OIKOS-Somos Casa comes from the need detected among the young people of the "Aurrera" project of the Salesians BoscoSocial Foundation, who felt the need to know the different religious groups in the neighbourhood. A project was thus launched that connected the entire Salesian presence in the Basque city: the San Francisco Javier parish, the Sansomendi youth centre and, precisely, the Aurrera project.

Active young people

"Oikos-Somos Casa" is a creative project in which materials have been developed to allow young people and children to know the different faiths that surround them, a reality in many current societies.

To carry out the project and turn it into a game, leaders from the Sansomendi youth centre were first trained on the fundamental concepts of each religion. With them, the proposals necessary for the game were then prepared and the words to be used were selected. All these materials were finally tested with groups of primary school children and young teenagers from the youth centre and the catechetical groups of the Salesian parish.

"It is not just a pedagogical tool, it is a participatory project in which every young person, every boy and girl was part of what was the final result, the OIKOS-Somos Casa game, because the game was created from the youngsters' experience – its promoters explained –. As we celebrated, researched, played and invented, these materials gradually emerged."

The OIKOS-Somos Casa game

The project is based on the concept of "OIKOS" (house, in Greek): a house is not a totally enclosed place, but is open, despite having walls  and a roof. It is made of bricks of different colours that represent the different religions. And there are also coloruless bricks which represent people who do not follow any kind of faith. Inside is the dove of peace, with the red thread of love. It is therefore a welcoming space: this is why it has a roof and is open to allow people to enter and exit.

Each box  contains 8 cards specific to Judaism, 8 to Christianity and 8 to Islam and 10 cards defined as bricks common to the three houses – one for each of the three religions.

Dissemination of the project

Throughout the development of the OIKOS-Somos Casa project, the entities that supported it, the other Salesian places that work with young people, as well as the public schools in Vitoria-Gasteiz, religion teachers, catechists and even the summer camps organised in the city and the municipal pools were kept informed about the progress of the project – in short, all the main places where young people gather in the city.

"Now we want to translate it into Catalan, Basque and Galician and, if possible, also into English and French. We want to host all the material on a website for its dissemination and use, to continue contributing to a better knowledge of the different confessions and religious groups that surround us", said Fr Abel Domínguez, a Salesian, promoter of this initiative.

Video presentation of the OIKOS-Somos Casa game

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