Well that was the the fun dilemma a small core group of The Feast’s young people faced when they planned and gained sponsorship to spend 16 hours watching Dr Who episodes, one from each of the 11 Dr’s, without sleeping, starting from 7.30pm on Friday night and concluding at lunchtime on Saturday.

In between episodes there were games like “Dr Who says” and destroying the sweet laden Tardis Pinata.  Then there were the challenges to keep people concentrating, such as every time someone said “doctor” the group had to yell “trust me!”  They even tweeted throughout on @thefeastproject using a #Drwhomarathon hashtag.  Then after the chocolate and softdrinks to stave off sleep, the morning brought a cooked pancake breakfast to charge up for the final hours.

And not only did they do it but they raised just over £500 in the process!!  Absolutely amazing.  But it does not need to stop there – if you would still like to support The Feast and our fundraising young people DONATE ONLINE HERE.

The Feast’s new youth worker said, “Some of the conversations about Dr Who were way over my head!   They know so much more than me, it is like another world.”

From everyone associated with The Feast, thanks so much guys for working so hard on this marathon, and of course raising much appreciated funds for our work.  A brilliant effort.

In both our faiths we believe in peace and non-violence unless we are fighting to protect our country. We all feel that the riots were not necessary and they were over exaggerated considering the original peaceful protest.  One of the possible reasons for the riots is that different faiths came together to protect their community/beliefs.

Our views on the discussions

We discussed whether it was right to protest and our opinions were good if they are done for the right reasons and don’t need to be based around violence (e.g. a peaceful protest is ok).  We think people’s stereo-types of rioters are not always right as we saw in the recent riots that many involved were students, and teachers.

What we want the world to look like

We all agreed that the best world to live in would be peaceful where people were freely able to go outside without worrying that they were in danger in their community.  We want a community where people of different faiths are able to come together and share their opinions and talk about their faith and religion.

The recent summer riots of 2011 have had a huge impact on everyone, whether they were directly or indirectly involved. After a discussion with youths at The Feast, the group had similar responses and views on why the riots took place and what influenced them to expand throughout the country. One of the main reasons why we think that the riots took place was because of the austerity the country is facing; due to the many cuts that were taking place to the public sector jobs led to many workers to feel frustrated. As a result people needed a way to release their frustrations and the riots did this job.

Many people argue that the different means of media played a huge contributing role into the riots; as people became more aware of the situation, the more the situation got out of hand. The changes came about when there was a change of government, as new cuts and prices of living started to rise in order to overcome the recession. These changes caused people to become angry and this anger built up over time and was released through violence and aggressive behaviour.

Young people were given the opportunity to show off their talents in ‘best Mummies’ as well as ‘Guess Who’, egg throwing and ‘Name that equipment’.  There were lots of informal discussions over some snacks and a chance to write down things about their faith, lives and friendships.

It was a good first event for myself to see the work of The Feast, to meet face to face with young people from different faiths and backgrounds, working together to bring them closer to each other.

I’m Looking forward to more Feast events, meeting new young people, challenges, celebrations and achievements.

One young lady, Sarah Dickson, was involved in many events, including the trip to Turkey to meet with Lebanese peers last summer. She’s now at university and recently said this;

“What I’ve learned from The Feast has definitely helped me in Manchester… I’m living with a Muslim girl next year who is a good friend. I’m not sure whether the relationship would have been so strong if I hadn’t learned what I did with you guys so THANKS big time.”

So for those not living in multi-faith areas The Feast equips young people like Sarah with skills for the future, which is so important for our world. It’s a great privilege and encouragement to hear this story, and many others.

Can you tell us where you grew up and now live?

I grew up on the border of four areas – Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Moseley and Balsall Heath (in inner City Birmingham), where all the areas meet around Ladypool Road and Balsall heath Park.  I went to a local primary school, Park hill school in Moseley and then Queensbridge Secondary School also in Moseley, then Birmingham University.  Birmingham is a unique city where I love to live, work and to make it a better place for everyone.  

You have a lot of youth work experience, can you give us a little summary?

I have worked in a variety of setting, from centre based work, detached work, one to one, mobile (working from a mobile bus) running an homeless project, a Youth Inclusion project, and youth work in faith based setting.  I have worked in Birmingham and the surrounding area as well as internationally.  I also deliver the introduction to youth work course, my passion has always been communities and young people.

And you have even done things overseas which is cool.  What countries have you visited and some of the things you did?

The list of countries I have visited is too long, it covers 5 of the 7 continents of the world, with my most enjoyable and rewarding being: Eastern Europe, working in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia with Youth and Community leaders, bridging gaps between the different ethnic and religious group after war in the region.  

