Day 4 We like sheep

What is it about baby lambs that turn everyone into a little puddle of mush? This is the time of year for it ... they are everywhere, including the adjacent field at Corrymeela. The scene of a field full of sheep which greeted me every morning when  I lived here for three months was always very comforting. I was surprised this morning to see a bunch of the little ones all together, exploring and playing. Usually they seem to stay pretty close to their mothers. Find a baby lamb, and the mother is nearby. I guess there was a feeling of safety on both parts - mother and offspring, for them to be straying a bit.

Day 4 was spent with Susan McEwan, Head of Programme at Corrymeela,  and Karin Eyben, Multidisciplinary Programme Worker, about peace and gender. Both women have a long history and much experience working in the field of peace and reconciliation. Over the course of the morning we heard how women's voices and experiences have been largely unheard in the peace process, and also in the retelling of the history. In a society where patriarchy and militarism have been the dominant influences for generations, it is hard to make change. Even the language can be symbolic. Often we hear the words "building peace", but even that evokes male imagery. Susan several times offered the image of weaving, which for me feels more holistic and inclusive. Susan offered us some questions to ask as we continue to learn ... how do politicians constantly speak a language of war? As we tour the city of Belfast tomorrow, where do we see the symbols of a cultural war and what is the gender analysis of the murals? Karin offered us a model for looking at the intersectionality of identities, and case studies from her work which helped us look at the role of the media, where we find women's power, and to begin to hear the voices of women. It gave us lots to think about as we move through the week.

Wednesday afternoon folks had a well deserved break. Some walked into Ballycastle, some went to the Giant's Causeway, some slept, some got caught up on work that needed to be done.

Thursday is a day back in Belfast. Paul has lined up a number of speakers and activities, including the leader of the Corrymeela community, Padraig O Tuama.

Day 3 pictures

The group is greeted on arrival with  refreshments  

Volunteers Beni and Diego take us on a site tour ...

The Dalai Llama's scarf which hangs in the building called the Croi

What we all hope for during game our time here...

Day 2 Team Martin

 

 

My co-leader on this trip is Alana. This is our fourth time together in Northern Ireland. We have a lot of history here together, and we each have our own history. She first visited me when I was here for three months in the summer of 2011, and walked through the experience of my mother's death back in Canada together while visiting Dublin. It was lovely to be back in Dublin last week with her and Pat, creating new memories and seeing Ireland fresh through Pat's eyes

Alana also has spent time as a mid-term volunteer at Corrymeela, and has her own set of close friends from that time. She has also been a member of St. John’s United Church, one of the participating churches, since she was a pre-schooler, and is now a candidate for ministry from there. She brings a unique set of gifts to the group – not just her experiences as a volunteer at Corrymeela and on two previous student trips, but also her years of experience as a GO Project leader, a United Church mission program for youth aged 13-19. The program runs summer programs in six locations across Canada and offers youth an opportunity to live in community for 10 days while experiencing what mission looks like in their particular locale. She is also the co-leader of the General Council youth pilgrimage across Canada this coming summer.

Last night she led us in a wonderful exercise that helped us begin to name some of the important moments of our lives, our influences, our own contexts. After experiencing the incredibly informative Hop On Hop Off bus tour of Belfast, (no small task – it was the Belfast Marathon yesterday …) folks were already beginning to see the complexities of the history of this region. In our reflection time over dinner, the questions emerging were ones that often pointed us back to reflect on our own histories and memories.

The exercise that Alana led us through was not only an opportunity to practice some very holy listening to several others’ stories, it helped us begin to understand that our experiences shape our perspectives, and sometimes we are not even aware of our own biases.

It was a great way to start the week, and set the tone for the next few days.

This morning – off to Corrymeela! The excitement is high, and the questions are building!

 

2015 Pilgrimage

Day 1 Glendalough and Belfast

 

I’m not sure what this picture says to me, but I love it. My daughter Alana took this yesterday while Pat, (my husband), Alana and I were on a day tour from Dublin … “the Wild Wicklow Tour” … a tour of the Wicklow Mountains, and the famous ancient monastic site called Glendalough. The weather was horrendous – raining hard, misty and foggy, and cold the whole time. Our tour guide said it was one of the worst days he had experienced weather-wise as a tour guide. But we pressed on. “Believe me”, he said as he pointed out the window, “this is one of the most magnificent sights in all of Ireland. Do you see anything? Do you want to get out and take a picture?” Some did, most didn’t. It was fog, and we get plenty of that in Nova Scotia.

