The Belfast Trip

On February 12th 2015, myself and 16 other students will board a plane headed to Belfast, Northern Ireland. While lodging in Belfast, we will travel around the city and throughout the country, witnessing first hand the aftermath of what has colloquially become known as The Troubles.

We will get a chance to meet with former paramilitary heads from both Irish Republican and British Loyalist groups.  We will travel to historic sites such as the Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in Europe) and see the Peacewalls that divide Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods.  While much of our trip will be an opportunity for historic interpretation, the real reason that brings us to Belfast, is our mutual involvement with Saint Mary's University's Conflict Resolution Society on Behalf of Peaceful Schools International.

Over the past 4 months our group has gathered to create and practice workshops teaching the importance of empathy and global citizenship to school aged children.  Our journey has led us to take the role of teachers and mentors, as we discuss the importance of communication, emotion, empathy and peace.  Over the months we've had opportunities to visit several schools in the HRM, which graciously welcomed us.  We also ran what we called a peace conference where schools were invited to come to Saint Mary's campus and engage in a full day of activities led by us, all with the goal of peace education in mind.

Over the course of our trip to Belfast, each day we will visit schools throughout the city and run these same workshops.  Upon the successful completion of the workshops we are awarding each classroom with a global passport, indicating that they are An Official Global Citizen!

To be a part of this trip, each of us has had to commit the time and energy into the immense fundraising that is allowing for this experience.  Over the months we have had a car wash in late November, sold raffle tickets, organized a bake sale and pop-up thrift shop, band night, coat check and bar blitz just to name a few.  While the amount of effort and work is not to be overlooked, I'm sure each one of us would feel the same pride to be representing such a noble cause, a great a school, an awesome country and a fantastic opportunity.  We also plan to have a little fun while we're at it.