Building bridges for fresh starts
In December, Rosie (Bishop) and Kemal (Shaheen) were in Dublin with our partner the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities (IASIO). Over the last year, Caplor Horizons has been working closely with IASIO – helping them to develop a new strategy and to communicate their inspirational work more effectively.
IASIO is striving for ‘An Ireland where the cycle of offending behaviour is broken, and everyone can flourish’. Working at a national level with the prison and probation services – they help to bring transformational change to the lives of people caught up in Ireland’s justice system – by creating opportunities for education, employment, training, resettlement and so much more. Their mission is ‘to make the single biggest contribution they can to break the cycle of offending behaviour, by changing minds, transforming lives, and influencing societal and systemic change’.
During the two days that Rosie and Kemal were with IASIO – they joined the team for their Christmas gathering. Over dinner Graham (Tucker – IASIO’s Resettlement Officer at Mountjoy Prison) – pictured below in blue, explained an old Irish tradition for welcoming in the New Year. At the stroke of midnight on December 31st people will open the back door of their house to let the old year out, whilst the front door is also opened to usher the new year in. As with so many cultures around the world – a new year is marked with a symbol of renewal and seen as an opportunity for fresh starts. For IASIO breaking the cycle of offending behaviour is all about renewal and fresh starts.
Not all cultures celebrate the New Year in January – and for some spring is seen as the time of transition from one year to the next. The Parsis, for example, celebrate Nowruz in March. However, it is perhaps the Roman association of January with the two-faced deity Janus that explains why many cultures herald the new year in January. With one face looking back at the old and the other ahead to the new – January is a threshold, a turning point, an opportunity to build bridges to better futures.
Building bridges for better futures
In their article ‘Peace on Earth? The Tradition of Christmas Ceasefires Across the World’ Sanja Badanjak and Laura Wise explore worldwide traditions of building bridges (declaring ceasefires) during the holidays. They state:
“In the various Christian traditions, the end of the calendar year and the Christmas holidays signify a time of peace and reflection: day-to-day struggle and strife is to be set aside, at least for a short while. In the UK, setting aside the contentious issues of the day often comes with the label of ceasefire, harking back to the famed story of the 1914 Christmas truce, when fighting stopped for a day on the WWI front in Flanders, and soldiers from the two sides exchanged sweets and even played football in no man’s land” Read the full article here.
In December we met with another inspirational organisation called Hand in Hand, that has been working to build bridges between Jewish and Arab communities for the last 25 years. Their mission is to build partnership and equality through a growing network of integrated, bilingual multicultural schools and communities. Their hugely important work has featured in this recent article by the historian Simon Schama.
The schools and communities that Hand-in-Hand have developed are beacons of light in the world. Shining examples of the transformational change that is possible when people come together in inclusive learning environments to understand and collaborate with each other across lines of division and separation. Schools and communities that nurture empathy, enable young people to transcend their differences and deepen cooperation and co-creation are profoundly important learning environments for the next generation of leaders.
From all of us at Caplor Horizons – wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful festive period. We look forward to building more bridges with organisations around the world as we look to the future and welcome in a New Year!
Quote of the week: “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams” African Proverb
Best wishes
Ian, Rosie, Lorna and Kemal