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A group of artists and musicians from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria visited a Newry youth club this week as part of the club's exploration of diversity. Discussing their journeys from their home countries and the circumstances that made them leave were Seba from Syria; Alina from Afghanistan and Nasim and Aryan from Iran.
The visitors came to Newry Methodist Church Hall to speak to Yew Gen Youth Club on Tuesday night, 26 November as part of the Belfast based Beyond Skin initiative. Beyond Skin was founded back in 2004 by musician and community/development aid worker Darren Ferguson to help counteract local issues of sectarianism and racism. It utilises the power of music and arts for social change.
Yew Gen Youth Club (formerly Shamrock Youth Club) was formed in 2015 and was originally based at Park Esler before moving to Altnaveigh House and then Newry Methodist Church which has been their home now this past three years.
The club are involved in a reconciliation project on acceptance of diversity and cultural diversity. Explaining what's behind the project Damien, one of the youth leaders said "In our youth group, we have a mixture of Catholic, Protestant. We also have children who are living here from Poland, and also we've recently have had a family from El Salvador, and one of the young girls, Ariella is now a young volunteer. Tonight, is about cultural awareness and getting to know what it's like coming from a different part of world, living and settling in Northern Ireland."
Damien concluded "Over this last few weeks, we've been looking at identity, what the future for Northern Ireland is for young people, inclusion, what they want as a future respecting both Catholic and Protestant perspectives. As part of this programme we were in Derry recently, and we did the two museums, the Free Derry Museum, and then we went to the Siege of Derry Museum, so they were getting perspective from both sides."
There are about 90 young people in Yew Gen Youth Club aged from 5 to 18 with a team of 15 volunteers. They get together on a Tuesday night in the Methodist Church Hall.
