched at the neighbor’s finger while liberating their own digits. Some were caught; some gained freedom. Everyone laughed. Boundaries shattered. “Once you have fun with someone from another culture, that’s something that is embedded in your brain,” said Richard Rutschman of the Chicago Teachers’ Center, which organizes Play for Peace Chicago. “From then on, your brain is different.” Also in this issue: Features Highlights Highlights |
