"What it Means to be a Witness"

This group personal observation report by Joyce, Kayla, Nicki, Leidy, and Sarah is about our personal experiences in Northern Ireland. We explored the question “What does it mean to be a witness?” The group used personal turning points to examine the question using our thoughts and our feelings to support our stories. By telling our personal stories we were able to gain some insight into ourselves and begin to question our role as a witness.

"Gender Roles in Northern Ireland" by Joyce, Alissa, and Kayla

Our group noticed murals and other evidence of what expectations of male and female roles are in Northern Ireland. This video shows the evidence and asks the question, What does it mean to be male, female or other here?

Lighting the Way

The second digital story created by Sarah, Robbie, Nicki, and Lisa addressed some general ideas about youth work across practices, cities, and countries. That the number one importance of a youth worker is to always stand as an open invitation for young people to be part of something safe and non-exclusive. Even though the issues that come along with the work can seem insurmountable at times, that no matter how big or small the steps you take as a youth worker, they are in fact in the right direction; the direction toward possibilities.

Relationships in Rhythm

This video diary was created by Sarah, Lisa, Robbie, and Nicki with a special focus on relationships. These human connections shape the way we live our everyday lives and the space we live them in.

Staying at Corrymeela the first week of our trip taught us the importance in the notion of elastic community; a space that people can be different together through the community principles of Equity, Diversity and Interdependence. These principles work to ensure that through our relationships the focus is shifted from the self, to the other. This shift in focus works to enable endless possibilities which, in the context of Northern Ireland includes a shared future of peace and reconciliation.

"Rituals of Space" by Alissa, Kayla and Joyce

Our group noticed the impact of space and rituals on adults and children. In the contest of Northern Ireland, it explains to a degree why children can't be friends with children from the opposing side. There needs to be mutual safe space for opposing groups to share in new rituals. This space can be the corridor or hall to crossing boundaries and creating friendships based in similarities.

Digital Stories

During our course, our small groups created various digital stories exploring various themes in our learning. We would like to share those stories with you all. In the next week, our group will be posting these stories.

All good things must come to an end.

Our group had the opportunity to explore Europe on our own for our weekend off. Some people went to Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) others stayed in Belfast and visited nearby towns. Robbie went to Holland to meet up with a friend and got to explore Amsterdam and other cities in Holland. Brian participated in a hundred-mile fundraising bike tour. We're EXTREMELY proud of him, as he completed the entire journey- on a 1970's road bike and wearing pink helmet to boot!

For most of us, it is time now to pack up and leave Northern Ireland. We wanted to leave our loyal followers with individual thoughts on the experience and what we've learned, what we've discovered, or what it has meant to us.

Michelle - "Its a bittersweet moment leaving this place. I have learned and experienced so much. The people, the coast, the city, my classmates and group leaders have come together to create this amazing and challenging experience that I will never forget."

Brian Hubbard - "I biked 80 miles around the surrounding Strangford Lough in Eastern Northern Ireland. I was amazed by the beauty that I witnessed on my bicycle tour around this body of water. The journey took me through rolling hills and small country roads. I observed the various landscapes and architecture. The journey was long and tough but well worth it! I took a day trip to Derry/Londonderry to see this city. I observed murals and went to a few museums."

Joyce Strand - "This trip has been eye opening to the power of history. The people we have met have so many layers and complexities to deal with and yet the youth and youth workers we've met are the ones crossing the boundaries and bringing hope to their communities. I am inspired by the work happening here."

One of the people we were able to speak to on this trip, told us lighting a candle is better than sitting in the dark. I think youth can hold that candle and they are looking for a source of fire. I am coming back from this trip with a figurative box of matches. Ross left us with the idea that one thing he's learned from a friend this trip, is that to a certain extent there will always be disappointments associated with youth work, but "you have to keep hoping for the possible."

CHEERS to Peace and Possibility!!

And We're Off...

As our week winds down we’ve continued to meet with different youth workers and youth allies, today was no different. We began our morning at the Girl’s Model School, a secondary school that provides a range of activities before, during, and after school to support teaching and learning. This is a unique school in Belfast that employs social workers, counselors, and behavioral, attendance, and family officers who all work together in supporting the students. All staff work together to provide academics and vocational training which includes cosmetology, manufacturing, music production, dance and much more. Another unique aspect of this school is their emphasis on family involvement to promote life long learning as well as a goal in giving back to the community. As Janice, the Community Involvement Coordinator stated, “The purpose of this school is to help a family educate a child”. The value of family and community this place holds left us wondering how we can implement the same into our own schools.

For lunch we stopped in the famous St. George’s Market located in Central Belfast. The Market offered many different global cuisines as well as jewelry, antiques, books, and textiles.

