5-minute Radio star

Tonight I had my first foray into the world of radio broadcasting… [Correction: I actually was interviewed by a French local radio station back in ’96 when I was a student in Amiens, but that’s such a long time ago I can barely remember anything about it – I think it was about life as a foreign student, mind you it's possibly more impressive because it was in French! …] Anyway, tonight I was interviewed live on Radio Ulster for their daily Arts Extra programme to profile a youth project we recently completed where young people came together on a cross-community basis from Claudy, Portadown, North Belfast and West Belfast to explore their local heritage and create an exhibition. It was kind of cool if rather nerve-wracking to be in the studio but I think you definitely have to be a certain type of person to work in broadcasting, you need to be on the ball constantly! You will be able to read more about the project here very soon and indeed you can listen online to the interview courtesy of the BBC iPlayer anytime in the next 7 days. I think I’ll be avoiding that as I’ve no desire to hear the sound of my own voice! It’s only a 5-minute piece but I’m hoping that I, along with one of our young people who was interviewed over the phone from Claudy, got a positive message across about the vital work we’ve been doing to address sectarianism, division and violence in our society. The young people we’ve been working with have been absolutely fantastic and can really hit the nail on the head in terms of the issues facing their communities. I could have said a lot more – in particular I wanted to address the recent 70% cut to Community Relations funding by the Minister of Education – but the time just wasn’t available, these guys run to a tight schedule! The exhibition created by the young people is currently on display in the Golden Thread Gallery until Friday and then it will be in Belfast City Hall for the month of August. I know I’m slightly biased, but it’s well worth checking out if you’re in town!
[Update: I gave in to temptation and listened to the broadcast online again, only a few slightly cringeworthy moments like when I didn't manage to pronounce the word 'suffering'! The interview is about 14 minutes into the programme.]

Young People getting Election Fever

Public Achievement runs a project called WIMPS - Where Is My Public Servant? - a website and project run by young people for young people. It's about getting the ideas of young people out there and supporting them to influence decision-makers. On Wednesday the WIMPS crew launched their election manifesto calling on NI's political parties to address 5 key areas of concern to young people. It's worth checking out the special website where you can download a copy of the manifesto to find out what matters to young people.

Movie Afternoon

Public Achievement is holding a movie fundraiser on Sunday 31st January - we're showing 'Divorcing Jack' at the QFT at 2pm. The exciting news is that Colin Bateman, the author of the book on which the film is based, will be present to introduce the flick, how cool is that?! There will also be a raffle and the prizes are rather impressive including:
- 1 year subscription to QFT
- A ‘pamper evening’ for 10 at Space NK, Lisburn Rd
- Tickets to The Absence of Women, The Lyric
So if you want a ticket for the event then give us a bell on 9044 2813!

2010!

I’ve just spent 2 deliciously chilled out days with friends in Bushmills celebrating the New Year. We headed for the beach yesterday and had a bracing dander along Portstewart Strand – despite the chilliness (what a contrast to 3 weeks ago when I was sunning myself on a S African beach!) the views were worth it, the craic was mighty and it was a really great way to embrace the New Year.

2009 didn’t exactly turn out the way I’d hoped but I’ve got loads to be thankful for, not least good friends and family who bring a joy that goes deep. I was blessed to be able to get a job so soon after my contract with PCI YAC finishing in June, and although the new job is a little all-consuming at times I relish the challenges, I get to work with some great people and the learning is immense. Getting to travel to S Africa with work is also not to be sniffed at! Looking out from the standpoint of a New Year, I’m hopeful about 2010 - maybe my hip will finally get fixed and I’ll get into the hills or on the river once again, regardless I’m determined to be positive and take what comes.

Happy New Year folks!

