How Archbishop Desmond Tutu's legacy is helping young people

Young people in the inner cities like Liverpool

reap the benefits of the work of reconciliation Tutu Foundation UK

There is a soft chaos surrounding the Black-E Community Arts Centre in Liverpool, but this guy is happy, when you feel all the players can only benefit. Children as young as five years, even in their school uniforms, sitting on the lap of the old "experiencing a messy mixture of icing, babies and fairy cakes are decorated jelly for celebrate the 80 The Archbishop Desmond Tutu birthday later this week. Others are rushing around to show their creations before putting them in front of a smiling image of the Archbishop.

Technically, he plays the "game of Ubuntu" - an exercise designed to focus groups on how they are interconnected - inspired by the Southern African concept of ubuntu, the idea that there is much more that unites human beings among themselves.

For many, cake decorating is more compelling to answer questions about their neighbors, and the causes of conflict, but which give the game a try, though. Questions for discussion statement of Martin Luther King that "if we do not learn to live together as brothers and sisters, we will die together as fools", a freckled 10 years, offers his own interpretation: "If you do not not crack from, we will go to hell, "he said.

Ubuntu

The game is brought to the center at the Tutu Foundation UK. Later this year the foundation, established in 2007 by a group of supporters of the archbishop, will return to the Black-E to start a project based on their conversations for Change (C4C) program. The game is a bit of Ubuntu "pre-commitment" of the activity.

The database is designed to bring the experience of Tutu in the work of reconciliation in South Africa and Northern Ireland discontented poor urban communities in the UK. It aims to fight against knife crime and gang culture turning gang members into agents of positive change, is particularly timely since the summer riots in England. It is believed that the attitudes and behaviors underlying should be treated first if violence is dealt with and worked with 18 communities and more than 300. Thousands of people, in their opinion, have benefited from changes in attitudes and bridge construction projects that have emerged from the program, which is a legacy of mounting a fierce anti-apartheid activist, who is the boss the foundation.

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Earlier this year, the archbishop, visiting participants C4C, said he was "intimidated" by their work.

• "Most of the situations involved are enormous," he said. "The eloquence with which they are able to describe the projects they are involved is simply amazing."
• recent projects have included building relationships with the tale, among Bangladeshi children in Tower Hamlets, east London, with the older, mostly white residents of a nearby home care . He opened the door to a discussion between those who had covered a war memorial with graffiti and those who lost family in both world wars.

by Birmingham, community clean-up campaigns have brought together diverse groups to raise both the rubbish and the issues around the perception of "no go" areas. At the end of the program for 92% of participants said they felt more optimistic about their communities when they started.

The foundation wants to train 80 community leaders "," to advance the philosophy of Ubuntu in the next three to five years, and plans to do more work in restorative justice. In Croydon, south London, which will be a way to bring those whose lives were destroyed in the riots that mutinied.

"With the approach of the Archbishop to the truth and reconciliation, we believe we are well positioned to help the community," said Executive Director Alexandra Ankrah Foundation. The Black-E center Arts, not far from where the violence broke out in Liverpool in August, young children learn about Ubuntu through circus arts workshops and more will be trained to be mentors in their communities.

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