Diversity & Spirituality

Diversity & Spirituality Information Pack December

Useful Websites • http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/WAC WORLD AIDS CAMPAIGN • http://www.globalaidsrainbow.org/default.aspx GLOBAL AIDS RAINBOW particularly good for resources for use with young people • http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Key-events/World-AIDS-Day/World-AIDS-Day-2008/2008-WAD-Resources/Campaigning-Toolkit/Education-International-One-hour-on-AIDS/One-hour-on-AIDS-Resources ONE HOUR ON AIDS DAY RESOURCES includes a lesson plan with some interesting discussion topics and a poster aimed at young people • http://www.worldaidsday.org/get-involved/download-the-hiv-in-schools-pack.aspx WORLD AIDS DAY HIV in Schools pack • http://www.nat.org.uk/default.aspx NAT UK’s leading AIDS charity • http://www.tht.org.uk/ TERENCE HIGGINS TRUST • http://www.avert.org/ AVERT particularly good for resources for young people, including online quizzes and games and ideas for sessions • http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5145172Equality Standards & Framework • http://www.moe-online.com/reports/CulturalDiversity&MinorityYouthParticipation.pdf Conference report with many ideas for activities around cultural diversity • http://www.nya.org.uk/information/108822/policydocsequalitydiversity/ NATIONAL YOUTH AGENCY Equality & Diversity resources • http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE has information on 40 world religions • http://susankramer.com/spirituality.html SPIRITUALITY FOR CHILDREN has ideas for meditations on themes like ‘Citizenship’ and ‘Fairness’

Introduction December begins with World Aids Day, and my thanks to Pauline Wagon for the excellent World Aids Day activity. This is a good opportunity for young people to reflect on issues of inclusion and prejudice, diversity and spirituality and this is the theme throughout the pack. Encouraging young people to connect with each other and their values and beliefs is also an excellent way of supporting their mental health and projecting positive images of young people, something KCC Youth Service is strongly committed to. HOW TO USE THIS PACK • Although the sessions can stand alone, if young people attend a minimum of 3 sessions they will have achieved a recorded outcome. The activities could also form part of a YAA challenge – contact Laura Acock for more details – leading to an accredited outcome. I hope to be able to include more concrete details of how this can be achieved in forthcoming packs. CURRICULUM LINKS: Celebrating Diversity & Spirituality, Citizenship EVERY CHILD MATTERS OUTCOMES Enjoy & achieve, make a positive contribution, be healthy

Session 1 – AIDS Awarenesswith many thanks to Pauline Wagon for the idea MATERIALS: Large sheet of paper (red to reflect the ribbons, or white and pin on red ribbons). Red Ribbon sheets (template below, to print off), AIDS quiz (below, with answers). Red pens to colour in Red Ribbons. ACTIVITY 1: How does AIDS affect me? Start a group discussion about AIDS based around facts on the leader’s notes worksheet. ACTIVITY 2: AIDS Quiz – check understanding of various myths and facts about HIV. Use the answer session to evaluate whether knowing the facts has helped to change any negative attitudes. ACTIVITY 3: World AIDS Day Display Give each young person a Red Ribbon sheet – ask them to record their thoughts, comments and prayers as World Aids Day Wishes. Encourage workers to join in by adding facts and figures. If you have Internet access, encourage young people to research how AIDS specifically affects young people, especially in Africa (see suggested websites in leader’s notes). Add the Red Ribbon sheets to the large blank sheet of paper to create a World AIDS Day display. GROUP EVALUATION: Group discussion – suggested themes: • What have you learned about the issues? • Have you changed your views at all? • Do you think it’s right that young people with AIDS should face exclusion? • What could you do to change the situation?

Session 1 – AIDS Awarenesswith many thanks to Pauline Wagon for the idea EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Download the Leadership Pledge form from http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Get-Involved/Stop-AIDS-Leadership-Pledge2/Stop-AIDS-Leadership-Pledge and encourage young people to write their own pledge and act on it. Or get the group to make a video pledge – see examples here http://uk.youtube.com/worldaidscampaign then mail your own to info@worldaidscampaign.org for inclusion.