Cape Town photo diary

It's time for some photos from my recent trip. Cape Town has got to be one of the most beautiful cities on the planet because of Table Mountain - it dominates the skyline everywhere you go and we had a great view from our hotel:
Often the top of Table Mountain was shrouded in what locals call, the 'Tablecloth' - fluffy cloud spilling over the top, the photo below was taken from the very touristy Waterfront:
We took the cable car ride up to the top of Table Mountain one day and had a great time soaking up the panoramic views of the city from the top:
We could also see Robben Island in Table Bay, beyond the peaks of Lion Hill (L) and Signal Hill (R). I would have loved to have gone there for a visit, but we ran out of time - it's top of the list for any future visits!
Cape Town has its very own '12 Apostles', cliffs which jut out along the coastline:
We got the opportunity to encounter some of the local wildlife when we hired a car and went to Boulders Bay to say hello to the penguins:
Nice location for a penguin to call home, I'll bet it makes the Emperor penguins in Antarctica kind of jealous!
They were rather cute!
We did an open-top, hop-on, hop-off bus tour and made a stop at the World of Birds on the outskirts of Cape Town, where as well as various multicoloured and exotic birds, we saw monkeys - they had a special enclosure where you could get up close and personal, and I think they know what they're doing as this little guy made a beeline for the zips on my bag!
Again, they're cute wee guys:
One of the stops with the bus tour was Imizamo Yethu township where local guides showed you around and told you something of their lives. We wrote about this on the work blog and we were all struck by the levels of poverty. 20,000 people live here in a space of 18 hectares.
It was cool to discover strong links with Ireland with the contribution of an Irish businessman to building houses for people in the township. But the thing that was most difficult to grasp was that when we got back on the bus and travelled down the road about 5 minutes we were seeing views like this and lots of very fancy villas/apartments.
On the weekend we had the car we made the most of it with a stunning drive along the coastline on Chapman's Peak Drive. The road isn't always open because of high winds but we were able to get through and were completely wowed with the spectacular views of Hout Bay:
Of course we did actually do some work here and there! I was very impressed with Bush Radio and their work with young people from all over Cape Town. We got to see some members of Bush Tots (6-11 year olds) doing their own radio programme live in the studio when we visited the Saturday morning CREW (Children's Radio Education Workshop) project - truly inspirational!
And I really enjoyed getting to know the young people at the Media Kidocracy Konference, who were a confident and passionate bunch without any arrogance. They struck me as the kind of young people who really want to make a difference to their communities, their country and the world, and they're not going to sit back and wait for it to happen, they came across as being determined to be the people to make it happen!
There was always laughter and smiles at the conference:
In fact, this maybe sounds a bit cheesy, but the smiles of the children and young people just ministered to my soul!
Incidentally there's a good write-up here about MKK with slideshows etc of the work produced by the young people.

Possibly what strikes me most about Cape Town and its people is the colour. Beautiful blue skies every day, the deep blue of the ocean, the way homes were painted a variety of bright colours, the people from all cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities, the colour and vitality present in the townships - stunning! (The New York Shop below can be found in Imizamo Yethu township)

Home!

I arrived home this morning after about 21 or so hours in transit from Cape Town. I'm absolutely FOUNDERED as they say in the country! Definitely having a few difficulties adjusting to NI winter weather, the snow is kind of pretty on the hills but yesterday it was over 29 degrees in Cape Town with wall-to-wall sunshine! I'm missing my shorts & t-shirts attire of the last 2 weeks. All in all it was a great trip, and a real privilege to get the opportunity to work with the young people involved in Bush Radio. I really want to go back to Cape Town some day and also explore more of S Africa. More thoughts, reflections, stories and photos should follow in the next week or so once I've got caught up on myself. Work tomorrow to tidy stuff up for the holidays then I'm on leave until Jan 4th - woo-hoo!

Erwin & Erwin - me with one of the young people whose first name is Erwin!

