This is the 9th year Volunteers In Mission (VIM) has sponsored a mission trip to one of the poorest areas in the United Kingdom. The Belfast Peace Project travels to West Belfast, Northern Ireland each year and works with the Forthspring Intercommunity Group and the Springfield Road Methodist Church to build relationships with the people of Belfast and assist with reconciliation and peace efforts. Project members help to maintain and improve the facilities of Forthspring Intercommunity Group and the Springfield Road Methodist Church by doing construction, painting, landscaping and general maintenance.
All teams going on the Belfast Peace Project are shocked by the size of Belfast’s “Peace Walls.” There are currently about 37 miles of up to 50 foot high fortified walls and fencing separating Protestant and Catholic communities and isolating communities from each other. The Springfield Road Methodist Church, which houses the Forthspring Intercommunity Group is the only church in Northern Ireland that straddles the “Peace Wall” with entrances on both sides of the wall. In the past the Church has been fire bombed 4 times (twice by Catholics and twice by Protestants) due to the open door policy that sanctioned communication and friendship between Protestants and Catholics). The church continues this tradition today and is now aided by the Forthspring Intercommunity Group which runs many programs that bring these isolated communities into mutually beneficial contact.
The Belfast Peace project also participates in a variety community activities including attending both Catholic and Protestant Worship services, participating in community and neighborhood discussion groups and panels and attending social activities. A variety of speakers have met with the team including: Fr. Gerry Reynolds, winner of numerous Peace Awards, who was instrumental in the Peace Process and in convincing the IRA to lay down their arms, Rev Harold Good, winner of the Ghandi and World Methodist Peace Awards, who has worked tirelessly on having the para-militaries from both sides work together with youth and the Judicial system and helped to bring about alternative justice for youth to Northern Ireland.
Each Belfast Peace Project Team has been amazed by the bravery of the people they have met. The Golden Girls are a group of Protestant and Catholic women who have met in the church weekly since the end of WW II because they were friends and “It is the right thing to do.” They have experienced violence and had their lives and their families threatened and killed because they have continued to seek and live lives of peace with all. Forthspring provides them with a safe place to meet and programs that support their efforts.
To facilitate this interaction and the Peace Process, VIM’s Belfast Peace Project has repaired a youth room damaged during a riot, built a Cafe which is a safe meeting place, painted rooms, halls, bathrooms and a gym. We have taken down a cement wall, built a much needed storage area, repurposed a room so it could be used as a thrift store, painted walls and purchased furniture for the after school program. For the past few years the teams have worked on clearing the back area, installing a garden and building a 16 by 40 foot deck, fenced off unsafe areas and repaired the gates. This garden area was one of four finalists in the Great Britain “Make a Difference” Award. Although it did not win it was an honor to be a finalist. This garden area is now used for inter-community events and the City of Belfast has been using it for gatherings for local events. Because the Project has made the garden area safe, it is now used by Forthspring's after school program for outside activities.
The 2014 VIM team will be in Belfast 6 May to 15 May. We will enter daily posts of our activities at that time.