We continued on to visit Vernon Ringland a local organization called Youth Bank. We learned about their work in the decision making youth-led process around allocating funding to different programs and projects working to impact change. They are also international and their model of youth work is used in many different countries outside of Ireland. Vernon walked us through many different experientially based activities so we, as youth workers could learn exactly how they use this model with youth around the world. The activities were interesting in how we were able to really experience and reflect on what we were learning around the system and policies around funding.

Through the process of listing different things we enjoyed during our time at Youth Bank we were able to narrow the list down to three themes that helped explain our experience; comfort, participation, and interaction.

As the weekend approaches, our excitement heightens in anticipation to leave on our journeys to different places. Some of us will be traveling to Scotland, Amsterdam, and Dublin while a few will stay in Belfast to have some down time and explore the city further. One of our group members will also be riding a 100 mile bike ride to support

Campus to Community

Today we went to Ulster University and chatted with Ken Harland and Tony Morgan from the Community Youth Work division.They talked about the youth work sectors in Northern Ireland; voluntary, community and public. They spoke about the fact that families are usually not targeted in cross community youth work making the progress towards peace a struggle. A memorable quote Tony left us with was, "People don't give up power, there is a language of hope for young people, but there is still the grip." They then provided us with a wonderful lunch and showed us around the beautiful campus. Though classes were not in session we still got to taste what Ulster University had to offer.

Following our visit we headed over to Glyni, Gay and Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland, and had an informational session with Regional Development Youth Officer, Liam Larmour. Glyni is the only support system for LGBT youth in Northern Ireland which is a testament to the oppression these young people face in both their homes and communities. Their programming includes social recreation groups, advocacy art, housing, finances, jobs, counseling, and parental support for young people ages 14-25. Anyone who does not fall within this age range is still offered support through e-mail or by being referred other programs that can better serve their needs. Part of Glyni's philosophy is based on the following principals: youth have the right to exist, the right to enjoy full citizenship, and the right not to be discriminated against, with the aim to increase awareness of participants and equip the with skills to tackle issues affecting LGBT young people.

Our week in Belfast is quickly wrapping up and anxiety is building around weekend travel plans. Some of us are worried about not having enough time to visit sites of interest and finish homework. Through all of this we were able to enjoy a home cooked dinner made my our group members. We are looking forward to more learning and experiences tomorrow.

A day filled with acronyms...

Today we awoke well rested and ready to go! Our first stop was the Northern Ireland Commission for Children and Young People, known to many as NICCY. We knew this place was geared to youth due to the bright colors, drawings on the wall and bean bag chairs in the lobby. We met with Laura a participation officer in the department. NICCY's main goal is to promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, also known as UNCRC. Laura posed a few questions to us regarding our knowledge of the UNCRC, she also gave us a few workshops to practice our recent learning of the rights. This really helped our group get a better feel for NICCY and the work that they do.

After NICCY we all broke into groups and experienced the city which was HOT and filled with marvelous sunshine. Some of us went on a Titanic tour, City Hall tour, shopping, and others just enjoyed the beaming beautiful scene that is daily life in lively Belfast. You know what they say time flies when you’re having fun, that wasn’t the case for us, our fun carried on well into the night as we headed out to Corpus Christi Youth Center for dinner and round two of freaky fast fun Wednesday!

At CCYC we got to talk with youth form all over Northern Ireland and England. We were a little nervous about just jumping in and talking to them, but once a conversation started the time just flew. We hung out, played football (soccer), pool, and danced. The youth were really great and easy to talk to once we found out we had similar interests. We talked about school, family, music, etc. Before we knew it our time was up and we had to go. Many of us wanted to stay longer and chat.

A afternoon at the museum (sadly, sans Ben Stiller)

The day started out with a necessary re-grouping session. We have found that since our transition to the fast pace of Belfast in a new space, we haven’t found as many opportunities to come together and check-in/reflect. It’s cool that we’ve jelled so much together in the past nine days (and the pre-trip seminars) that we missed those big group times and really noticed how it affected us to not have that time all together.

We had some exploring time to see parts of the city that we’d not yet had the chance to experience. The main excursion of the day was the Ulster Museum situated in the beautiful Botanic Gardens. The museum is free and has recently been renovated, with a new exhibit on the history of Northern Ireland and the Troubles. We were asked to try and notice what the exhibit might mean to each side of the conflict, and if we ourselves were individuals from each community how we might feel like walking through the museum.

As for us three, we noticed minor things that stuck out to us. For one, the language referring to the paramilitaries versus the British army seemed different. The panels seemed to imply that the British army provided a “service” while the paramilitaries were more focused on “violence.” We also noticed a lack of artifacts, but there was a great amount of stories and powerful visuals.

Tonight we also began cooking dinners for ourselves! While the adjustments to a busy, public kitchen were sometimes tricky (i.e. finding the cooking utensils near the end of our meal, making do with what we had), it was pretty fun! We were very worried about feeding everyone and hoping everyone would like it, but it turned out well in the end. We found that it was really another great time of interdependence, and a nice venue to meet some of the other travelers calling this hostel their home!