ETHNIC COMMUNITIES: Minority Report
Charlotte Goddard
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Young people from minority ethnic groups may have different needs, but does it make sense to fund projects aimed at specific communities or should youth workers be aiming for integration? Charlotte Goddard takes a look.
Cultural melting pot
New Malden's South Korean community brings its own challenges to youth workers in the area. Racism is not a big problem, according to Richard James, director of Oxygen, a local partnership between 21 churches that works closely with the local youth service and runs activities such as a breakfast club, nightclub and sports events. "There are many Korean shops and businesses in New Malden and the community is well accepted," he says. But language and cultural barriers can lead to the estimated 3,000 South Korean young people becoming isolated both from existing youth service provision and from the overall New Malden community.
"The Korean community is naturally quite closed and inward-looking, so it is a difficult area to break into," he says. "There are two groups of South Korean young people in the New Malden area - those who came across with their families, who will probably be here for two to five years. And those who are sent over from Korea for a British education, and who board with local families." Young people tend to come to the UK aged about 18, although some are younger, while older people often work for the larger Korean companies such as Hyundai or Samsung.
Public sector workers such as police advisers find it difficult to reach the Korean community. "We try to create links with the Korean community so that young people are not so likely to fear the police, which they may do because policing in Korea is seen to be entirely different," explains PC Dave Turtle, Korean liaison officer for Kingston borough. "There are no real tensions between Korean young people and young people of other communities in the area, but I would like to see more integration."
Oxygen has set up a 15,000 project to reach these young people and help them to become fully integrated into their local communities. The Wates Foundation, a charitable company that specialises in the physical, mental and spiritual welfare of the young and disadvantaged, has donated 9,000 to funding the project; the rest comes from individuals.
The project, which launched at the end of last year, has been named Sanso - the Korean word for Oxygen. Every Tuesday evening, New Malden's Fountain Youth Centre, a brightly painted former public toilet perched on the edge of a large roundabout, plays host to an after-school drop-in centre where Korean young people can come to practise their English, get help with homework and make use of the centre's other facilities such as a pool table.
Extra assistance
There are eight volunteers, plus James, Oxygen's full-time director, and Jin-Hwa Song, Sanso's full-time youth worker. Song is originally from South Korea herself, and came to London to study English after leaving university in Korea.
Other youth projects emphasise the importance of using workers from specific ethnic communities as a bridge. For example, Cardiff has a long-standing Somali population. Sexual health organisation fpa appointed a British-born Somali, Zainab Hassan, to target this group. "Cultural and religious prohibitions meant that young people from ethnic communities were not accessing sexual health services," says Sian Hughes, policy officer at the fpa. "It was important for Zainab to gain the trust of the community elders."
Workers from similar ethnic backgrounds act as a bridge between young people and their host communities. "Often the young people can't understand the questions they are being asked in their homework, and we help the with the meaning of words they might not know," explains New Malden's Song.
Thirteen-year-old Hyeajung, who is Chinese Korean and has been attending Chessington Community College and living in New Malden for one month, says: "I come to Sanso because my English is not good, and I need to talk to English people. When I come to the youth centre and to Sanso, I can speak to friendly English people."
One problem that Oxygen has faced in setting up Sanso has been the difficulty in penetrating the tight-knit Korean community.
"I sometimes go to schools to meet young people, and to church," says Song. "I also advertised in Korean papers, explaining about the homework group, and about Oxygen," she adds. "It is not easy to find people who can come here though. Korean parents concentrate on their children's education and they can get quite stressed."
According to Oxygen, some 50-60 per cent of Koreans define themselves as Christian, and 28 per cent of the local population do so. "The church is a strong focus of the community and so we are in a unique position to start working with them as we already have trust and respect," explains James.
However, there are still barriers. "I thought that language barriers would be a major difficulty, but the cultural barrier is stronger," says James. "The parents of these young people may have sent them to Britain for a good education, but they are worried about the British way of life. They hear about drinking and drugs, and they tell their children that they can't go out to parties because of the fear factor."
Because Sanso presents itself as a homework club, it appeals to Korean young people who might otherwise be discouraged from coming along. However, James has plans to develop the service with trips to places such as Stratford-upon-Avon, and football games. "If we go on trips we would use the time there and back to talk about the British way of life," he explains. Oxygen has already run football games between South Korean and local teams.
Breaking down barriers
Eventually, James hopes to integrate the Korean youth with the general youth services in the area. "This is about integration, communication and linking the South Korean young people with the youth services that are already on offer in this area," explains James. "If we were to run a separate set of projects just for Korean young people, we would isolate them even further."
CASE STUDY - KOSOVARS IN BARROW
Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria is home to more than 300 refugees from Kosovar, families who fled the war in Serbia in May 1999. When the Kosovar families moved to Barrow, Cumbria County Council set up a project that later became the Kosovar Support Team in June 2000.
The project extended its boundaries and its aims earlier this year and became the Multi-Cultural Community Centre, working with all ethnic minority people in and around Barrow. The centre now helps Furness residents from many different ethnic backgrounds, including Chinese, Iranian, Filipinos and native Americans. However, dealing with the Kosovars is still a major part of its work.
Kosovars in Barrow is part of the Multi-Cultural Community Centre. It is a support group for young people, which aims to reduce racial tension in the area. The Kosovar young people have produced a web site (www.kibonline.com) and a bilingual newspaper, which aims to retain their traditions and culture and promote communication with the local community.
The group's work was recognised at the 2003 Philip Lawrence Awards, a scheme that aims to reward and encourage young people to support each other, combat racism and violence (YPN, 10-16 December, p16). The effects of the project have also been felt at a local level with the police noticing a visible reduction in antisocial and racist behaviour.
Mohammed Dhalech, equality officer at Cumbria County Council, says: "The Multi-Cultural Forum and the work carried out by the young people in the Kosovars in Barrow group is an excellent example of the promotion of racial harmony and understanding in communities." "The Kosovars in Barrow group is an excellent example of the promotion of racial harmony in communities" Mohammed Dhalech, equality officer, Cumbria County Council.