Riverside - Young culture-vultures celebrate their diversity

11 March 2010

Four youth clubs took part in a colourful celebration of multi-culturalism in Kensington last night, to mark the end of Stop the Hate - a six week project to raise awareness about other cultures and tackle anti-social behaviour in the area. For the first time, over 120 young people took part in the interactive project, organised by As One - a multiagency group in Kensington, and funded by Citysafe and Riverside, and showcased their experiences through theatre, poetry and artwork to members of the community, parents, cultural organisations and New Deal regeneration partners at the event held at the Hindu Cultural Organisation.

Guests were invited to learn about the young people’s experiences interviewing shop-keepers in the area, tasting new cultural foods, and visiting cultural buildings and places of worship. One of the young people who took part in Stop the Hate, was Stephanie Hackett, aged 16, who said, “I enjoyed talking to people from other cultures, it was really interesting, because really, they are just like us.” Lisa Shearwood-Vingoe, Community Engagement Officer for Riverside, said, “Stop the Hate is a way for young people to find out for themselves what it’s like for people from a different culture to live here - and about the devastating harm harassment and hate crime can cause.”

“It’s been a fantastic creative opportunity which the young people have really got stuck into – they really enjoyed trying out new experiences, such as dressing up in different clothes like the Islamic headdress, trying Indian dance and eating new national dishes – sometimes with their hands!

“We hope it will go a long way to promote understanding amongst these young people and the wider community, in order to reduce some of the anti-social behaviour and vandalism we’ve experienced here.”

As part of the Stop the Hate project, young people also learnt about people with disabilities, ageism and bullying.

Lisa adds, “Stop the Hate’s work will continue as we’ve had the privilege of bringing in a professional trainer to teach youth workers about diversity and hate crime, who are now training young people, so it’ll have a long term knock-on effect which we hope will make Kensington a safer place in the future.”