Greetings from hot & sunny Cape Town

Apologies for the lack of posts here during my time in Cape Town. To be honest I just haven't had a lot of free headspace to write, particularly as for work I've been having to blog most days so you'll get some updates on the 'official' Public Achievement Away from Violence S Africa blog. All in all it's been a really great experience so far, I've been loving the hot weather (I don't know how I'm going to survive in the cold when I get home next week!), and Cape Town is a beautiful city with lots to see and do. The work stuff has been going well and it's been great to meet young people here and learn more about their lives. I'll have lots of photos to post when I get home!

Made it!

Arrived in Cape Town to pouring rain, but the clouds soon parted and the sun blitzed us with rays - straight into the shorts & T-shirts - woo-hoo! We start work with Bush Radio tomorrow first thing - looking forward to getting stuck in. The wireless in the hotel is a wee bit unpredictable so I'm going to make this a short one, there's a bit more detail from the rest of the team on the official blog. But I'll leave you with a photo - one of the things that floated my boat today was being in Nobel Square where there are 4 statues of the 4 S African Nobel Peace Prize Winners - Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk & Nelson Mandela.

Two more sleeps!

Well the excitement is building because on Sunday I’ll find myself bound for Cape Town, South Africa! It’s a 2-week work-trip and I’m heading out with one of the trainee youth workers whom I line manage plus 2 young people to work with a partner organisation – Bush Radio – a community radio station based in the townships of Cape Town. As well as broadcasting various radio programmes they do some amazing education and community work. They also do some great work with young people – on Saturday mornings their programmes are produced and delivered entirely by young people aged 6-18. We’ll be helping with a conference for young people which they run annually – ‘Media Kidocracy Konference’ – and they’ll also be giving us some training. The project I’m responsible for here in NI is called ‘Away from Violence’ which seeks to address the impact of violence on the lives of young people and Bush Radio staff have started their own Away from Violence projects this year so the theme of the conference is – fittingly – Away from Violence. We’re hoping that we can build links between groups of young people in SA & NI engaging in AFV projects.

I’m excited for several reasons:
1) It’s summer in Cape Town and the temperatures seem to be consistently in around the 25/26/27 degrees mark.
2) I’ve never been to Africa before and have always wanted to go.
3) There’s going to be sunshine and warmth.
4) I’m excited to meet and learn from the people we’ll be working with – I’ve heard a lot about Bush Radio from my boss who developed the partnership 5 years ago, and I think seeing the projects in action is just going to blow me away.
5) I'm going to be able to wear shorts and summer clothing, I could count on the one hand how many times that happened here in NI this year!
5) Cape Town looks like a beautiful place from pictures I’ve seen
6) Did I mention the weather?!!!

It’s been absolutely manic at work trying to get things tidied up so that I can go away with a relatively clear conscience and have the headspace to focus on the trip and all that it brings - I've been doing my usual obsessive list-making to try and feel in control of things! I’m a little nervous with the responsibility of being group leader, but I’ll just do my best to take things in my stride yet stay on the ball. This is an amazing opportunity and I plan to make the most of it! I’m hoping to keep this blog as up-to-date as possible while I’m away and I’ll also be updating a team blog for work here.

Better get on with the packing!

The things they say...

Heard a great one-liner the other night when I was out working with a group of young people, I was commenting how Baltic the weather had been the previous few mornings and one of the lads agreed saying, 'Aye, the polar bears were chasing me!'

Love it!