I was desperately looking forward to Glendalough, the early Christian monastic site which dates back to the 6^th Century. Certainly we could tour the site and see some of the ancient structures, but the majesty and splendour that I have read about would have to wait for another time to experience first hand. Instead, this is the view that many of us had while listening to our tour guide. He chose not to use an umbrella, (said it got in the way) and so for 20 some minutes, he took us around in the pouring rain, telling stories and reciting historical facts while we shivered and shook under our “broillies”.

 

For some reason, this picture speaks to me as I stand at the beginning of a third pilgrimage to Corrymeela in as many years. Counting the three student trips, this makes six groups that I have brought to Corrymeela in three years – over 50 people. I never get tired of the collective sighs of wonder as we enter the site, at the delight over the hospitality received from the first moment, at the deep appreciation of the hard work that is being done in the name of peacemaking. As our whole group of 13 met for the first time this evening, it was me that was emitting the sigh of wonder as friendships began and community was formed. Over dinner, stories were told. Our participants this year come from Calgary, Toronto, and Halifax. The ages range from mid-twenties to at least mid-sixties (don’t want to make assumptions, but that’s where I am!).

We have several “tour guides” along the way this week who will help us interpret the context of Northern Ireland, and the work of Corrymeela. I suspect that they too might sometimes feel like they are standing in the cold rain without an umbrella, wondering if their words and stories hold any meaning to those listening … those protected under their own umbrellas of comfort and privilege. I wonder if I will have the courage this week to put down my umbrella and stand in solidarity with those who invite us to walk with them – encouraging, challenging, and teaching us to see in new ways. May the journey begin!

Below is the traditional first group picture on our first night’s dinner at Robinson’s. Not everyone made it into the picture … David is taking the picture and Gail and Irma are slightly hidden.

 

 

 

February 25

Christmas cactus part 2

 

After a long day of travel, we all arrived home late last night. I was on a slightly earlier flight than the rest. After an amazingly good night’s sleep, I awoke and made my way to the kitchen for coffee. I immediately looked on the window sill to see if the plant I talked about at the beginning of my trip had bloomed. The blooms were bigger, but haven’t actually bloomed yet. But on another Christmas cactus, one that I had forgotten I even had because it is part of a collection of tropical plants I bought a couple of years ago and is often hidden amongst the other plants, there were full flowers. It took me a while to understand what I was looking at. There I was looking for something in one place, and it was actually happening in a much bigger way somewhere else.

 

It’s often the case in my trips to Corrymeela. What I think might happen often doesn’t, and I am often surprised by new learnings, insights and experiences. And, most often, it takes a while to appreciate and process everything. One of the things I am vigilant about on these trips is encouraging folks to apply their learnings to their own contexts – at school, at their workplaces, in Canada generally. How does what we learn about the peace process in Northern Ireland affect how we personally respond to conflict in our own lives? I am no different.

 

This time, my own learnings may help me understand several situations in my own context that involve conflict, but also wildly different narratives. When we went to Derry for the day, we had the benefit of hearing not only Owen’s perspective as a Catholic who grew up in the area, but also Paul’s perspective, the son of a Protestant British soldier who grew up in Belfast. Both had very different narratives of key historical events such as Bloody Sunday. But because of their deep affection and respect for each other, they were able to speak about their different perspectives in a way that opened up conversation and gave us a real view into the ongoing dialogue that is taking place in many parts of the country.

 

It was the same when we met with Alistair Little and Gerry Foster on Wednesday morning. Alistair, a loyalist, and Gerry, a nationalist, both former paramilitaries and prisoners, not only told their own stories, but embellished each other’s with jokes, jabs and comments that only true friends would tolerate. They work not only with people in their own country, but internationally, in countries such as Israel and Palestine, Afganistan, and South Africa. Those kinds of friendships take much time, great effort and no small amount of risk and trust. A worthy model for examination for sure.

 

We all went out to O’Connor’s for a drink on Thursday night. Jacqueline had the picture taken below of her and Siobhan, and then announced to everyone that I had “photo bombed” the shot. Now, I’ve never knowingly photo bombed anything, but it sure does look like it. Despite the worried expression on my face, I was happy to be there. It was great to see everyone enjoying each other’s company – many of whom didn’t know each other before last October. Sometimes I get so caught up in creating the space for others to learn, I forget that I need to be open to the learning as well. And it takes two blooming cactii to remind me that the insights come unexpectedly, surprisingly, and all in their own time.

 

Friday

Passing Paul around the room

 

Throughout the week Paul sometimes led us in exercises by Brazilian director and dramatist Augusto Boal, who believed that theatre should be a force for radical change. Throughout my times at Corrymeela and in work with others in the social change movement over the years I have been exposed to many activities attributed to Boal. They are not only fun, but often thought provoking and a catalyst to deeper reflection.

