成人快手

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with novelist and poet Zahid Hussain

Good Morning,
I am deeply privileged to be teaching young people creative writing.

Recently, I ran a workshop with young Asian boys. They gathered random objects, including their favourite toys and bits and bats from around the house and created a 鈥渟tory bag鈥�.

To play the game you simply dip your hand into the Story Bag and pull out an object and, inspired by that object, you begin telling your story. Each child takes turns and puts their unique spin on the story鈥�it鈥檚 like magic!

I hope these kinds of games will stay with children for life, leaving a lasting sense of wonder and grant them the sacred skill of spinning your own tale from ordinary everyday objects.

Most of the children come from ethnic minority backgrounds and they attend schools with a high degree of diversity. I have taught hundreds if not thousands of children. However, there鈥檚 a singular striking feature to the stories they write that concerns me deeply鈥�

I have never seen any of the children I teach write about a Bilal, or a Hardeep or a Bilkees. It鈥檚 always John or David or Jane. It鈥檚 like they aren鈥檛 allowed to be part of their own story! Why do they exclude themselves from stories 鈥� or children like themselves?

I think they are mirroring the world of books and films that they live in and they simply don鈥檛 see themselves there. It does none of us any good to exclude the stories of others. We need to change this 鈥� one story at a time.

Lord, guide us to nurture self-respect and confidence in young souls, and to develop a safe and secure place for them in the world to make it a better place for all. Amen.

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