Appreciating Diversity of Identity

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1 Appreciating Diversity of Identity What s important to me? What s important to you? Tu Kahikatea Focus: Community Life Community life builds an environment of love, support, appreciation of diversity and judicious acceptance that models Catholic principles, develops meaningful relationships, and nurtures Catholic faith. The content of our message will be heard only when it is lived out in our relationships and community life. NZ Catholic Bishops Conference (2006) Tu Kahikatea Standing Tall: A Framework for Catholic Ministry with Young People in Aotearoa New Zealand, Palmerston North: NZCBC, 17. Overview of resource Waitangi Day is Aotearoa New Zealand s national day. Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on 6 February This is part of the history and identity of those who call Aotearoa New Zealand home. Today Auckland is a multi-cultural city. Some areas are more diverse than others we are told that Mount Roskill is one of the most ethnically diverse communities with at least 54 different nationalities represented there. How diverse is your area? Your group? This resource seeks to explore the identity of the young people who form your community (group). This will be done through inviting members of the group to identify and share how they see themselves. The goal is to help promote understanding and acceptance of others. Note for the Leaders: This resource has a choice of three activities. Each activity gives participants an opportunity to identify and share important elements of their own identity. We encourage you to have invite participants to speak about their finished product. The sharing could be in a big group or in small groups. Auckland Catholic Youth and Young Adult Ministry youthmin@cda.org.nz Phone: Visit to subscribe for a weekly events or monthly newsletter Join us on Facebook:

2 P a g e 2 1. Who am I Inside-Out Self Portraits 2. Masks 3. Flags Overhead projector For each participant one sheet of black paper and one sheet of white paper (have spares if you think you might need them) Pencils and scissors (ideally one per participant maybe ask the group to bring their own scissors) Magazines that participants can cut pictures and words from (optional invite participants to bring photos etc from home) Glue Gel pens (optional) crayons, paints or felt-tip pens markers scissors one piece of white card per participant (again have spares if you think you might need them). large sheets of paper (one per participant) crayons, felt-tip pens or paints magazines that can be cut up/glue (optional) Introduction to Meeting: Timing: 1 minute Sometimes it can feel like no one understands us. Aotearoa New Zealand is a multicultural country. By sharing information about our own ethnicity and what is important to us personally we seek to build understanding and acceptance.

3 P a g e 3 Choose one of the following ice-breakers to start your meeting off. Say Hello This is a very good icebreaker game, but it can also be used at various times or as a regular cultural game in particularly ethnically varied youth groups. The group must simply attempt to say 'hello' in as many languages as possible. If this is too simple, you can make it competitive by splitting the group up into teams; similarly, if 'hello' gets a little boring, try other phrases such as 'goodbye', thanks, welcome or peace. If your youth group is made up of younger youth who wouldn t know greetings from other countries, consider reading out 'hellos' from a list of different languages and asking them to guess which countries they come from. (Go to: Different-Languages for a list of hello in other languages). What s in a name? You could either sit in a circle, or split the group into pairs and have each partner report back on their colleague. Participants ask each other questions about the origins of their names, and what they mean. In younger groups, this may require some help from you in the shape of a baby names book which will have many definitions and explanations of the meanings of different names. This is one of the best games for establishing respect between cultures and allowing participants to develop their communication skills. Who Am I? (Source: Prepare a self adhesive label or post-it note for each participant in your group. Write on it the name of a well-known or famous person. This can be an historical character or current sportsman, musician, TV personality, celebrity etc. Have a good mix of men and women. Keeping the names hidden, stick the post-it notes on the foreheads of everyone in the group. They must then ask questions of the others to find out their identity. Each person takes a turn to ask questions and figure out who they are. For example, Am I alive? Am I female? Am I in a band? Only yes or no questions can be asked. If the answer is no, their turn is over. If the answer is yes, they can ask another question and keep going until they get a no, or guess who they are. Keep playing until everyone has guessed, or if time is short, stop after the first few correct answers.

