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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 19, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 30, 2004 |
Northern Ireland Trainers |
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| Phil, Karen,(Left to Right) and Lousie (far right) meet with Global University teacher
Mr. Nohira and student |
Phil Whyte, Karen McFarlene, Louise Woolridge and Chris Valente all work towards a common goal - bringing
the segregated youth of Northern Ireland together. Growing up with different backgrounds each is able
to lend their own perspective and experience to the conflict that has been ongoing throughout their
lives. They accompanied Peace Boat from Catania to London to teach participants more about the work
they do to end the divide between Catholic and Protestant communities in Belfast. |
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| Phil explains Belfast complex history |
Addressing a group of Global University students, Phil Whyte, of Ballynafeigh Community Development
Association (BCDA), explained Northern Ireland's history leading up to the current conflict in Belfast.
To put an end to the violence, in 1996 the two main political groups agreed on a cease-fire. Phil
explained that since the ceasefire the atmosphere in Belfast has changed, however, problems still
persist. "There's a lot less people dying because of the cease fire, but we're a lot more divided
now then we were then." However, one exception is the community of Ballynafeigh, which is mixed
community, and BCDA uses their community as an example for the future of Belfast. |
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| Karen, during an open discussion with participants |
Karen McFarlene, who was often seen onboard Peace Boat filming behind a video camera, today works
on the project Mixed Links, building cross-cultural relationships, and planning education through
the use of film. Mixed Links was specifically developed to show the success of mixed communities. "It's
the only project in Northern Ireland that is specifically looking at mixed communities. The project
is trying to support the mixed communities that do exist, and celebrate that they exist. We are also
working hard to try to effect policy in Northern Ireland." This consultative policy project is
called Shared Future. She went on to address the focus of BCDA as an alternative to formal education. "Any
activity that you do with young people has to be led by them. They have to be engaged. So all the
activities we work on, they come up with. Mainly it's about them discovering things for themselves
without us having to teach them. All the work we do is very interactive and very informal; it's about
building relationships with young people." |
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| Chris shows map of community segregation (illustrated by color) |
One step to building these relationships for Phil is to change the attitudes of young people by bringing
them closer together. He and the group demonstrated various workshops they use to break the tension
between segregated youth. These workshops aim to highlight the importance of communication, while
showing groups of young Protestants and Catholics what they have in common. Phil explained that many
times young people have never met kids from other communities. When brought together for the first
time they have the initial reaction to segregate, but Phil likes to mix things up. In his workshops
he doesn't allow the participants to where any identifying clothing, and stereotypes are soon broken
down. |
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| Participants during Orange Parade workshop |
One exercise that the group conducted with the Global University students onboard Peace Boat was designed
to show the complex problem of July's annual holiday - the Orange Parade. Often this holiday is an
annual source of conflict and violence: where one side sees the holiday as discriminatory and insulting,
the other side sees it is a celebration of their culture. In the exercise Phil splits the room of
students into half and pointed out that communities are not the only ones separated by the walls, "our
own politicians don't even speak to each other, they speak through mediators." The groups are
then divided into Unionist and Nationalist (two opposing political groups) and told to organize the
celebratory march. When being acted out onboard, the group of Global University students decided to
delegate two members from each group to discuss the problem, but as Phil pointed out, the problem
with the conflict is: "In reality that kind of meeting would never take place." |
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| Louise outside of Ballynafeigh Community House in Belfast |
Working with Phil and Karen in these workshops was Louise Woolridge, also a youth worker at BDCA,
who grew up in Australia and moved to Belfast several years ago. As a Eurasian growing up in Australia,
Louise was a target of racism, which she feels helped her to gain strength and awareness, and also
the ability to lend a different perspective to young in Belfast. To her, conflicts evolve out of jealousy
and intolerance and she wants the young people she works with to see that there is more to life than "their
side of the world, and their side of the street." |
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| Chris stands along a Peace Wall in Belfast |
Chris Valente is a youth worker in Northern Belfast. "I was raised in a segregated community," said
Chris, who pointed out that today Northern Belfast is one of the most segregated areas in Northern
Ireland. To Chris, too much focus today is on politics, and not enough on action. Her work involves
community building and youth work of both Protestants and Catholics, and she believes that working
with youth is the only way to change Belfast's current situation. The others agreed with Chris, who
noted that breaking down the community division needs to be done at a grassroots level. Emphasizing
the progress being made, Karen said: "We have a long way to go. I think the only way things are
going to change in the long-term is through small steps." While onboard, the group together,
demonstrated their own small steps towards action, and how, because of youth workers throughout Northern
Ireland, these steps are being made.
Link:
www.bcda.net |
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