I just got back today from my first work residential with Public Achievement and it was great! I have to say that considering I only started the job 5 weeks ago and being told ‘you’re running a residential for 26 young people from 4 different areas across NI in 4 weeks’ time’ was kind of like being thrown in somewhere fairly close to the deep end, it’s a big relief to have not only survived but also to have been part of something that turned out really well. My team of 5 trainee youth workers were fantastic – totally dedicated to the young people, and they are doing some really meaningful work with the young people in these 4 locations. This residential represents the start of what’s going to be a really interesting heritage project and we’ll be supporting the young people to produce 4 exhibitions on their communities giving voice to their perspectives of where they live and the issues they face. Over the last 5 days, the young people had a blast, engaged with the issues really well, and listened to and learned from each other at a pretty deep level. Several said that before this residential they would never have spoken to someone from the ‘other’ community. It wasn’t always easy but I believe that staying at Corrymeela was one of the crucial factors in the residential’s success – those guys know how to do community and provide such a sense of safety – the young people noted how the Corrymeela staff and volunteers always seemed to be happy! I also enjoyed being able to smell the sea and look out across to Rathlin Island… It’s a beautiful thing when you get to see young people grow in confidence, hear others (and by that I just don't mean listen!), take a few risks in being honest, and also tell it like it is! I’m absolute bushwhacked but looking forward to chilling out over the next few days.

All in all the new job is a fantastic opportunity for me to continue growing and learning as a youth worker, I’ve so much to take in and learn and already I’m not exactly sure I’m ever going to get on top of things, but I’m loving it! In addition, PA’s offices are in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast and I’ve been enjoying being in this part of town. I’ve been discovering all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies – exhibitions and the like, plus today I had the most amazing bagel from Bagel Bagel on Donegall Street – they called it the ‘Spaniard’ with hard-boiled egg, chorizo sausage, olives and salsa – not the kind of combination you’d expect, but man it was good!

Right it’s time for an episode of the West Wing and then BED!

New job!

I’ve got a new job!!!! Next Thursday I start work with Public Achievement as a Youth Work manager, coordinating their Away from Violence project which seeks to address the impact of violence on the lives of young people. PA is known for their focus on encouraging active citizenship amongst young people and do it with a lot of innovation and creativity. It’s really exciting though pretty daunting too but I’m looking forward to the fresh challenges this opportunity presents!

Last Day

Yesterday was my last day as an employee of the Board of Youth & Children’s Ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland! I had been on a 3-year externally funded contract and despite various efforts over the last year or so, no further funding was secured. I left with mixed emotions – a certain amount of frustration that the funding couldn’t get sorted to continue the work I’ve been doing and sadness to be leaving my colleagues for whom I have a lot of respect for their dedication, devotion and faithfulness to young people in PCI but also gratitude for how good the last 3 years have been. It’s been a great role, when I started I was lacking a little bit of confidence owing to some previous experiences but the job allowed me to find my feet in youth work again and I’ve learnt so much, particularly about community relations work and peacebuilding – it’s been a personal as well as professional journey of growth and development. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some fantastic people and it’s been energising to work with young people in a variety of projects and spheres. My highlights would include meeting Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, in February ’07, attending the Summer Peacebuilding Institute in Virginia, USA in May ’07, running the PYP programme with a group of young people at the Vine Centre, being involved in the SPUD youth assembly, a day on site building with Habitat for Humanity, training youth leaders and taking them on Field Trips to Stroke City meeting local guides from both sides of the community, leading the Adventure Camps, the project in Tullycarnet last summer…man, there’s been a lot of good stuff!

My colleagues were very generous in their gifts including these 2 books which look great on my coffee-table and I’m going to enjoy delving into them regularly!


It’s all still a little surreal, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet that I’ve left – I haven’t quite got my head round it all, but the lie-in this morning was very welcome indeed. As for what’s next, well I’m not 100% sure just yet but there are a couple of possibilities in the pipeline so hopefully more on that at a later date.

Life on the Ocean Wave
Yesterday afternoon I got back from having spent the weekend sailing for the first time in my life as part of a project with the Ocean Youth Trust. It was brilliant! In partnership with Youth Link: NI, OYT has been running an OCN Level 3 course in Community Relations Programme Development and I’ve been one of the Tutor/Assessors. So this weekend I was assessing 2 youth leaders as they ran their programme with a group of young people.

