Building Bridges

Over the past two terms, Georgia and I and some other Year 11 students were offered an opportunity to participate in the Building Bridges Program led by Mrs Moloney, which focused on monotheistic religions.

During this experience, we got to meet other students from different schools of different faiths, which included King David (Jewish), Mount Hira (Islamic), Nazareth (Roman Catholic), Mazenod (Roman Catholic) and our sister school, Killester.

Georgia and I were privileged enough to be able to participate in this program and gain insightful knowledge into the lives of students at other schools across South Melbourne.

Our Year 11 peers asked us students who joined the Building Bridges Program why we had chosen to participate. The truth is, there was mention of free dinner! But of course, our intentions after the first session had changed significantly to expand our knowledge and to challenge making connections with those of different faiths. I think that by doing this program it is slowly breaking down the barriers built around us.

The barriers we explored were centred around the notion of parroting. Often children will ‘parrot’ their parents’ behaviour and in relation to the program, discriminatory behaviour presents itself. This often leads people with discriminatory views about people with Islamic faith, Jewish culture or even negative perceptions of the Catholic faith. Programs such as Building Bridges help build and connect us just like its name states, allowing us to have enablers

As we reflect on this experience, a point we often discussed regarding Building Bridges was how different Georgia and I grew up and how this program has changed our views. For Georgia it was growing up in a Catholic household and being surrounded by the Catholic faith.

“I won’t say I was necessarily surrounded by bias, but being Catholic was everything I had grown up with.” This was part of Georgia’s response when asked the question “Would you say growing up in a Catholic household you were surrounded by bias surrounding the idea of religion?”

Personally, growing up in a non-religious household, I found the program to be quite educational and beneficial. I learnt about different religions or aspects of religions I didn’t know about prior.

Relating to the bias of one’s religion, we found that for some, specifically Muslims, belief in their religion is not just faith, it is a lifestyle. It becomes part of their everyday life; astonishingly, praying a minimum of five times a day. The education on each school’s religion has widened our perceptions on our own beliefs and helps to consider that incorporating more prayer time can be beneficial to not only our own mental health but to our community, our staff and our peers.

We hope that more students can participate in this rewarding experience with an open mind.

Lorelei Kensington and Georgia Natoli
Year 11