6th Day, May 12:Black Taxi Tour, Titanic, City Center

The day was just lovely, with sunshine, a light breeze and warm temperatures.  We left behind jackets and raincoats and probably at least one sweater.  Of course the natives were wearing shorts and sundresses but we did not go that far!

We began the morning with a Black Taxi Tour.  Our cab drivers and tour guides were life long residents of Belfast named Tom and Jerry (yes, really).  They were friendly, funny and very knowledgable about the time of the Troubles in Belfast.  They gave us a great summary of the conflict and the parties involved as they showed us a few murals on buildings and the Peace Wall on both the Shankhill Road (Protestant community) and Falls Road (Catholic community).

One of the tour guides had a brother who was part of the hunger strikes conducted by the political prisoners but both men had first-hand experience living through the Troubles.  Each of them acknowledged the prevailing, continuous and urgent need for reconciliation in order to improve the lives of all in Northern Ireland.

As our driver, Jerry was driving and showing us a picture of the July 12 bonfires he was pulled over by the local police for driving while distracted.  We felt very badly when they wrote him a ticket. The cabbies and tour providers support their families primarily from satisfying the curiosity of tourists.  However, since we were near the goal (jail) we decided not to intervene even though the ticket seemed unnecessarily harsh.

Tom and Jerry dropped us off at the Titanic Museum where we had lunch and then walked from floor to floor learning from and enjoying a great variety of creative displays.  We began learning about the industries of Belfast, the growing employment for the spinning of linen and ropes and manufacturing of engines and design and building of ships.  Then, in particular we learned about the docks and the designing, engineering and construction of the Titanic.  Some of the displays were interactive and provided you with the experience fitting together the ship, the furnishing, the loading of stores, etc. , before and after launching.  Other floors exposed us to the early reports of the ship hitting the iceberg, the calls for rescue, the loading of lifeboats and the ultimate loss of the ship and lives.  The final floor of the museum played film about the discovery of the Titanic sitting on the bottom of the ocean and the camera exploration of the ruins.

We also walked through the SS Nomadic and tried on period clothes for some fun pictures.

We walked over the new Belfast pedestrian bridge to downtown to make additional purchases at the "Wicker Man" before heading to McHughs for dinner near the river Lagan. Delicious!

Submitted by Paula Miller

5th Day, May 11: Finishing at Forthspring, Visiting City Center

Today the group went together to Most Holy Redeemer Church/Clonard Monastery. On the way there  part of the group stopped at Forthspring to put needed materials under cover so they would be dry for use later in the day. The remainder of the group went first and quickly got lost, wandering through the Shankill, past Woodvale Methodist Church on the Shankill Road, and eventually found their way to Most Holy Redeemer Church, rejoining the group!

We attended mass and then met with Fr. Paul, Sr. Bridget and Sr. Mary. They talked about their history, the Troubles, and current conditions in Belfast.

After our visit to Clonard, the group split. Most went to Belfast City Center and walked around the City, visiting various sites, and shopping.

Doug, Rod and Mike went back to Forthspring and finished up the remaining work, most important being the steps out the back door!

In the evening we went to a youth event at Forthspring, where we played a game with the youth and then shared a dinner of pizza and chips and chicken.

Submitted by the group!

4th Day, May 10: Lots of work at Forthspring

  A Beautiful bright sunshine this morning - a great way to start the day!  After breakfast, Liska led a nice devotion with a poem entitled, " The Loom of Time".

  Today was a day of volunteer projects at Forthspring and Sister Bridget's house.  There was a lot of painting at Sister Bridget's house:  four outside windowsills in the back garden, a small bathroom, and a new railing leading to the second floor.  We painted all of these in a brilliant white.

 At Forthspring, projects included finishing power washing the deck, unblocking the door to the desk and starting building egress steps outside, finishing assembling the small wooden shed, a third coat of paint for the Springers' bathroom, and finishing running the cord and moving the copier to another room.

Everyone stopped for tea and biscuits late morning at Sister Bridget's and we all had nice conversations with Sister Bridget and Sister Mary, who was staying with her.  Sr. Bridget is always so gracious and a treat to visit with.

  During our lunch of sandwiches at Forthspring, Chris invited Keith to talk to us regarding his good work he is doing at ST. Clare's Primary School as a Classroom Support Worker, one of the "unsung heroes", as Chris says.

  Pat led an afternoon of fun with the kids with an Art Explosion - the kids loved it!

For a view of the exploding art, go to this Facebook link:

https://www.facebook.com/FSspringers/videos/1667757463344097/


And we finished up many of our projects!

We had a wonderful pizza and salad dinner with the team and current and former staff from Forthspring.  The tune, "Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold", came to mind as we were visiting at dinner.

Another great day in Northern Ireland - peace to everyone.