OYT Ireland has a boat called Lord Rank which is based at Bangor Marina, it’s a 68ft yacht with berths for 18 people plus sea-staff. On Friday night w had safety briefs etc to do so we didn’t set sail until Saturday morning. We spent the day sailing around in Belfast Lough doing tacks and jibes etc. The weather was absolutely beautiful – blue skies, blue sea – great stuff! We got decent wind on Saturday and got up to about 9 knots, but on the Sunday the winds were very light so we took it easy and just enjoyed the scenery and being on the water.

I would definitely do sailing again though I’m nowhere near getting to grips with all the terminology, ropework etc. The sea staff are fantastic – very patient and good at explaining stuff…again and again! It was great getting the opportunity to be hands-on and do all sorts of tasks – winching, hoisting sails, pulling sails in, flaking sails (folding them so that they can be put to bed for the night etc), looking after fenders, bow-& stern-lines when coming into the pontoon etc. OYTI is a great organisation so if you’re a youth leader/worker I would definitely check them out. Sailing is a great teambuilding exercise for a group of young people and doing a programme in the outdoors like that has that extra something.

I was bushed when I got home yesterday and still had the sensation of being at sea, the room felt like it was gently rocking around me! But I feel re-energised having had a little adventure. A couple of weeks ago there had been some problems with the programme and we thought this weekend would be cancelled so I was feeling that what with my hip injury everything was working against me – no Scotland kayak trip, no Nepal trip, no sailing. But thankfully it worked out and I really enjoyed getting out on the water and feeling all that fresh air on my face! Doing the winches and hoisting the sails took more than just upper body movement – you end up putting your whole body into it, so my hip was a bit sore on Saturday night and last night but I think generally it’s beginning to improve. It’s definitely going to be a long and slow recovery but hopefully it will eventually be ok. It was just really good this weekend, and almost therapeutic, to feel a bit more active, do something outdoorsy and forget about everything for a bit.

Hip Jab
On Monday I had an ultrasound for my hip and the radiologist could immediately see the bursitis so gave me a steroid injection on the spot. It was a fairly big needle but although I could feel it going in the whole way, it wasn’t an overly painful experience. Apparently I need to rest as much as possible for the next week and should notice a real difference in the next 2-3 weeks. I spoke to my physio yesterday who told me that I could do upper body stuff at the gym, I’ve been pretty regular doing upper body & core stuff over the last few weeks so a week off will be good for the muscles and I’ll get back to upper body work next Monday. In 2 weeks I can introduce core exercises and then in 4 weeks I can introduce gentle exercise. It’s going to be a slow process but I’m hoping that I can be back to normal maybe by June/July. It’s pretty frustrating having not been able to be as physically active as I’d like since Christmas time and I do feel a bit sluggish, man I haven’t been in my kayak for over 3 months! The guys in the canoe club are away to Scotland today, I’d so love to have been going with them, but I hope they have a good time and that they get good water. I’m also supposed to be going to Nepal on a work trip in just over 4 weeks but the trip is under question as I don’t want to have to do too much walking too soon and undo the effects of the treatment. I’ll be really disappointed if I don’t get to go but I’d far rather have a hip 100% fit for the long-term. For the moment I have to content myself with resting which is a bit boring & I feel like a bit of a prat, but I’ve got work home with me and can lie on the sofa and patter away at the laptop.

In the midst of this I’m reminded that the LORD reigns:
The LORD rules over the floodwaters.
The LORD reigns as King forever.
The LORD gives his people strength.
The LORD blesses them with peace.
Psalm 29:10-11 (NLT)

…The LORD reigns over all – over my hip bursitis, future jobsearch challenges, the trials & tribulations of family relationships, the NI peace process, Darfur…the LORD reigns.

Church Leaders Ask Everyone To Work "Together For Good"

Having been employed in peace and reconciliation/community relations work over the last nearly 3 years has been a real education for me and whilst I still have a lot to learn, there have been some significant learning points on this journey so far. One of the things I’ve realised is that a peace agreement merely provides a platform for a journey towards reconciliation to take place. The peace process here in Northern Ireland is still very much a work-in-progress and sometimes it can be frustrating when I’ve been faced with apathy to peacebuilding or the kind of attitude that says, ‘sure, we’ve got peace now’. We’re still at the start of our journey to moving beyond conflict.

