Reconciliation and peace

3 February 2010

We currently run global youth work programmes in partnership with YMCA Ireland, which works towards building lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

We have found that if young people involved in conflict learn about and share experiences with young people in other countries, they look differently at what they need to change to build a lasting peace.

Sierra Leone 2007
In 2007, we ran a Global RAPP (Reconciliation and Peace Peer) initiative with young people from Belfast YMCA and Greenhill YMCA.

We ran two residentials at which participants reflected on how conflict had affected their lives as we prepared for the visit to Sierra Leone. The group spent seven days in Sierra Leone, taking part in global youth work sessions with young people from Sierra Leone, learning about the conflict in Sierra Leone, sharing stories and experiences and discussing how they as young people can build a lasting peace in their nations.

“I was amazed at how the people [in Sierra Leone], after such a messy conflict, were able to forgive on a personal level. It made me think that while people in both places suffered to horrific degrees, many of those in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland as a society is at times stuck in the past and often bitter… Sierra Leone will be much better than we were at healing minds and returning to normality….” Project participant

The young people made a DVD about the project and have gone on to organise a community forum, schools conferences and workshops to YMCAs to talk about their experiences. View the DVD here.

Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2005
In 2005, we ran a global youth work project with young people from Lurgan YMCA. The project worked with eight Northern Irish young people, from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds in the divided town of Lurgan. The project intended to help the young people develop a better understanding of the conflict and peace process in Northern Ireland, by learning about the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

During the visit, they met young people from both the Israeli and the Palestinian YMCA. Workshops were facilitated, in order for the groups to explore their lives in the context of their own conflict and hopes for reconciliation. They discussed what life was like as a young person living with conflict and the aftermath of conflict and shared their own stories.

There are many similarities between the two conflicts – checkpoints, the wall, the peace line, religious stereotyping, paramilitary activity, murals and graffiti – but also many differences.

“As a Protestant I didn’t really think about the Catholic point of view much but it definitely has made me think about it much more and made me realise that no one side is completely right or completely wrong. There are flaws in both societies – that’s what you see when you’re away – there’s two views of things and neither are completely right or wrong.” Chris, a young person from Lurgan YMCA