Submitted by Laura Larsen

3rd Day, May 9: Working at Forthspring

At our first breakfast at Farset, Ruth came in to greet us and the repeat participants lavished praise on the new showers and sinks in the bathrooms in our rooms.

Then we convened in our meeting room and had two wonderful devotionals (for the price of one?) one from Mary Alice and one from Paula. 

First we tried a couple of potential songs/hymns for later in the week. Mike and Pat gave us a rundown of the travel, work, and participation agenda for the next few days. 

After we walk partly down the Roman Catholic side of Springfield Road and partly down the Protestant side of it, we arrive at the Springfield Road Community Center. Chris and Emma gave us an orientation to the building, a familiarity of some of the activities during the day, and an orientation as to the activities we could volunteer for.

Then all you know what broke out...you know...work. Deck pressure washing to get the slippery moss off it.

       

Painting in the Springers toilet room. 

Weeding, lots of weeding.

Construction of a hut in the back.

Lock and door handle repairs. Printer relocating to meet code including CAT 5e cable purchase and installation. Planning for the next day's work. 

Mid day-ish there was time to pray with the tea ladies who devoutly pray for you and many, many people in need of prayer.

After that we were fed wonderful homemade soups and sandwiches by three ladies who are participating with others under the guidance of Emma in a community project called MUMO meaning “Moving Up and Moving Out.” They are learning to cross community boundaries, provide support and love to each other, to develop skills leading to independence and empowerment, and to support the community appropriately to the needs. 

We had enough soup and sandwiches from lunch to bring those to Farset for dinner.

Black taxies were our transport to Saint Peter’s Cathedral. One group was in a taxi whose driver tried to take a short cut but encountered closed gates. In the end, the driver had to drop that group off at the rear of the cathedral which wasn’t really an imposition. However, the rest of us were surprised to see that group walking from another direction to the front of the cathedral. 

At Saint Peter’s Cathedral we participated in a meeting which is part of an ongoing series entitled, “Journey in Understanding.” This is a gathering of Christians without regard to church or denomination who focus on the reading, consideration, and discussion of Christian issues. Tonight we heard one person, Mike Thomas volunteered, read Acts 4:5-21. Then we sat in contemplation. Then a new person, another person also named Mike, read the same scripture. After more contemplation, we were broken into 9 groups of 5 people and discussed the scripture among our small groups. I noticed it was fun to hear the different perspectives in my small group. Then we came back together to hear the scripture read another time, by a young woman from North Dakota, and I had to agree with the Irish folks who said it is very interesting to hear the different people read. The emphasis by each was different and that causes you to hear different aspects and think different thoughts from the same reading. More contemplation and then a final session of open speaking to the large group.

After all that we were invited by the hosts to tea or coffee, and “biscuits.” 

Black taxis home and all will rest well tonight as the effects of jet lag fade and the active work we did today imparts us into the local rhythms. 

Submitted by Rod Aldrich

2nd Day: Arrival in Belfast, trip to New Grange and Knowth, dinner in Belfast

The VIM team arrived in Dublin in the morning, met up with the Aldrich’s, and after a quick meal in Dublin Airport:

were off to the first stop: Newgrange or Bru Na Bóinne. We had time to tour the museum and shop and take in some of the history before our tour of Knowth, the largest passage tomb in Europe. A nice walk taking us over the Boyne River, past cows and wildflowers ended in the short bus ride to our destination.

Knowth is an impressive passage tomb with one third of all known Neolithic artwork on it’s large stones encircling the mound. The second passage tomb visited was Newgrange where visitors are allowed to enter the passage and experience what it would be like to be in the end of the passage at dawn on the winter’s solstice. The light creeps down the floor illuminating the center of the far end of the passage. Amazing that this was built in 3,200 BC, before the pyramids and before Stonehenge. After a quick snack, we headed on to Belfast.

A quarter mile (mile long) walk took us to Beile Balsta Resturant (Tasty Meal in Irish). We were joined by Ed Peterson from Clonard for an enjoyable evening of good food and good discussion. After the walk back to our home while in Belfast, Farset, all were looking forward to a good nights sleep to start our first work day tomorrrow ready to go.

Submitted by Deb Aldrich

1st Day: Travel to Belfast

Six of our 13 Team members met at the Burnt Hills UMC:

From Left: Darcianne Leizer, Pula Miller, Pat Thomas, Mike Thomas, Mary Alice Nyhan, Don Washburn

We left Burnt Hills at 2:00 and picked up Kathy Batcher-Mascelli and Liska Gibbons at Newtonville UMC. The entire team met up at 6pm right at the Aer Lingus ticketing desk at Logan Airport, and all went through together. EXCEPT for Paula who was selected for a rather thorough frisk/search. The Team watched for moral support but all denied she was with us when asked by TSA (just kidding).

Pat Thomas did the devotion, using the devotion she used on her first VIMBPP trip in 2007!

The plane left on time and it was an easy flight arriving in Dublin about thirty minutes early!