Reconciliation is also a journey that we must choose to enter into. Recently I heard a great talk by someone who has been involved in peacebilding projects here and overseas (available to download here) and one of the things he said was that peace is something which is found and people must journey together to find it. In other words peace cannot be limited to a strategy or policy or even a commitment but it takes a lot of work, a lot of energy, a lot of working together, a lot of time, a lot of invested relationships.

I’m glad this week that people have come together very quickly reacting against the violence and murders at the weekend and on Monday. I was at the Belfast vigil on Wednesday and could feel the strong sense of solidarity and also of horror at what has happened. We’ve been hurt right to the ‘quick’, the very thought of going back to the ‘bad old days’ has sent a real chill down our collective spine. Even hearing the helicopters hovering overhead was creepy. I guess during the Troubles, we got used to things, we got on with everyday life and tried to convince ourselves it was ‘normal’. But now we can look back and see that we have come a long way and that life now has been more normal than ever before. We don’t want to go back and must stay strong to a commitment to ensuring we don’t go back, we can’t afford to become apathetic to the horrors of the past.

When I started out in my current role at PCI I guess I though that peacebuilding was important but maybe something to be addressed only by those interested in it. Today as a youth worker, the bottom line for me is that youth work and youth ministry cannot take place in Northern Ireland without reference to issues around community relations, conflict, division, sectarianism. Even though many of today’s young people do not remember first-hand the conflict, I believe that they are having to carry the baggage of the past. They may not know what that baggage is, but their lives are dictated by the divisions in our society. I believe that if we don’t tackle these issues with our young people, then we’re failing them.

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again. (Isaiah 58:9-12 The Message)

It’s time to rebuild, renovate, restore…

Yesterday I was in Stroke City for the day leading a Field Trip for a group of Protestant youth leaders whom I’ve been training to deliver the Preparing Youth to be Peacemakers programme. It was absolutely BALTIC! I haven’t been as cold as that for ages. The temperature gauge in the minibus registered 5.7 degrees when we got to Derry but it definitely felt colder with the wind chill. We did two walking tours, one with a guide coming from a Protestant perspective and the other with a guide from a Republican perspective. The guides were excellent and knew their facts and their city well. For dinner we ate together at the City Hotel in the company of a couple of Catholic youth workers who allowed the group to ask loads of questions about their faith perspective. The group really enjoyed the day and it’s probably been the best Field Trip I’ve been a part of in terms of the input of the guides and engagement of the group. Stories were exchanged and I think there is something powerful in that. At another meeting I was at this week a group of us were discussing how when two people share their stories with each other they go away from that encounter changed at some level for having heard each other’s stories. I really like Derry, it’s just not your average city and has got a lot of character to it and fascinating history. If you’re ever in that neck of the woods definitely take the chance to get to know the place a little better through the eyes of qualified guides who will maybe push your buttons and challenge your conceptions but definitely open your eyes.

(Photo courtesy of CAIN)

Oops!
It's only 3rd November and already I've missed a day of NaBloPoMo! Yesterday just got a little hectic despite good intentions. Ah well, let's see if I can make 29 days out of the 30!

Last night I was speaking at a Youth Service in Dromore which went well. During the course of my talk I mentioned how I get a bit of road rage from time to time and how I felt that if i really got to grips with my identity in Christ a bit better I'd probably not get so riled at other drivers and be more gracious. A guy came up to me at the end and recommended taking this approach: when someone cuts you off or whatever just say, "Hmm. That was interesting. It's not the way I would do it but there you go." By that stage your desire to growl/scream/shout/shake your fist etc should have dissipated and you can drive merrily on your way. The guy made me laugh so I will endeavour to put his advice into practice and see what happens!

