How do you build a community in the 21st Century?
It was this question that drew me to be part of the Oasis game in London last year. Instigated by the soap company Lush, 30 of us led by 5 Brazilians poured onto a council estate to stir up some community spirit on the streets of Newham.
The aim of the game is to transform a disused space into a space that brings people together, and in the process, build a community from the bottom up. And because it's a game, it's fun, collaborative and a great way to inspire people to action.
Wait a minute, I hear you ask, why would you want to build community in the first place?
For many reasons. Being part of a community is sometimes a means of survival, and for everyone, it makes life more colourful and interesting. Yet in our modern society, even talking to your neighbour is becoming more and more scarce. For me, building community has become a passion and an ambition.
Having been blown away by the experience in Newham, I'm now off to Brazil to learn how to facilitate the game myself so I can take it to new places.
After a long application process, I've been selected along with 59 others from around the world, to be trained in this innovative form of community-building.
The next stage of the selection process is to find 5,500R$ (around £1,500) to contribute towards the cost of the training, and through raising the money, spread the word about the Oasis game and its potential. Support me here:
A game to change the world
The video says it better than I can in words. If after watching you believe it to be worthwhile, I'd really appreciate your support either with money or by spreading the word.
Keep reading the blog to find out more about the program or visit Warriors Without Weapons.
My personal experience of the Oasis game and why I want to do it
When I was 18, I went to live in Vila dos Pescadores, a favela that had grown up around the outskirts of Santos. There I witnessed the creativity and ingenuity that arises out of people living with limited resources, necessity being the mother of invention.
I was thrilled to find out about the Oasis game because it celebrates just this, the abundance there is in scarcity, and the idea that anything is possible when a group of people want to create something together.
I had the opportunity to play the game in Newham and I took it, but cautiously. I didn't feel comfortable going into a community I didn't belong to, just thinking I could contribute somehow.
During the course of the game, I continuously questioned the process, and was drawn to spend time with the cynical old men in the local pub, who were bemused by the cackle of do-gooders on their doorstep, promising a community they believed had long since disappeared.
Our biggest sceptic was Mike, 91, fit as a fiddle and sharp as a blade, who was the eyes and ears of the local community. He said we were naive, and that we were raising the hopes of local kids only to dash them, promising a playground without the means to do it.
I could see his point, but the fact was, we were only having this conversation in the first place because of this game - and that is its mission: to get people talking, questioning their reality and inspiring people to action.
In the end, we won Mike over. In 4 days we had 200 people from the estate creating a garden that we had collectively designed, gathered the materials for, and were now building. He said: 'you know what you lot have done here, you've got people talking, and that is how you build a community.'
What I like about the game is that it reminds us that we can shape our circumstances wherever we are and whoever we are, and as a group of people, we are able to achieve much more than by ourselves.
Having experienced it, I'm convinced of this method of community-building, and would like take it to new places - and not just in contexts of scarcity, but in wealthy areas, where people have stopped talking to their neighbours, or in places where there are older people who aren't getting out and feel isolated. The potential application of the game is vast and limitless!
Who plays the game?
60 people are selected, half Brazilians, half from the rest of the globe. Every effort is made to ensure there are people from diverse backgrounds. There is one selection process that requires blog-writing over the internet, and another selection process around Santos in areas that don't have access to the internet, or for those unable to read or write, to ensure the involvement of a wide range of people.
Members of the community in which the game takes place are invited to fully participate in the game - that is part of its core purpose.
What is the selection process?
The selection process involves each applicant creating a blog over the course of a month. Each week, the applicant is set tasks, and asked to blog about what they did for the task. At the end of the month, Warriors Without Weapons, the game's coordinators, select 60 applicants who are invited to play the game. Browse through the other posts on this blog to see mine.
How does the game work?
The participants, along with 20 past-players and staff descend on one of the surrounding favelas of Santos, and live, eat and sleep as a community living in the homes of the host community.
The game takes the participants along various processes - starting with the 'gaze of appreciation' in which we get to know the community by seeing the points of beauty first. In Newham, this meant noticing an old lady's meticulously-kept lawn, or the sound of children playing - looking to see the positives in the area.
From this place, we initiated conversations with local people about what they loved about the area. Having got to know the neighbours a bit, we organised an evening to gather locals' ideas about what they would like to see in their community - which led to a model-making session to design a garden.
Once the winning design was struck upon, we had 48 hours to gather resources from local skips and donations and build the space. If ever there was a time that I felt like I was witnessing a miracle, it was there, handing out tea to over 200 people avidly creating a garden together.
From these few days, great things emerged, the local kids started a choir, neighbours met each other for the first time, and an electrifying energy lingered in the air as people beavered away, feeling useful and like we were achieving something.
Who benefits from your donation?
- The local community where the game is played
- The participants
- The people and places where the trainees go on to play the game
What does the money go towards?
- Food and accommodation for trainees
- Stationery and material to run the game
- Making a documentary of the game
- Staff costs towards organising the training and liaising with the local community
This video follows the first Oasis game that was ever played in Santos.
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