WP&J catch-up

CATCHING UP WITH THE WORLD PEACE AND JUSTICE ORGANISATION

By Tristan Best

We spoke with WP&J leader Sammy Meleti about the work he’s been doing in Mackworth and beyond…

Sammy Meleti’s organisation, World Peace and Justice, has been up to plenty lately, keeping up with the knife amnesty and world injustices alike. Although Sammy is here in Derby, he manages to stay well briefed and in the loop regarding conflicts abroad – especially regarding the Eastern world. His passion lies in raising awareness for places such as Yemen and Palestine, with a plentiful array of other nations. Whether it’s by raising awareness or even funds for projects, Sammy never fails to show his heart on his sleeve. I asked him how things have been for his org, and he assured me that things were steady, and he had still managed to pull a lot of knives from the streets. A bladed article had recently been brought to Sammys attention in walking distance from Murray Park School – mine and Sammy’s secondary school from 2012-2017. This came as a shock to us both, and shows we still need to make changes when socialising with our youth in our communities, as one day, we will all regret the losses to come – especially if we don’t put our foot down. I also enquired with Sammy on future topics of interest that were in the works, and he responded stating positively: “I simply cannot tell you until the wheels are in action,” hinting that great things are coming from WP&J Org. Sammy looks to spread his word as far as physically possible – worldwide, in fact. But in our community, which I and Sammy mutually agree needs more love and attention, Sammy hopes to achieve these targets by holding sponsored fundraisers and events in the future. As you can imagine, however, such events are hard to arrange. Sammy’s main platforms are on social media at present, with most responses and support coming from sites such as Facebook and Instagram – but don’t be surprised if you also find posters and banners raising awareness around Derby soon. Sammy and I were both brought up in the area of Mackworth, DE22. When we were growing up, there were all sorts of things aimed at getting us off the streets away from drugs and trouble, like Mackworth St Francis Football Club, or our beloved youth club, to which a genuinely great guy Chris would hold sessions on a daily and weekly basis. We both feel like Derby is missing a lot of necessities for our youth at the moment – our community centres are shut down, there’s nothing to do for the youth, and day by day they get more frustrated and bored, so they eventually lead themselves and each other into mistakes that’ll end up costing them more than they could ever imagine. We need to put our foot down, and say enough is enough. Derby is a shadow of what it once was and a fraction of what it can become. In the future, Sammy can see the city becoming more attuned, and more up to date with other cities – which is something to work towards indeed. If you have any suggestions on how we can help our community, feel free to contact us at tristan@kutambua. com or wpj.organisation@gmail. com

AT HUMAN LIBRARIES, CHECK OUT A ‘BOOK’ TO START A NOVEL CONVERSATION

By Cinnamon Janzer

Cinnamon Janzer from Next City investigates the idea of Human Library event, where people sign up as ‘books’ to tell a story about their personal experience and while others listen and ask questions.

One weekend in September, a couple walking their dog passed by an outdoor event in Redwood City, California. Thinking it a novel idea, a woman sat down with a ‘book’ about living with autism. Afterwards, she told Redwood City Public Library’s library services supervisor Jenny Barnes about how eye-opening the conversation was: despite having autistic people in her life, she told Barnes, she’d never had the opportunity to ask questions about their experiences in such a safe and open way before. It’s exactly this kind of connection and understanding that the Human Library initiative, with its tagline ‘unjudge someone’, seeks to foster. The Human Library initiative was started by Ronni Abergel in Copenhagen in 2000 as a response to the polarisation he was seeing around the world. “Let’s try and create a safe space where we can showcase diversity and people can ask questions and not be judged, so we came up with the idea of the Human Library,” Abergel explained during a 2018 talk in Seattle. With both in-person and virtual events, Human Libraries have since been held in over 80 countries across museums, festivals, conferences, universities and even the private sector. Through volunteer books offering ‘readings’ on their personal experiences across even the touchiest of subjects like race and religion, the goal is to foster conversations that don’t otherwise take place. More than 20 years since the first Human Library event, researchers have begun to study such programs’ ability to educate participants, combat prejudices and promote inclusion. A 2019 study from Poland looked at whether participation in human libraries changes readers’ individual attitudes toward diverse groups. They found that participation ‘decreased social distance towards Muslims,’ and that the more books a participant reads, the greater that shift is. On the book side, a 2016 study found eight major categories of benefits for books that range from altruistic (helping others and making connections) to personal (selfexpression and personal enjoyment). Barnes began hosting annual Human Library events after learning about the San Diego Public Library having done them. At nearby Foothill College, Allison Herman — research and service leadership symposium co-coordinator and an English professor — first learned about the idea from a student. The college, located in Los Altos Hills in California, hosted its first Human Library event in 2016. While the larger Human Library organisation has its own roster of ‘books’ from depots around the world to check out, both Barnes and Herman’s Human Library programs went a different route and sourced their own books locally. “We had our students, staff, faculty, and administrators become books,” Herman says. “It was really about getting to know each other and sharing our very unique stories, overcoming barriers, and breaking those boundaries of misconceptions.” One of the ways that Herman found quick success is by incorporating the event into college classes. The last thing she wanted was all of these people ready to tell their stories with no one to listen, she said. Another element of success for the college’s annual events, save for 2020, has been training the books and coming up with guidelines for readers. “We would do kind of a mock interview and talk through their stories and what they would entail,” Herman says. “We talked about ways to kind of exit a conversation if there was any discomfort.” Often holding the events outdoors in June, Herman created a system where people checked out books which came with information about the guidelines for the respect on which the events hinge. “It’s kind of the Human Library model to leave the book exactly as you found it,” she says. They talked with borrowers about “treating your books gently and making sure you return them.” Herman has found that hosting the events dovetail nicely with Pride Month. “It’s been overwhelmingly positive,” Herman says of the feedback she’s gotten, especially from the books themselves. “We’ve had books that were a little nervous to share their stories, but found it very healing… this opportunity to teach others, to create a more compassionate view of a situation or at least gain understanding. And have an opportunity to meet people that they wouldn’t have otherwise met or maybe wouldn’t have approached, and then learn something about that individual.” https://mojatu.com/2022/12/01/at-human-librariescheck-out-a-book-to-start-a-novel-conversation/