Chris Wilson framed the evening with a song: ‘Imagine Belfast Without Walls,’ based on a poem by Rev Steve Stockman, one of the founders of the 4corners festival. A dialogue chaired by Belfast-born artist, and young person of the Focolare Movement, Bronach McGuinness, filled this frame. Ugur Tok, Elisabeth Ohlbock, Rev John Mbayo and Conleth Burns joined Bronach on the panel.
Ugur originally from Turkey, now residing in Belfast and lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, is the Lord Mayor’s Chaplain for the Muslim Community. Ugur shared a childhood experience of discovering that “before being a Muslim, I am a human being.” This was in response to a question posed by Bronach, about whether or not faith is essential to entering into dialogue. Ugur’s answer showed that we must broaden our concept of dialogue, and not simply confine it to people of faith. Ugur translated a piece from the Qur’an which says: “O mankind, indeed, We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another,” an answer for the theme of the evening, that diversity and “getting to know one another,” is what enriches us.
Rev John Mbayo, originally from Zambia, now working as Methodist Minister in the Glenburn area, shared a philosophy from his African culture: “Ubuntu,” meaning ” I am who I am because you are the person that you are”. From this perspective, it was clear that diversity is enriching. John continued by telling a story of meeting some young people in Ballybean, where he had once worked, and on approaching him, the young people said: “Can I touch your skin?”, “Can I touch your hair?”. John continued that it was this diversity that invited a dialogue.
Elisabeth Ohlbock, an Occupational Therapist living in Belfast, originally from Austria and a community member of the Focolare Movement in Belfast, shared a poem she had written called: “The Streets of Belfast.” In the poem, Elisabeth points out that we have to be like a bridge where there is diversity, enabling everyone to be enriched by it.
Conleth Burns, a student from Armoy, Co. Antrim, shared his experience of the World Person Project, which was organised by the Focolare Movement in South America last summer. He shared the experience of 530 young people dialoguing without the need of translators, as a “gift of diversity,” not a challenge or an obstacle. A strong moment was his enriching encounter with an elderly Paraguayan man, whose native language he didn’t know, but as Conleth explained: “When Pope Francis said dialogue requires us to ‘open the doors’, he didn’t say that words are necessary!”
Buoyed by the panel, the gathering in Duncairn Centre then had an opportunity to dialogue in groups, sharing how they lived dialogue in their own lives. The answer of the evening is that dialogue is essential to unlock the gift of diversity. There was a great sense of synergy when Ugur Tok and John Mbayo brought the evening to a close with a Muslim prayer-chant by Ugur and the Lord’s Prayer recited by John.
