Local government agencies fund Bahá'í Project for Youth Empowerment

“This isn’t about keeping youth occupied for a couple of hours a week,” says Fidelma.  “This is about empowering young people to realise their full potential, and helping them to value the ‘gems’ inside them: the qualities and gifts that make them special.”

Fidelma Meehan is Bahá'í Projects Co-ordinator in Swindon, and a facilitator for the Swindon Youth Empowerment Project.  This project is an initiative of the local Bahá'ís, and has been awarded funding by local government agencies for its work with troubled youth and other young people.

The project started as a result of the vision of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Swindon, which is to respond to the spiritual needs of the local population. The Swindon Spiritual Assembly, which is the annually elected administrative body of the local Bahá’ís, has also several other initiatives running in the town to help raise spiritual awareness.

In the youth empowerment project, Bahá'ís work in partnership with youth agencies in the area, taking groups of youth through an eight-week programme, run by trained facilitators.  Each week, the youth experience a special Tranquillity Zone: visualisation, relaxation, stories and music in a beautiful setting.  A room in the local Health Hydro is transformed using drapes, fresh flowers, soft lighting and cushions, to create another world for the youth to enter.

After the Tranquillity Zone, the youth enter the Discovery Zone.  These interactive workshops seek to empower participants to begin a process of self-discovery.  Positive human qualities such as kindness, joy, patience and wisdom – often referred to as human virtues – are highlighted and shown to be essential in our quest for human happiness.

During the course, stories from the Tranquillity Zone are integrated into discussions in the Discovery Zone as the youth explore what great potential lies within them.  Through a range of stimulating activities, the young people learn about their ‘dual nature’ – their ability to choose to do either ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and how this can lead to happiness or unhappiness in life.

The feedback from the first year of the project has been immensely fulfilling for everyone involved, Fidelma says.  One youth said: “The Tranquillity Zone takes away all my worries and anger”.  Another said: “When I go to the Tranquillity Zone I can solve all my problems”.  Another young person even said that since being involved with the Youth Empowerment Project, she no longer felt like committing suicide.

“Some of these youth have had very troubled lives,” said Viv Bartlett, who is responsible for training facilitators of the Project.  “They come from environments where they are constantly being made to feel that they are no good, that they are bad people, and that there is no value to their lives.

“We try to create a different environment, one which empowers them instead of disempowering them.  In the Bahá'í Writings we are told to ‘Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.’  We encourage the youth to see themselves in this way: each one of them is rich with qualities and talents which make them unique and special.”

The project continues to attract funding from local government in recognition of the beneficial effect it is having on the youth who take part in it.  Youth agencies involved with the initiative report a real transformation in the way the youth relate to each other.  “This project should be made available to youth all over the country,” said one youth worker during feedback.  “It is serving the needs of our youth.”