23 March 2009
Okay, so I’m going to try to knock out three different things that I do in once blog. Here we go:
The 174 Trust is a community organization that Kevin and I work with for about 40% of the week. The trust runs a lot of different projects and also houses a lot of programs that are run by outside agencies. At the Trust I work with:
1.) 174 Trust Afterschools project. It’s basically what it’s name suggests – kids from local schools come to the Trust afterschool to play games, socialize with other kids, and do their homework. Most of the children have parents who work, etc., so the afterschools can provide a safe and supervised environment for them. I’m there for a couple hours each Wednesday afternoon. It’s been great getting to know the kids, and I’ve really seemed to connect to a few of them. One even came out and told me that he liked me the other day.
2.) 174 Trust Nursery is kind of like pre-school. It’s for kids who are 3-4 years old and they focus on teaching the kids how to socialize with other, some basic reading skills (like letters and how to spell their names), and other developmental type things that will help them make a smooth transition into primary school. I’m there on Tuesday mornings and absolutely love it. I taught the little ones the “Pick Bananas” song from Camp Donegal (if anyone reading is familiar with that one) and am going to try to teach them some other ones. It’s pretty fun, and I really enjoy the women who work in the nursery too.
3). PHAB Club is part of the 174 Trust’s disability project. The project does a wide range of things, including offering support groups for children who have a family member with a disability and clubs for children, teenagers, and adults. I help out with junior PHAB club (which is for kids) on Wednesday nights and with youth PHAB club on Tuesday nights. They do different programs with the participants, like currently the Youth PHAB is doing a 6-week photography course. They’ll also have summer programs where we’ll go on day trips with the kids, so I’ll be helping out with that. The clubs are really fun – we pretty much go crazy. (Okay, well I go a little crazy – it’s fun to tease the kids. Don’t worry, the tease me right back! They really get a kick out of making fun of my accent…)
So there you have it! Another part of my schedule explained.
19 March 2009
Happy St. Patrick’s Day (a little late)! I’ve never been someone really into celebrating St. Patty’s day – I mean, in the states it’s pretty much just a big drinking holiday. Don’t get me wrong, it is here as well (as one of my friends here put it, “every holiday here is a drinking holiday”), but I thought it would be nice to celebrate the spiritual side of St. Patrick’s day since I am actually in the same part of the world where Patrick ministered. So, I went with Megan (another YAV) to the town of Downpatrick early in the morning to attend a church service at Saul church, which is located on the hill where it is believed Patrick planted his first church. The service was beautiful and very moving. The church is really tiny, and there so many people there that some folks had to sit in the isle and stand outside. Then we all lined up and went on a pilgrimage from Saul church to Down Cathedral, stopping along the way to pray for the youth, the leaders, and violence in the nation.
At Down Catherdral (where some people think St. Patrick was buried), Megan and I met up with the other volunteers (who weren’t willing to get up so early to go to the first service) and we attended another worship service there. That service was more community-oriented and had a more celebratory feel to it. They gave out prizes to kids from local primary schools who drew pictures in honor of the day, there were Irish dancers, they had choirs from local schools sing. The best part was that we got goody bags with big cookies in them! After the service, we lunch outside the cathedral – stew and apple. Then we hurried down to the main road in Downpatrick to watch the parade. Not the best I’ve ever seen, but it was okay. We had fun cheering enthusiastically.
In the evening, Kevin and I went to a party at the 174 Trust for the disability clubs, that was fun too – lots of food and fun. So, I didn’t have any Guinness, but I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. It was probably the best St. Patrick’s day I’ve ever had.
14 March 2009
To continue with introducing organizations that Kevin and I are working with here, I’ll tell you about Wave Trauma Centre. Wave exists to provide support to people who have been affected by ‘The Troubles’ – whether they lost a family member in the violence, or were injured, or a family member was injured, etc. Wave provides everything from counseling and aromatherapy to an art group and lunch club. Often, they have their groups engage is some sort of creative project, like making stain glass windows or painting pictures or making/decorating plaster shoes. These projects help people to tell their stories, and members say that it is very therapeutic for them. Generally, once a group finished a project, they publish a booklet to share with others what they have created and the story that goes with the piece of art.
Kevin works with a men’s lunch group on Wednesday afternoons. They just finished a stained glass project and are beginning to work on fixing up a conservatory at the Wave centre. Sometimes I help out in office answering phones and stuffing envelopes for mailers and things like that, but I also work with a women’s lunch group that meets on Thursday afternoons and who just began working with ceramics. The ultimate goal of this project is to make a wishing well out of clay that can be put in Wave’s garden and can represent our hopes for the future. The women in the group are absolutely incredible. A couple of weeks ago one of the Commissioners for victims and survivors, Mike Nesbitt, came in during lunch to talk to the women about their concerns and what the commission is doing to better serve this population. The women spoke passionately about their experiences, and it just struck me how brave and strong these women are. Most of them have unexpectedly lost husbands, sons, daughters, fathers, etc. in sectarian violence – but a lot of them are using those experiences to help others.
I have also started with a new young women’s group at Wave that meets every other Friday night. This group is probably one of my favorites here. The women that come are around my age and are so much fun – I don’t think we ever stop laughing during our sessions. This week we went to a fashion show that was part of Belfast fashion week. It was awesome!
As a side note – some of you may have heard about recent killings in Northern Ireland. If not, basically two young army men were shot last Saturday night outside of their barrack in County Antrim (about 20 minutes north of Belfast) and a police officer was shot while responding to a house call earlier this week. A small splinter group called the real IRA claimed responsibility for both incidents. Evidently, this group is trying to destroy the peace process. Anyway, I am sure more information can be found on the BBC website – but be assured despite the recent violence Kevin and I are still safe here in Belfast. Northern Ireland, though, could really use your prayers. The people that I have spoken to about the incidents all have a very similar reaction – they don’t want things to go back they way they were.
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