Leader’s Notes – Session 1 SESSION AIM: To challenge myths and misconceptions about AIDS and to encourage young people to think compassionately http://www.worldaidsday.org/downloads/wad/Schools_Pack_HIV_Facts.pdf This is a straightforward resource with statistics and information about HIV/AIDS. This makes an excellent basis for opening discussion and for information to add to the AIDS day display. HIV/AIDS continue to be emotive issues and you may find that young people express homophobic or similarly prejudiced views. Try to keep the discussion civilised and challenge using the facts. Involve other members of the group to say what they think – do they agree with that attitude, if so why? If not, why not? There are several websites with additional and extensive resources – Global AIDS Rainbow and Avert are particularly young people friendly with activities like online games and quizzes. Links are given on the ‘useful websites’ page. Other useful websites are: Health Protection Agency www.hpa.org.uk NAT HIV information site www.hiv.uk.com UNAIDS website www.unaids.org NAT information on prejudice www.nat.org.uk/Stigma_And_Discrimination

Leader’s Notes – Session 1 TOPICS FOR EVALUATION: • Have you learned something? If so, what? • Do you feel that you had some misconceptions about AIDS? • If you had prejudices about people with AIDS do you feel that has changed? • If you wanted to do something supportive, what could you do? EXTENSION ACTIVITY ALTERNATIVES: • The pledge is easy to download, print out and use as a hard copy • Use mobile phones to make a pledge video which either the leader or designated young person can submit by email. • ‘CHARACTER BUILDING’ this can be done individually or in small groups. Complete the questionnaire to build your character (like building a Mii on the Wii). Now imagine what would happen to that character if they had HIV/AIDS. This could be developed into a role-play. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: challenging prejudice and intolerance with compassion, encouraging young people to research the situation and develop well informed conclusions CURRICULUM LINKS: Working with young men and women, celebrating diversity & spirituality, citizenship, prejudice, sexuality & discrimination, sexual relationships education

AIDS QUIZ TRUE OR FALSE 1) HIV/AIDS only affects gay people T/F 2) If you have sex with people who look healthy, you won’t get AIDS T/F 3) Women have more chance of catching HIV/AIDS than men T/F 4) People who have HIV/AIDS have slept with lots of people T/F 5) HIV can be spread by insects, especially mosquitos T/F 6) HIV can be cured T/F HIV can be transmitted by: a) Having unprotected sex b) Being spat on by somebody with HIV c) Infected blood transfusion d) A mother passing it to her baby e) Sharing needles f) All of the above What does HIV stand for? What does AIDS stand for? • High Incidence Virus a) Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome • Human Immunodeficiency Virus b) Auto Internal Defective State • Human Independent Vicissitude c) Animal Immune Detection System The number of people with HIV in the UK is a) Rising b) Falling

AIDS QUIZ - Answers True or False • False - It can affect anyone • False – you can’t tell if someone has AIDS, or an STD, by looking at them • True – because of women’s biological makeup, they have more chance of becoming infected • False – they may have received an infected blood transfusion, shared a needle or been born to a mother with AIDS • False – it’s a HUMAN virus and can only be spread by, and between, humans HIV can be transmitted by a, c, d and e. You cannot get HIV by sharing a cup with someone, kissing, being spat on, a swimming pool or from a toilet seat. HIV stands for b) AIDS stands for a). If HIV goes undetected or untreated for too long it may develop into full blown AIDS. The number of people with HIV in the UK is rising all the time, particularly among heterosexuals (47% of new diagnoses)

Character Building

My World AIDS Day Wish: My World AIDS Day Wish:

Session 2 – Diversity & Spirituality MATERIALS: ‘Life in balance’ sheets (below), post it notes or pieces of paper with blutack/drawing pins, pens/pencils. Pictures of various landscapes and townscapes for extension activity. ACTIVITY 1: Guided Meditation (adapted from F4HS) “Close your eyes and try to relax. [Pause] Now try and remember when you have felt connected to the wonder and energy of life — [slowly, calmly and clearly] perhaps on holiday, on a day out in the country, with someone you love, when life is fine, being creative, playing music - whenever this sense of being connected happened for you. Remember one of these situations. [Pause] Can you also remember what the experience felt like for you? How did it feel? What were you thinking? [If the atmosphere in the room feels calm then stay quiet with the group for a little longer] Over the next minute we will come out of the silence and feel free to stretch if you want to.” Ask the group to stretch, then encourage a group discussion about the meditation experience - what was the situation in which you felt connected? And what was that experience like – how did it feel, what were your thoughts? Point out that, however diverse these experiences, they all share similarities in the way they make people feel. ACTIVITY 2: Life in Balance Hand out the sheets and explain that you want them to rank each section from 0 (in the middle) to 10 (on the outside) where 0=poor and 10=great. Then join the dots and take a look at your map. Is your life well balanced? Or are some areas better than others? Relate back to the mediation – are the good/great areas things that featured in your sense of connectedness?

Session 2 ACTIVITY 3: A New Religion Start by having a brief discussion about spirituality and religion. How many of the group would say they were religious? And how many spiritual? How many are neither? Explain that some people need a more formal framework in order to experience ‘connectedness’ – this is organised religion. What if the group had the chance to start a new religion – what would it be like? What would be its holy places and what would it believe in and hope to achieve? Split the group into smaller groups of 3 – 5 and give them time to discuss. Then have each group present their new religion to the others. • Which new religion was the most successful? • Which one connected with you? • They were all very different but what things did they have in common? • It’s important to feel connected but is it also important to celebrate people’s differences and diversity? EVALUATION: Give each member of the group a post it/piece of paper and a pen/pencil. Return to the guided meditation and give the group one or two minutes of silence to think about some of the questions the session has raised. Now ask them to either draw or write down what has most stayed with them from the session and get them to attach these to the wall. Group them as seems appropriate and give the group the chance to look at the responses. EXTENSION ACTIVITIES: Show the group images of various landscapes, cityscapes etc. How do they respond to these images? Do they feel connected to them, a sense of peace? Which sites might be considered ‘holy’ or spiritual in some way? Agree/Disagree read out the statements in the leader’s notes. Designate one end of the room ‘agree’ and one ‘disagree’. Ask the group to move to the appropriate place depending on their responses to the statements. Discuss how this felt – were they surprised at any of their responses?

Leader’s Notes – Session 2 SESSION AIM: Examining ideas of spirituality, religion, diversity and connectedness and young people’s responses to them Religion and spirituality are often very private things so don’t force anyone to partcipate against their wishes and remind the group that insulting people because of their religious beliefs is a hate crime. GUIDED MEDITATION: Give the group as much time as they need to quieten down and relax. AGREE/DISAGREE ACTIVITY: Try the following statements and feel free to add your own: • Religion and spirituality are the same thing • All religions are the same • All religions are bad • People of different religions can be friends and lovers • Religious institutions do a lot of good work for charity • Religion causes most of the conflict in the world This session is based on the following definitions of ‘spirituality’ and ‘religion’: Spirituality: The natural human connection with nature and the cosmos http://www.f4hs.org/ Religion: a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion

Leader’s Notes – Session 2 BACKGROUND READING: Some useful background reading on diversity and spirituality can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/ Guide to major world religions http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/22404/excerpt/9780521822404_excerpt.pdf Introduction to ‘Religion and the Workplace’ http://www.cornwall.nhs.uk/CornwallPartnershipTrust/Staff/Diversity/diversity_resource_pack/docs/section11.pdf Diversity, Spirituality and Religious Faith http://www.diverseethics.com/ Case studies in social cohesion and diversity EXPECTED OUTCOMES: • Young people will develop ideas of what spirituality, religion and diversity mean to them • Young people will be able to discuss and express their ideas clearly CURRICULUM LINKS: Working with young men and women, celebrating diversity & spirituality, citizenship, prejudice

Balance of Life Rate these part of your life from 0 in the middle to 10 at the outside where 0=poor and 10=great. Then join the dots and check your life balance! Health & Wellbeing Fun & Recreation Friends & Family School 0 Spirituality/Religion Money

