Tuesday 1/17 was spent in Belfast, Northern Ireland and it was by far the most intense, emotional day. We spent the first part of the day taking a tour of Falls Road and the Catholic, Republican side of West Belfast with a Republican ex-prisoner named Brian (his IRA name was Rocky). The first piece of the tour, we walked into a Republican neighborhood at the foot of the Peace Wall, which was about a block away from the Divis Tower, the place where some the first victims of the Troubles were killed. Brian shared with us the story about how he became a part of the IRA and how the Movement progressed, including the roles that internment and the hunger strikes played. He then took us to the International Wall, where the highest concentration of murals in Belfast resides and told us the story of a 19 year old girl that was killed inciting the Falls Curfew. We ended the first part of the day by visiting the Irish Republican History Museum and watching what I took to be a propagandistic film about this side of the Troubles.
For the second portion of the day, we toured the Protestant side of the Peace Wall with a man named Mark, who had served both in Unionist paramilitary organizations and the British army. He took us around the Shankhill Road area, and ensured that we stopped at the heart of the Protestant community in order to look at a number of Unionist murals. One of the things he told us was that just recently, he and some other ex-prisoners had taken a group of 12/13 year old Protestant and Catholic boys out for what he referred to as a “moonlight walk.” This activity included a hike at night and aimed to bring the two religiously divided youth closer together, but what stuck out to me the most was that he stated “the boys sat on either side of the bus based on whether or not they were Catholic or Protestant.” I felt as if this was a direct metaphorical representation of what the peace walls do throughout Northern Ireland. I had a particularly difficult time attempting to comprehend the role religion has played throughout the entirety of the conflicts - it was a day wrought with a great deal of thinking and personal reflection to say the least…
Wednesday 1/18 was quite fascinating because after our short stay in Belfast, we traveled to the Corrymeela Peace Center, a place that has been visited by the likes of Mother Theresa and the Dhali Lama! We spent the day with our mediator Paul, who walked us through many exercises that could be used in the context of mediation; everything from an exercise that required us to place our thoughts on a postcard to be read to the class, to one that made us stand on different sides of the room based on our answers to a series of personal questions. Each exercise was very powerful when unpacked and applied to the mediation process. The actual facility though was probably the highlight. It had this breathtaking view of the sea and it sits atop a cliff…the place was UNREAL! You really gained a sense of peace and tranquility just by being there. After our day spent in Corrymeela, we finally returned to Derry.
Thursday 1/19 was spent listening to more guest speakers that have been involved in some way shape or form in the community building process or the Troubles. The first half of the day we were able to enjoy a talk from both a Republican and Loyalist ex-prisoner, which was vveerrryyy different from the two tours that we had been given earlier in the week. In fact, the two were rather chummy friends with one another! Both shared their personal stories and how they had been involved during the conflict (the Troubles). What I found the most interesting though was the point that both made: “we were just young people that got caught up in a conflict. It’s always the young people that fight the older peoples’ war.”
The second part of the day was spent with a man named Allister Little, who actually has a movie about him called “5 Minutes of Heaven,” which features Liam Neeson - one that we had just recently seen for class. To hear his stories and to see the Troubles through his perspective was pretty amazing, especially since the movie does a decent job of doing so, but doesn’t even begin to share the entirety of his experiences.
Friday 1/20 was quite a day…I’ve been experiencing a great deal of personal growth this month and Friday played a huge role in it. My evaluation of religion has been very negative the past couple of years and it has really coalesced into a cohesive subject this month. After hearing so many folks share their personal stories of pain, struggle, and so forth, my outlook on religion has only continued to grow more negative. We were fortunate enough to hear the Reverend Doctor Johnston McMaster for the whole day and he covered a variety of things (I will include the piece I wrote for class about him in a following blog entry to save space on this one :]). After a very heavy week, we rightfully decided it was time to go out for a night on the town and have some fun, so we of course played a couple rounds of “Catch Phrase”, had some drinks, then went out to our favorite nightclub Metro (“Sweatro”) for dancing and more drinks. It was an EPIC night!
Saturday 1/21 was a nice relaxing day where I went out with a few friends in the program to get a few more gifts to bring home and then we were fortunate enough to attend an event at which the UK Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson in addition to another Laureate (whose name is escaping me currently), came to speak about their work. Julia Donaldson is best known for her creation of the famous Gruffalo - a children’s book character in the UK. It was a very interesting talk and she ended it by signing a copy of her books for me :] We then had a solid movie marathon on the projector screen in our conference room.
Sunday 1/22 was another somewhat relaxing day. We adventured around the Bogside area of Derry to view all of the Republican murals and take photos, followed by a full afternoon of school work. Unfortunately, it’s our last full week here so we are preparing research, etc. for our final papers…should be great :/ Tomorrow begins our TUH training though, which I am thrilled about! This is one of the most important components to the course because it is the mediation training that I will be getting certified in!!
