At the beginning of March, project worker Katie Logie, along with Co-Director Cathy McCulloch and Programme Manager Kate Cuddihy, visited the Western Isles. In this blog, Katie reflects on the trip and the importance of working with small communities.
After a very early start, and a breathtaking flight, we land in the Western Isles. More specifically, Benbecula. I have never been before, so I’m not sure what to expect – but have heard from others that this place will change your whole perspective.
This trip has been long awaited and planned at least three times but never quite come to fruition be this due to budget, scheduling clashes or even Covid. In my role as Project Worker for the Children’s Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), I have been working with children from the Western Isles since I started at Children’s Parliament – first through the Climate Changemakers project, and then continued in the CHRD work. Currently, MCPs Sam and Margaret are involved in this project. I have only met Sam in person once, on our residential weekend back in November, and I have never met Margaret in real life! Our relationship up until this point has been entirely digital.
The trip was also a lovely opportunity to build on and form relationships with the MCPs’ families. It was great to meet their extended supported network (including furry friends!) and solidify those relationships, as they are vital in support structures for the children in our digital work.
There are huge benefits to working online, something Children’s Parliament quickly adjusted to back at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. In a national programme like CHRD, it gives us reach we might not have had before, and regular engagement with children from all over Scotland. In our Cabinet preparation, we are regularly having calls with children from Aberdeen, Clackmannanshire and the Western Isles, who may never have met otherwise. However, there are certain limitations to working online, and nothing quite compares to the energy and ideas captured during an in-person session. For this reason, I was delighted to finally be visiting Sam and Margaret’s community – to be able to build on our relationships and see the environment in which they spend most of their time!
Immediately after stepping off the plane, Kate and I are greeted by an enthusiastic Cathy, who points to a large mural of a bird in the airport. With a slightly ironic sign next to it (!), Cathy explains to us that this bird was made by 20 MCPs involved in the original Western Isles project, more than 10 years ago. It was like a living time capsule, where each child had pulled together objects that were representative of them and put them on this bird. And so began my understanding of the profound impact Children’s Parliament has had on this community.
Nearly every corner we turned, someone knew Cathy, or knew someone who was involved in the original programme of work. In the supermarket, we bumped into a parent of one of the original MCPs who told us all about what she’s up to now. While visiting Sam and Margaret in school, we met the wife of a member of the community who supported the original work. Everyone sang their praises of this programme, and the impact it had on the community. We continued to meet people whose lives had been touched by this work more than a decade ago, and yet the impact remained.
A particularly special moment throughout the trip was remembering Liam Aitchison, an MCP who very sadly lost his life after participating in the programme. This event had clearly impacted the community, as everyone we spoke to brought him up and remembered him with fondness. We visited Liam’s grave and brought him some flowers, when Cathy shared a story about a Ceilidh held on the island. Liam was a strong drummer, and he was so excited to share his talent with Children’s Parliament and the community. She so clearly remembered his red, excited face. It was very special to remember this MCP with colleagues and community members throughout our trip.
As someone who is still relatively new to Children’s Parliament (I have worked here for the past 19 months), I have never seen its impact so clearly. This only solidified for me the importance of this trip, and the importance of building and maintaining relationships in communities who so rarely get these opportunities. As Cathy so aptly put in her blog ‘Reflecting Scotland’s Diverse, Vibrant Communities’, “Inconvenience to adults is no reason to exclude children from places further away from the majority.” My time spent on the Western Isles, with our MCPs and with the community, was one of warmth, kindness and ‘unfeartiness’. As we got ready to leave, I was sent a flurry of messages, all of which said ‘Haste ye back!’ All I can say to that is that I hope so…