Session 3 – We’re All Different & All the Same based on an idea by Catherine Benincasa MATERIAL: Pictures of different puppies (cut out of magazines or downloaded from the Internet - try http://puppydogweb.com/gallery/), large piece of plain paper, art supplies, magazines etc. to create personal mood boards. ACTIVITY 1: Ask the group if they have any pets, or would they like to have a pet? Show them the puppy pictures – how do they feel about the different dogs? Discuss the fact that, though they are all different they’re all lovable. ACTIVITY 2: Ask the members of the group to get into pairs. Tell them they have a few minutes to find out about each other. Ask them to find out: • Their favourite song • Their favourite food • Their happiest memory Give the pairs a few minutes then call them back together. Now ask each young person in turn to share the information they’ve just found out with the rest of the group. Discuss the fact that everyone likes some things that are the same, others that are different. Discuss the fact what makes us happy is different for each person but all these different things have the same effect. ACTIVITY 3: Ask the group to focus on what makes them special as individuals – their likes and dislikes, favourite things, memories, beliefs etc. Then ask them to create ‘mood boards’ – collages of images and words that reflect their personalities. These can be pictures from magazines, self portraits, colours, words etc. (see leader’s notes for more ideas).

Session 3 – We’re All Different & All the Samebased on an idea by Catherine Benincasa ACTIVITY 3 (CONTINUED): Make a display of the mood boards. On a piece of paper write the following sentences: • I am special just the way I am on the outside and on the inside. • All people are special no matter what they look like and regardless of their beliefs and their culture. • We are all different, all the same and all equal EVALUATION: Ask the group to take a good look at each other’s boards – are they a good reflection of that person? Discuss the way that different people have expressed similar things – have they done it differently, or the same? Ask the group to reflect on the 3 sentences - do they agree with them? What do the words ‘belief’ and ‘culture’ mean to them? EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Encourage each young person to write something to accompany their mood board – it could be prose, a poem, a song lyric, a rap – that reflects on their art work and can be displayed alongside it.

Session 3 – Leader’s Notes SESSION AIMS: To respect and accept each other’s differences. To think about diversity and inclusion. The Council of Europe ran a year long diversity campaign under the heading ‘All Different All Equal’ http://alldifferent-allequal.info/ and the NYA issued an information pack for Youth Work Week 2007 http://www.nya.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=108212 Both sites have a wealth of resources and links on working with diversity and spirituality issues. For some ideas on poetry on the theme of diversity: http://www.diversity.ucf.edu/clearing_house/poetry.htm MOOD BOARD ACTIVITY: Mood boards are most often used in design to help co ordinate colours, patterns, furniture etc. but are often used to focus on personal ideas e.g. ‘what do I want my life to be like?’ Ask the group to bring some old magazines with them and, if you have Internet access, use research to find images and words – encourage them to be careful about choosing and printing out! For some ideas, visit http://www.flickr.com/groups/inspirationboards/pool/ which has several pages of images of what they call ‘inspiration boards’. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: Engaging with ideas about what diversity and inclusion mean, developing respect for each other’s views, ideas and beliefs. CURRICULUM CHAPTERS: Working with young men and women, citizenship, celebrating diversity & spirituality

Session 4 – It’s Christmas! And Hanukkah and Kwanzaa… MATERIALS: Wordsearch, Quiz, Ornament cut out and art materials to decorate. Flip chart or whiteboard for evaluation. ACTIVITY 1: It’s Christmas! And Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and several other celebrations. In fact, most of the major religions have a celebration around the time of the Winter Solstice (21st December) – there’s the Pagan festival Yule, the Festival of Lights (Hanukkah) and Kwanzaa (a pan African celebration of family). Ask the group how much they know about the celebrations of other religions and what they most enjoy about the holiday they celebrate –giving and receiving gifts, food and drink, television, parties and seeing friends etc. Ask the group if they have experience of celebrating another festival like Kwanzaa – or perhaps they have studied other festivals at school. Hand round the wordsearch sheets and see who can complete it the fastest. ACTIVITY 2: Following on from the wordsearch, hand out the Christmas Quiz and complete (some of the answers will be included with the wordsearch info) ACTIVITY 3: It’s traditional to decorate during holidays and festivals. Show the group how the ornament is made then get them to decorate it however they like. Use to decorate a tree if you have one in your centre, or perhaps hang from the ceiling or in a window to make a decorative display. You could talk about why we decorate (see leader’s notes for reading material) – originally to attract the spirits who had fled for the winter.