 

We began our last morning at Corrymeela “passing Paul around the room” … with “Paul” as an imaginary large ball. Fast, slow, loud, soft. It helped lighten the mood of heaviness from the deep sharing the night before, and also helped us create a new circle with everyone fully present and ready to begin again.

 

It’s often a challenge to imagine how those who have had an intense, perhaps even transformative experience together can even imagine going back into their “normal” lives and translating the experience to those at home. This has been a concern for every group I have taken to Corrymeela, and in fact every intense learning experience I have had at Tatamagouche Centre in Nova Scotia. How do we take our experiences back into the world? Often there is a huge disconnect between what folks think we have experienced, and the reality.

 

Paul helped the group begin the task of integration by asking folks to write a postcard about their week. Just the highlights. You can’t get much on a postcard. People seemed to appreciate the exercise. After a closing sharing circle and expressions of gratitude all around, it was over. Lunch. Then Peter, who does many things at Corrymeela, including driving the Corrymeela bus, once again performed a small miracle by getting all of our luggage, plus us, into the bus, and we were off to Belfast, then Dublin.

 

And, we were lucky enough to get the Corrymeela wave. Not every group gets one – it depends on what time you leave, which way you go (up or down the hill) and how many folks are around to run like mad from the parking lot to the edge of the cliff to wave goodbye. Kendra took the shot below – a bit grainy but you get the idea. Also, a shot of the whole group before we got on the bus, including Paul, and our volunteers AJ from Phoenix in the U.S. and Juan from Columbia.

 

 

 

Feb. 19

Carla’s Underworld

 

Underworld is the factory in the fictional long running British series Coronation Street. It’s not just a place where mostly women (and Sean!) make label knockoff fancy undergarments. It’s a place of encounter, conflict, support, gossip, and sometimes even tragedy.

 

I thought of Underworld when we were in Derry on Thursday listening to two amazing women, Catherine Cooke and Maureen Hetherington speak about their work in the peace process. Catherine is the coordinator of the Foyle Women’s Information Network, an information network for community based women’s centres, group’s, individuals and organisations. FWIN, which was established in 1994, works closely with local women’s organisations and develops relationships with women’s organisations regionally, nationally and internationally. (http://fwin.org.uk) Maureen is Coordinator of The Junction, a Centre set up by community relations practitioners in March 2000 to consolidate and strengthen community relations work. The Centre provides a space for activities that feed into the development of relationships, better understanding and mutual respect locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.(http://www.thejunction-ni.org)

 

I had specifically asked Paul to see if he could set up some conversations with women working in the peace process, as most of the folks we had heard from so far had been men. Catherine and Maureen were a delight to my feminist heart. Catherine began with the powerful statement that “Women were being written out of the peace process.” She said that women are not encouraged to take up positions in public life, and at the present rate it will take 65 years to get to 40% representation in the political process. Maureen stated that the abuse of women is still prevalent in Northern Ireland, and talked of the challenges of trying to break down 4,000 years of patriarchy. It was then that they talked about the shirt factories, one of the main industries in Derry/Londonderry in a previous time. It was a place where people gathered to form community. They spoke of the lack of opportunities for that to happen now. That’s when I thought of Carla’s Underworld in Coronation Street.

 

Granted, perhaps we don’t want to go back to some of the deplorable working conditions in factories of previous eras, but the loss of a place where people from different backgrounds gather together to form community and find support despite their differences is certainly one that I have observed in Canada.

 

Owen Donnelly from the Peace and Reconciliation Group in Derry/Londonderry (http://www.peaceprg.co.uk) gave us a tour of the walls and took the group into the Bogside, site of the Bloody Sunday Massacre in 1972. He then took us to the Peace Bridge. He told us some facts about the bridge, a cycle and footbridge across the River Foyle. It opened in 2011, and was built to improve relations between the largely unionist 'Waterside' with the largely nationalist 'Cityside', and cost 14 million pounds to build. He said that while he and Paul might not usually support the spending of large sums of money on buildings instead of people, the fact that well over 90% of the city use the bridge is an example of infrastructure spending that can be a good thing, and can bring two communities together.

 

We then walked the bridge, which ends on the Waterside at an old British barracks used for interrogation and torture and is now a cultural centre. Paul asked us to reflect on the symbolism of the transformation of that building, and also asked us to think about what needed to be bridged in Canada, Nova Scotia, Halifax, and Dalhousie University.

 

Below … a picture of an old shirt factory (the big horizontal red building in the top right); the group with Owen in front of the Peace Bridge, the Peace Bridge from the other side, and part of our evening reflection as we “sculpted” images from our day in Derry/Londonderry/Stroke City.