More than 150 people attended the launch of ‘Making Ireland Home’, a short film created by members of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland’s (MRCI) mPower Youth Project.
The 24-minute film, made over just three days, features 11 young people talking about their lives in Dublin and sharing their vision of multiculturalism.
“It was a very difficult process to share our experiences, and especially in front of camera,” said Nally Silva, one young Limerick student involved in the project. “We needed to support and understand each other.”
According to one of the filmmakers, the project is an efficient way to spread young migrants’ ideas about the Ireland they expect in the future.
“We took this opportunity to show that some things should stop,” he said. “By speaking about racism, we hope make people aware of what students are going threw. I think hearing testimonies is more efficient that telling that racism is bad, for instance.”
Making Ireland Home does not provide all the answers to challenging questions such as education, but the young people featured suggest their ideas to improve their situation, such as secondary schools giving more information to students to help them choose the most suitable third-level path.
In a Q&A session, the featured ‘talking heads’ explained their disappointment in the education system.
“You are a student, you have Irish friends, you have even an Irish accent and people tell you that you have to pay double fees for education because you’re not Irish, that is hard to understand,” said one participant.
“‘Making Ireland Home’ highlights important issues not only for youth workers and youth work organisations but for all of Irish society,” said Mary Cunningham of the National Youth Council of Ireland, who officially launched the film. “It also reminds us how powerful and insightful the voices of young people can be in offering hope, ideas and solution that need to be heard.”
The MRCI and mPower Youth Project members are hoping to show their film in schools all over Ireland. It can also be viewed online at goo.gl/3um5a.
