Thursday, March 20, 2008

Day Six: On the Road to Reconciliation

After five days in the Republic of Ireland, on Wednesday we finally immersed ourselves in Northern Ireland. We started our journey in the countryside and ended the day in the first big city of the trip, Belfast, only after some unexpected events, involving a police search and lifting a car.

The day started early in the Jampa Ling Buddhist Tibetan Center, in a rural area of County Cavan, in the Northern end of Ireland. Before jumping on the bus once again, we had breakfast with the Lama, Ani-la and the other Buddhists that were there.

Some of them walked with us to the main road, where our bus was waiting, to say goodbye. Eileen O’Sullivan, one of the women staying at the Center, even got on the bus and sang one of the songs they had performed the previous night during the puja, just before we left.

We drove into Northern Ireland, traveling through the county of Armagh towards the city of the same name. Our first stop was Armagh City Hotel, where we planned to make a quick bathroom stop. What we didn’t know was that, in preparation for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the small city the following day, high security measures were implemented. Our bus was denied permission to enter and only those in urgent need were allowed to go inside, after being searched with hand metal detectors. Despite the trouble, students were pleased with the quality of the restrooms. “It was fit for a queen,” said Rachel King.

After picking up our guide for the day, Ken McElroy, we toured Armagh, home to two Cathedrals, constructions that date to the Middle Ages and cute little shops and pubs. Then we drove through green fields and hills that at one time were the epicenter of the disappeared linen industry in the country.

Just a few minutes after noon we arrived to the Darkley House, headquarters of the “Cross-fire trust”, an organization based in Keady, County Armagh, that works towards reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Operating since 1986, they offer assistance and support to those who still suffer the consequences of the violent conflict between Catholics and Protestants that ended in 1998 with the Good Friday agreement.

“We have glass walls, our society is still sectarian,” said Ian Bothwell, from Cross-fire trust. Over lunch, he explained that a lot of people in that area are revisiting their past. “We have a lot of superficial contact. We need a new dose of sincerity towards peace building.” The scars of the conflict are not remotely healed. Last November, a man was beaten to death in connection to things that happened years ago.

Jamie McGee was very interested in their work. “The separation of the two faiths is interesting because in the United States I always think of Catholics and Protestants as close together, they’re both Christianity,” she said.

As we were driving up a narrow road towards the Church of Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, our bus was stuck between a high stone wall on one side of the road and a small dark blue car on the other. Our guide and driver, John, stopped after the rear view mirror touched the wall on the left of the road, and just before hitting the car on the right. Driving forward or in reverse would only damage the bus or the car. So the men in the group and the daring Sharon Udasin got off the bus with a plan – to lift the car and make room for the bus to drive through.

The strong physical effort was reflected by the dramatic gestures in some of their faces, as they bounced the car off the ground to move it. A policeman came to see what was going on, and was later joined by others. After a while, the Columbia crowd succeeded, and as the group began walking towards the Cathedral, just a few yards away, the bus backed out of the narrow road.

Due to the security measures taken before the Queen’s visit, we were not able to go inside the Cathedral, which dates from the 18th century. Some of its inner structures date to the 12th century. Our next stop was the magnificent Catholic Cathedral in Armagh, also named St. Patrick and built in 1840.

Our last visit of the day was paid to the Richhill Methodist church, also in the Armagh area. We met with the rev. Paul Richie, his wife Caroline, and Alam McMullan, a former Loyalist paramilitary who talked about his experience of finding God in jail, after being briefly arrested when he was part of the Protestant group that fought the IRA, 20 years ago.

Rev. Ritchie and his wife talked about the experience of growing up as Protestants in the overwhelmingly Catholic Republic of Ireland, and recently resettling in Northern Ireland. “I long for the day this is a mixed community,” he said.

For Deborah Lee-Hjelle, our first day in Northern Ireland was very educational. “It was interesting to see a non-idyllic place,” she said. “The people at (the reconciliation center) Cross-fire explained how difficult it’s been in their town. It was interesting to be there and see it, as a complement of what we studied in class.”

As we were driving towards the mall Sprucefield Center to trade our euros for pounds and buy a few essentials on our way to Belfast, our bus was driving on the first highway we saw in the whole trip.

We arrived in Belfast before 7 p.m., drove around a little bit, and checked in at the Hotel Europa, that has the reputation of being the most bombed hotel in the world. After settling down, we had dinner with the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Shawn Purvis, an anticipation of the intense day of reporting awaiting for us tomorrow.

By Pilar Conci