Also the Middle East in Jerusalem and the West Bank working with an organisation called ‘Youth Action for Peace’ to bring people together to work on projects which promote peace and understanding around the region and the world.  In Pakistan I worked on the Earthquake relief helping communities thru one of the toughest disaster. I have also been key member in the organisation and delivery of an aid convoy to Gaza, talking aid and emergency vehicles to the besieged area.

How do you see The Feast’s approach to youth work as different to what you have done in the past? 

The Feast has a unique approach to youth work, tackling issues that affect people locally in order for the young people to have a better understanding of each other and to live in peace and work together.  I have worked in a variety of setting bringing young people together.  I see The Feast as a family, working together helping each other as well as the community that we work and live in.

As the newest to our team how have you found your first week?

Very interesting, informative and enjoyable, meeting people with so many different skills that I can learn a lot from.  A good team which I hope to have many memorable and rewarding times with!

Thanks mate for sharing with us and we all look forward to growing the numbers of Muslim and Christian young people we can help this year, benefiting from your wealth of experience.

We’re going to Istanbul for 6 nights in August to meet with a group from Lebanon, modeling and developing good interfaith relations. We’re looking forward to making new friends, sharing our faith and exploring the city. We all want to see a more peaceful world around us, and this trip is an important step in helping to promote peace between different people.

The team is diverse – a collection of young people from all over the West Midlands, and a fab bunch they are. As a team everyone brings different qualities, ideas and gifts, and together we’re creating something very special and significant. I’m so privileged to work with this group who I really believe can change the world. We all can’t wait to get to Turkey – it seems so far away right now, but I’m sure it will fly.

Watch this space for more in the coming months…

To celebrate, our in-house student video editor and up and coming standup comic, Sajid, has prepared this video from the final performance night from last year.

Info on how you can apply to participate will be out very soon as well as the performance evening.  Very exciting!

As we pulled up to the Faithful Neighbourhood Centre, I was jumping with excitement. Making sugar paste figures on top of cupcakes?! Fun! We signed in and mingled with each other while everyone else was arriving. Then, after everyone had assembled, we were brought together and shared our best cooking experiences ever. Then we were told to make a quick sketch to perform to the rest of the group showing what it can be like having mums and daughters in the kitchen at the same time! We separated into two groups, the mums altogether and the daughters altogether. After a joyous seven minutes; with laughs, smiles, and hilarious developing sketches, we came back together to perform.

After that, it was time to bake the cupcakes. We split into three tables, two mother-daughter pairs on each. After preparing the basic mix we had the choice to add special ingredients; the chocolate chips were by far the most popular. The cupcakes were eggless because we had a Christian, Muslim and Sikh event and baptised Sikhs are vegetarians. I was a bit nervous as to the taste, but they turned out yummy! I think that they are easier to make than normal ones! While they were baking, we had a great discussion in our tables. We talked about relationships; what the main ‘ingredients’ of them are, and what we think we need help with. We also talked about being patient with each other, forgiveness, if there are different levels of sin, if there’s a line of forgiveness, and if you go beyond the line would you be forgiven? It was really fun to see the differences and similarities of views between Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians. We were so enveloped in our discussions; we would have let the cupcakes burn! Thankfully there was a team on hand to make sure that didn’t happen. Phew!

They got them out of oven in time thankfully! While we were letting them cool, we started to make the sugar paste figures. There was a snowman, a penguin, and Santa legs sticking out of a snow bank. We all had an amazing time and some epic penguins came out of it! We even had a snowman with an attitude! The cupcakes were pretty much cool by then, so we set about icing them. We used up the white icing in no time at all and we came out with some pretty cool designs. Everyone had an amazing time, but the overall favourite for myself and I think for other people, was the sugar paste. It was the height of the evening!

We all had lots of fun, and learned many things. How to make sugar paste figures and egg-free cupcakes for one, but I also learned a little about people’s personalities, religions, and made lots of new friends. I’d strongly recommend coming to one of these in the future. It’s a great way to make friends, learn a bit, and eat delicious cupcakes! It was so much fun and my smile never left my face.

We spent time looking at local maps, marking places we found difficult and avoided completely. Also places where we felt safe and didn’t mind being in. I found it fascinating that everyone found Sparkhill a difficult place – it’s a place I (a fairly new resident of Birmingham) have come to enjoy and love , and somewhere I would never avoid. However for young people, only ten years younger than myself, it’s well out of their comfort zone.

I want Sparkhill to be a place that young people feel safe in, and enjoy being part of. It was a little sad to hear some of the negative experiences some of the young people have had in the area. However it has made me more determined to work with them to build a better future for the place. Young people have the potential to change their communities for the better and The Feast is helping them cross religious, ethnic and social barriers that exist. I hope we can enable young people to make many communities better places.