Reverend Paul Twomey met us outside the Farset Hostel early Friday evening with a borrowed church mini-bus. I knew we were in for a lot when I heard his responses to questions ricochet of the questioner and flood us with a blur of history and acronyms for paramilitary and sectarian groups.

He took us to the Shankill Road (derived from the Irish: Seanchill meaning "old church") area which is strongly protestant and home to the loyalist paramilitary groups, such as the UDA (Ulster Defence Association) and the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force). This area was built up in the mid-19th centruy when Belfast had many jobs making linen. When linen manufacture declined in the mid-twentieth century, high unemployment and the Troubles followed.

We saw a fair number of murals and he explained the murals were a healthy outlet at the time they came to be, relative to the violence which they superseded. The murals by the sectarian or paramilitary groups laud and commemorate the fallen in the past struggles. They show hooded and masked gunmen with automatic weapons pointed at the observer. They also lash out at the opposition labeled as murderers. The murals make it impossible to forget the past, and would make it uncomfortable for someone who is Catholic to come into the vicinity of murals from the group of which he or she does not belong.

Reverend Twomey showed us some mainly Catholic areas as well but because of his own faith he had the most contact with protestants.

We saw schools built with one side of the school yard being the wall of separation. Nothing like concrete walls topped by metal bars or barb wire on one side of your school wall, eh?

Reverend Twomey is in favor of peace and reconciliation.

He told us how extreme the violence got during the Troubles. Not only were bombings done, gun battles erupted, or assassinations carried out, but groups would grab or kidnap someone from the other group and torture them horribly before killing them.

The violence became consuming to some. One group thought they had captured someone from the opposition, so they tortured him. Word got back to them that the person was a “civilian” from their own side, but they still killed him.

The violence got so bad, sometimes one protestant group would turn on another. People would have to move. Lines demarcating the subgroups were adopted.

Still, he asked us many hard questions he had faced or watched people face. These questions included:

How would you feel if you had not taken sides, but one side hassled you in the street, left crank calls, threatened your family, demanded you move?
How would you feel if your teenage child was taken from the street and tortured by your sectarian opposite. Would you support your own paramilitary group taking revenge.
How would you feel if you fell in love and married someone from the opposite religion? Would you take being spat upon in the street? A brick through your window? Beatings? Death threats?
How would you feel if a sectarian group made your neighborhood function with protection against crime and with provision of services, even if they did smash a few knee caps?
How would you feel if the sectarian groups enforced a strict no drug policy on your neighborhood when the local police had been unable to stop drugs?
How would you feel if a sectarian group got you a job after months or years of unemployment?

In the midst of the trip about, we saw up close one of the highest walls of separation (they are often referred to as Peace Walls because it was thought they would bring peace, but they didn't, so I try not to refer to them that way). We signed our names to the wall of separation as witnesses we were there, and left messages to the leaders and people of Belfast.

After this heavy duty excursion, Paul was able to relax a little and bring us to Bishops for fish and chips. Some of the trimmings were freshly cut deep fried chips, choice of peas, mushy peas, beans & pan, plain or brown bread, tea, coffee or soft drink. We hadn't had much time to absorb the emotional questions Reverend Twomey posed, but seeing and thinking about so much in a brief period of time had drained us of energy, so the food and drinks were brilliant.

Meeting and Sharing with the Planning Group

Continuing our journey in Northern Ireland: After a night at the Farset Hostel, we walked down as a group to the Forthspring Community Center which resides in the Springfield Road Methodist Church. This church is obviously Protestant and its was intentionally placed/kept standing on the Catholic side of the line of separation as a symbol the religious segregation can be broken.

We met in the minor room where Maura Moore and Johnston Price greeted us. They explained the people from Belfast in the room are a group of community members from both sides of the wall which meet to discuss the future of sectarian separation and how the community center can overcome the separation of sectarian groups. See that word “sectarian” meaning “of, relating to, or characteristic of a sect or sectarian”. This labels Roman Catholic and Protestant cultures as sects, not to be negative about their beliefs, but to convey the conflict in Northern Ireland hasn't really been about religious beliefs.

Johnston then sent us in groups back to the garden to discuss whether we would, or would not want to move to the opposite country from the one we live in. We structured the discussion around ten factors.

My group had three Americans or Yanks, including myself, and two women from Northern Ireland. I'll use initials, E and J to refer to the women from Northern Ireland, but rest assured, we got to know them over our stay.

The Americans had been in country only a few hours, but all three said they could see themselves living in Northern Ireland. One said he could live anywhere in the world and I said I would as long as I had the funds to visit back home.

From our Northern Ireland friends: E said she wouldn't want to live in the US and J said she'd like to take a long holiday there, but that's it.

With regards to poverty, both groups said their own country had a range of income or wealth and these depended on the area.

Both countries seem to have higher unemployment due to the recession, but E and J thought the unemployment in Northern Ireland (NI) is less than in the Republic of Ireland to the south. (I looked up later that the NI rate of unemployment between December and February of 2010 was 6.4%, down 0.5% from the previous quarter, but up from 5.9% for the previous year. It suggests that NI is below the rate in the UK, 8%, the Irish Republic, 13.8%, and the wider European Union, 9.5% (BBC News, 21 April 2010).)

Both E and J thought education was better in Northern Ireland. Student loans were smart although J said she started left school at 16 to make money. Students in Ireland don't have to repay their loans until they get a job that pays enough so they can afford to pay. There is even a child care benefit of 43 pounds per week per child so parents don't have to send their young children to substandard care.

Both countries appear to have social security income for senior citizens.

N. Ireland has free health care for all. The US does not have free universal health care, although we just went through a national debate about it and some features of it have passed and appear to be on the way.

With regards to crime, drug use is worsening in NI and gangs are starting to develoop. As “the troubles” have become less violent, regular crime has risen. One bad thing in Ireland is juveniles go to prison for minor crimes. There is no probation or flexibility. Also, even if you commit only a small crime as a juvenile your record follows you the rest or your life. You are excluded from many jobs, such as driving a taxi. The US has a terrible mix of drugs and guns in cities and drugs have spread to suburban and rural areas.

E and J said anti-social behavior among youth is spiking in NI. Teenagers text one another to agree to meet at a location to throw insults, stones, and bricks at the other respective side in a phenomenon called recreational rioting. We Americans said we've heard of this in America, but haven't heard of being confirmed in the Capital District or Glens Falls.

E and J told us they don't usually see much snow. The entire country was in the grip of ice for over a week this past winter and it was very unusual. We Americans agreed we have too much snow when it comes to moving it.

E and J said recreation is expensive in NI and there isn't much to do. We Americans agreed we have a lot of sports, sports facilities, and winter sports such as skiing.

For me the biggest surprise was E and J didn't want to leave Norther Ireland as it has seen so much strife and loss for more than forty years. But to the good, it shows people feel connected in NI and want it to improve.