Pupils on interfaith diversity trip to UK

THE CHOSEN: Siphosethu Gxako, of Manyano High School in Khayelitsha, is part of a group of youths selected to participate in an exchange project. He is seen with Eesaa Harris, left, and Gabi Tadmor. Picture: Tracey Adams

THE CHOSEN: Siphosethu Gxako, of Manyano High School in Khayelitsha, is part of a group of youths selected to participate in an exchange project. He is seen with Eesaa Harris, left, and Gabi Tadmor. Picture: Tracey Adams

Published Jul 4, 2011

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NATASHA PRINCE

Staff Reporter

A GROUP of 15 youngsters from various backgrounds will head to Britain this week in an exchange project to broaden their thinking on religious and cultural diversity.

The 15 pupils attend South Peninsula High School, Islamia College, Manyano High School, Herzlia High School and Phoenix High School.

They leave tomorrow, accompanied by five teachers from their schools.

For little more than a week, the pupils will twin with 15 pupils from five schools in Blackburn and Liverpool, and will take part in interactive programmes.

They will also tour London, visit Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, and meet the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The trip forms part of the Schools Exchange Project, which is run by the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative (CTII).

By July next year, the 15 British pupils are set to be hosted in Cape Town.

Marlene Silbert, a CTII committee member, said it was very difficult to choose the candidates. They were selected on the basis of their leadership potential and were asked to fill out application forms describing what they aimed to achieve with the programme, and why they should be chosen.

The programme started in February and the candidates met regularly to discuss issues of identity, self-awareness, racial and religious prejudice and discrimination.

“It was quite outstanding to see how they had bonded during those weeks,” Silbert said.

Siphosethu Gxako, 15, of Manyano High School in Khayelitsha, said the programme helped him understand Islam.

“I didn’t understand it at first. In my culture many people are prejudiced about the religion,” he said.

If there was one thing he could tell his friends and his community, he would say: “To discriminate against a person means you’re not getting to know the person and in that way you don’t know it, but you’re limiting yourself.”

Yesterday, deputy mayor Ian Neilson bid the pupils farewell at the Artscape Theatre. He said he hoped their experience would be empowering.

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