On Saturday November 26th, our first excursion under our second Community Integration Fund grant brought us together with our CIF partners, Sonairte, and Meath Partnership, for a day that combined birdwatching and a winter nature walk with workshops on culture and digital parenting.

We had 60 bookings, mainly from direct provision centres in Mosney and around Navan, and even with some drop outs at the last minute we still had close to 50 guests, some 30 children and 20 adults from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and Albania. We had five volunteers from SiN&H, two from Meath Partnership, one from Sonairte, and invaluable help from Sonairte staff Ronan and Paul.

The opening event, after greetings and tea and coffee, was a talk prepared by two members of the local Fingal Branch of BirdWatch Ireland, Frank Prendergast and Barney Johnston, and presented by Barney. It introduced to us to some duck and wading birds we were likely to see on the Nanny estuary. Barney then led us to the estuary, which is accessible from Sonairte’s land, and we were indeed able to see some of the birds from the talk, including wigeon and teal. Our guests enjoyed the experience, with some continuing on to enjoy the woodland walk. And after lunch, several people asked us to bring them back down to see more birds. 

Kate then gave a very popular class on drawing some of the birds we had seen in pencil and crayon, which the children especially participated in enthusiastically.

This was followed by an excellent lunch provided by Sonairte café, during which our guests and volunteers mixed, sharing experiences as they enjoyed the food, while some parents played outside with their children.

The final events of the day were the two workshops from Meath Partnership:

1. Understanding the complexities of culture: The first workshop was delivered by Stephanie Kirwan centred on a group discussion which focused on culture and looking at some of the layers which exist beneath the surface. The group discussed social norms, shared aspects and stories from their own respective countries and shared openly some of the difficulties encountered when moving to a new country. We used the metaphor of an ice-berg to share stories and anecdotes from the various countries/cultures represented in the room.
2. Digital Parenting: The second workshop was delivered by Jennifer Smith and focused on parenting in the 21st century. It explored some of the challenges that digital technology brings for parents in today’s world. We shared information on what resources would be beneficial to support parents regarding this topic in the years to come.

Then it was time for the bus home, many thanks to Kierans Bus Hire and their driver Shaun for, yet again, efficient and friendly service. Thanks for course to all volunteers, to our partners Sonairte and Meath Partnership, and to BirdWatch Ireland Fingal Branch. And we are very happy to acknowledge the continuing support of the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth through our second Community Integration Fund grant, which made this excursion possible.