Lone Star State
I mentioned several posts ago that I had been in Texas on a work-trip in May but until now I’ve never properly sat down to write about it. It was a flying visit (I left Thursday 11.20am and arrived back the following Tuesday 9am!) resulting in major jetlag but it was well worth the effort. The reason for the visit was that in October last year I was approached by the pastor of a church in Amarillo asking for help to set up a social action project for his high school youth group in Belfast this summer. The church then invited me to do some preparatory work with the team in May.

So I can now show you the way to Amarillo but it’s a bit of a long trip! I flew via Newark and Dallas but when I got to Dallas the Amarillo flight was cancelled. Thankfully the airline put me up in a Hilton. I got there about 8 or 9pm and was bushed so headed straight to bed so that I’d be able to get up at 5.30 to make the first flight to Amarillo. It would have been nice to make the most of the hotel and the pool – the bed in my room was gi-normous and there was a comfy recliner which I think would look well in my living room in Belfast!

However getting to Amarillo was great. Jeff, the pastor, had told me there may be a possibility for a couple of guys from his church to take me mountain-biking in a local canyon and I had been well up for that. The funny thing was that when I arrived in Amarillo at 9am, Jeff picked me up and asked if I was still keen to ride for biking as the guys were meeting at the church at 10am! Of course I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, especially to see Palo Duro Canyon (apparently the only other canyon bigger than Palo Duro in the USA is the Grand Canyon) so after tea and toast I met up with Chad and Levi and we drove out to the Canyon. It’s beautiful! I was surprised by the greenery on the floor of the canyon – I expected it to be completely devoid of plantlife. I’ve never actually been mountain-biking before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We did a trail called the Lighthouse Trail which leads to a huge hoodoo shaped like a lighthouse. Unfortunately I left my camera back in the truck so the photo below comes courtesy of Wikipedia. The views from there were stunning, it would be so amazing to see a sunset or sunrise there. Chad also spotted a couple of horned toad lizards (see left, photo from Wikipedia) and managed to pick one up to show me, I’m not really fond of reptiles and even though he looked pretty fiercesome with his spikes, he was quite cute! I was also told there were rattlesnakes which was slightly unnerving when I needed to relieve myself! Anyway I absolutely LOVED the biking! In fact if I get the chance, it has the potential to become another addiction alongside kayaking! My own bike however could just not compete, after 50 yards on that trail it would have been in 50 different pieces and I have a fresh appreciation of why a decent mountain bike costs so much.


So on the Friday night I got to meet the team of young people preparing to come to Belfast. I did a devotion with them, answered their questions about NI and almost succeeded in convincing some that we had a law in Belfast that forbade people to wear flip flops. On the Saturday I did some planning with Jeff and Ryan, the youth pastor. Then Ryan and his wife took me to his son’s baseball game along with their other 2 sons. The baseball players were all about 6 years old and it was kind of funny to see these little kids running around with their baseball gear on, the helmets were way too big for some, and you could see that those fielding had difficulty concentrating on the game. It was kind of cute but kind of weird too when they’re so young – I think they’d probably be better off just playing ball in their back yards for a couple more years yet, but that’s just my opinion. Sport is such a big deal in the States, I’ve often noticed how they take it more seriously at school & university level than we do here. I remember someone last year telling me about guys with basketball scholarships at some US universities having golf carts take them round the campus and they get treated like complete heroes. NI is a complete contrast - we could do with a major injection of enthusiasm in school sport…there’s bound to be a happy medium somewhere.