4 P a g e 4 Choose one of the following three activities to use with your group. Activity 1: Who am I Inside-Out Self Portraits Looking for a way to personalise your youth space and help young people learn more about each other? Try this creative activity which encourages youth to share who they are on the inside. This activity is designed to help your young people celebrate their identity as loved children of God and to share something about themselves with the rest of your group. Begin by using an overhead projector to help you cast a shadow of each participant s profile onto a sheet of black paper taped to the wall. Have the youth help trace each person's portrait in pencil onto the black paper. Next, invite participants to cut out their silhouette from the black paper (using one continuous cut), paper clip the silhouette to a sheet of white paper, and trace their profile onto that paper. Now the fun part: encourage the participants to show who they really are on the inside (their likes, dislikes, thoughts, dreams, doubts, fears, gifts, questions, loves) by filling in their "head" with glued on magazine images that reflect their identity. No need to stay completely in the lines on this part of the project because the last step is to glue the black negative cut-away piece back onto the silhouette to create a black background for their portrait. To extend this activity, invite participants to use gel pens or white coloured pencils to write words on the black background. You may also want to invite young people ahead of time to bring photos or copies of photos from home that they may want to use in their collage. Source:

5 P a g e 5 Activity 2: Masks You will need crayons, paints or felt-tip pens, markers, scissors and white card for this activity (one sheet of card per participant). Give each participant a piece of white card. Ask them to draw and cut out a life-sized shape of a face. They can also cut out eyes and a mouth if they wish. Each participant is then asked to decorate their card face. One side represents what they think people see/ know/believe about them ie on the outside. The other side represents what they feel about themselves ie things going on the inside, what people do not necessarily know or see. This activity is best used in an established group where the participants are comfortable and at ease with each other. Masks is also a good discussion starter on self-image and self-worth. Source: Activity 3: Flags Flags is a get-to-know-you activity, helping participants express what s important to them or more about themselves. Provide large sheets of paper, crayons, markers and paints. Ask each participant to draw a flag which contains some symbols or pictures describing who they are, what s important to them or what they enjoy. Each flag is divided into 4 or 6 segments. Each segment can contain a picture ie favourite emotion, favourite food, a hobby, a skill, where you were born (or your ethnicity), your family, your faith. Give everyone 20 minutes to draw their flags. Depending on time available invite all or some of the group to share their flags and explain the meaning of what they drew. Note: If you know that there are people in your group that aren t good at drawing you may want to bring magazines with lots of pictures so that they can cut out and glue pictures or words on to their flags. Source: Adapted from

6 P a g e 6 Close by reading together Psalm 139: 1-18 and then choose to: Have a discussion: Invite the group to share together thoughts on what it means to say that God knows us intimately and loves us completely. How should this understanding affect how we live with and love others? What have we learnt from hearing what is important to others in the group? Create a prayer wall. Tape a long piece of white paper down a wall where you meet or in your Church foyer. Have each participant write a prayer on a card and then glue them to the paper. Invite other members of the Church community to add their prayers to the wall as well. This is a good way to get some interaction going between the youth and the wider Church community. Alternatively turn the focus towards your church community or the wider community. Provide a pile of parish newsletters and local community newspapers and some scissors. Invite participants to find a notice, picture or article that calls them to prayer. Invite them to cut out the picture or article and use this as a focus for writing a short prayer. Stick the newspaper cutting and the prayer to the paper. At the end of the meeting call the group to prayer. Invite participants to share their prayer with the group. "The Real Me" Natalie Grant Foolish heart looks like we're here again Same old game of plastic smile Don't let anybody in Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break How much will they take before I'm empty Do I let it show, does anybody know? [Chorus:] But you see the real me Hiding in my skin, broken from within Unveil me completely I'm loosening my grasp There's no need to mask my frailty Cause you see the real me Painted on, life is behind a mask Self-inflicted circus clown I'm tired of the song and dance Living a charade, always on parade What a mess I've made of my existence But you love me even now And still I see somehow But you see the real me Hiding in my skin, broken from within Unveil me completely I'm loosening my grasp There's no need to mask my frailty Cause you see the real me Wonderful, beautiful is what you see When you look at me You're turning the tattered fabric of my life into A perfect tapestry I just wanna be me But you see the real me Hiding in my skin, broken from within Unveil me completely I'm loosening my grasp There's no need to mask my frailty Cause you see the real me And you love me just as I am Wonderful, beautiful is what you see When you look at me