Session 4 – It’s Christmas! And Hanukkah and Kwanzaa… EVALUATION: Draw a target and then mark on responses to the evaluation questions. Suggested questions: • How much did you enjoy the session? • Did you enjoy the activities? • Did you enjoy hearing about our Christmas traditions? • And learning about other people’s celebrations? EXTENSION ACTIVITY: Design and make cards wishing ‘Happy______’

Leader’s Notes – Session 4 SESSION AIMS: To promote awareness of different festive traditions BACKGROUND READING: http://www.christmasarchives.com/decorations.html Why we decorate http://folktalesmyths.suite101.com/article.cfm/holiday_decorations some of the myths behind holiday decorations http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm Winter solstice celebrations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas Christmas traditions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah Hanukkah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa Kwanzaa http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_eid.shtml Eid (although Eid marks the end of Ramadan and is variable in date) EXPECTED OUTCOMES: Promoting tolerance and goodwill CURRICULUM LINKS: working with young men and women, celebrating diversity & spirituality, citizenship ANSWERS TO HOLIDAY QUIZ: D, C, B, B, A, C, A, C, D, B

Festive Wordsearch Did you know: Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights. Jews light candles in a Menorah, eat fried foods like potato latkes and children play with spinning tops called dreidel. During Kwanzaa people light candles in a kinara. Houses are decorated with African art and fresh fruit to celebrate the African heritage. Kwanzaa celebrates the ‘Seven Principles of Blackness’ At Christmas Christians celebrate the nativity of Jesus by giving gifts. The holiday is based on Winter Solstice celebrations. Many traditions like decorating a tree and sending cards are from Victorian times. Now find the highlighted words in the grid!

Holiday Quiz • Complete this Christmas Carol: ‘O little town of_______’ a) London b) Paris c) Athens d) Bethlehem • What do we traditionally eat for Christmas dinner? a) Beef b) Lamb c) Turkey d) Ostrich • Which of these was NOT a gift from the wise men a) Gold b) silver c) Frankincense d) Myrrh • What do children play with at Hanukkah a) Nintento Wii b) Dreidel c) Air Rifle d) Hoolah Hoop • What does Kwanzaa celebrate a) African Heritage b) The abolition of slavery c) A good time d) Tea Time • Where does the Christmas tree tradition come from a) France b) Norway c) Germany d) America • Who wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’ a) Dickens b) Shakespeare c) JK Rowling d) CS Lewis • What is the name of the candle holder used at Hanukkah a) Candelabra b) Abracadabra c) Menorah d) kinara • Complete the title of this film ‘It’s a Wonderful_______’ a) Wife b) Time c) Town d) Life • Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are all holidays based around the a) Change of seasons b) Winter Solstice c) New Year d) School Holidays

LET’S DECORATE! Decorate the shape however you like – pictures, words, glitter, stickers – then cut out and fold to form a square based pyramid. Put glue on tabs and glue inside to hold the shape in place. Then attach some ribbon or thread and hang from a tree or wherever you like!

Guidance Notes HOW TO USE THIS PACK: • Individual slides can be printed by selecting individual slide numbers or ranges in the PRINT menu • To print slides in black & white or grayscale, select the relevant option from the Colour/Grayscale drop down menu when you are about to print • These slides may be used to form part of a presentation – press F5 to view as a slideshow • To delete individual slides, click on them to select then click on ‘cut’ in the Edit menu • This pack is also available in pdf format – please let me know if you would prefer to receive the pdf. If you have any comments regarding this pack, or need any additional help in using it, please contact me: SUZANNAH YOUDE: suze.youde@kent.gov.uk or tel: 01622 221678

Diversity & Spirituality