Anyway Ryan and Elise were kind enough to take me to a couple of shops so that I could get a new pair of trail shoes and take advantage of the pound-dollar rate. Then they took me to Cadillac Ranch. According to Wikipedia it's a 'public art installation and sculpture' with a bunch of Cadillacs half buried nose-first in the ground. The cars have been graffittied over the years and to be honest it’s just random. Interesting but random. One of the people behind this is a local millionnaire who also paid Amarillo residents to plant fake traffic signs in their front gardens. I saw a black one with a red rabbit on it and some other weird ones. Whatever floats your boat…

One of the things that struck me about Texas was obviously the flatness of the landscape. I’d always heard people talk about the big skies of American plains and kind of thought that the sky is the same size anywhere, but now I get it. You get such a greater sense of the vastness of the landscape when you’re somewhere like Texas.

Sunday was Mother’s Day in the States so the church had a breakfast for everyone, then a group of children from the Sundayschool performed a play on the 10 Commandments which doesn’t sound promising but was actually quite entertaining with some great acting by the kids. For the service itself I was sitting at the front because I had to do a wee 5-minute spiel about the summer project in Belfast, so I was completely unaware of anything behind me and I got a bit of a surprise when the church’s handbell choir launched into a wee introit at the start of the service. When it came to my turn to speak, I tried to speak more slowly than usual but I knew rightly that people were probably mesmerised by my accent (and my dulcet tones…not!) and it was unlikely that anyone would have a clue what I was saying! But folks were really friendly and appreciative of the opportunity their young people were getting to work in NI.

I stayed with Jeff and his family and got to meet some of their friends and their kids on the Sunday evening when they fired up the barbecue. After eating we all sat down together to play a card game and I was amazed – in this country it would be rare for a bunch of parents and their teenage kids to sit down and play silly games together. It was really cool to see and experience that, it was just pure simple fun. Many teenagers here would be too ‘cool’ to do that with their parents and many parents here wouldn’t want to sit down with their kids to do silly stuff like that. I think we could learn something from that.

So that was it… I pretty much spent most of Monday sitting in airports and on planes. Not exactly fun but I met one or two interesting people including a retired man on the plane from Dallas who was heading off on a trip to the Holy Land with his church. He had been in the Navy and had been an engineer working on various projects all over the USA so he had some fascinating stories to tell.

I guess what has brought completion and a sense of satisfaction to my trip back in May is the fact that the 30-strong team of Texans has now been and gone and they truly did a fantastic job. We modelled the project on Streetreach so that they spent 4 days in Tullycarnet, East Belfast, partnering with 2 local churches to bless the local community in whatever way they could – tidying pensioners’ gardens, playing games with local children, clearing up rubbish from residential areas, playing football and baseball with teenagers, putting on a community barbecue complete with face-painting, bouncy castle and ‘Tullycarnet’s got Talent’! They also spent a couple of days doing some maintenance work at the 174 Trust and hanging out with some of the youth groups there. The American young people were very quick to grasp what it was we were doing – simply being Jesus on the street, sharing the time of day with people, bringing to life the good news of Jesus, making the community livable again. They were brilliant and mixed really well with the local young people. Tullycarnet is a fantastic place for Streetreach, some might perceive the churches there to be struggling because they’re in a deprived area. But they have such a huge heart for the community of which they are a part and truly strive to walk in step with Jesus as they reach out to folks around them.

Not only did the American contingent bring with them willing hearts to serve, but they also brought their very own version of Peter Kay's video tribute to Tony Christie's 'Show me the way to Amarillo song'. Kind of hard for these guys to enjoy this video to its fullest when the majority of the personalities are only known in the British Isles, but I have to say Ryan made a great Peter Kay and their performance made me laugh out loud! There's a rumour it's on Youtube, I'll have to check that out.

By the end of the 10-day project I was completely shattered but what made my day the most was the fact that without having to ‘engineer’ anything, I heard some of the American young people talking about how they could do Streetreach in their city, that there were poorer areas of their city where they could go and be a blessing. And what’s more it seems that a bunch of people from Tullycarnet are keen to get involved and maybe make their way Stateside next year! How cool would that be?!

This is going to be a great event to celebrate faith-based peacebuilding work in Northern Ireland. If you're a youth leader/worker, bring your young people!