Members' column

Each month, a member of our Youth Forum has their say about the group's work and their current projects.

By John Finlay, Youth Forum member

In January 2010 , 15 members of the Youth Forum, including myself, spent three Saturdays taking part in equality and diversity training at Farset International in Belfast and achieved a certificate in Equality and Diversity National Partnership Award.

I am sure everyone who participated would agree that it was an entirely worthwhile experience and, for that, we have to thank our facilitators, Sean and Laurie, who were not only knowledgeable and full of new perspectives on big issues, but also inspiring and fun.

The course was fairly intense, starting at 9.30am each morning and ending at 4.30pm. .

At the end of each day, fortunately punctuated with tea breaks and a lovely lunch, everyone was exhausted but satisfied with what they had done and achieved. It was not all hard work though as Sean and Laurie had us play numerous games, which always held important messages.

A couple of these activities gave us real insight into the experiences of minorities who are unfairly treated and the frustrations they face.

We learned lots, such as the real meaning of terms we hear bandied about everyday like "equality" and "discrimination", what the benefits of diversity are, for individuals and society, and how equality is enshrined in law.

I would also add that we all learned something about ourselves - sometimes, they were prejudices we all held but never had acknowledged before, for example, only a few participants were comfortable with the idea of a female friend converting to Islam and deciding to wear a veil, when we explored scenarios around different religions.

Hopefully, by being more aware of these and other prejudices, we will come closer to confronting them and acting more fairly.

This training means we will be able to take the lessons we have learned in this training back to the Youth Forum, to make sure our members act fairly with regard to all those groups who suffer discrimination in Belfast. I would also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all our members, to sincerely thank the Workers' Educational Association and, in particular Maura Kavanagh, who made this opportunity possible.