Belfast a City Divided...

Here you will see one of the groups marching. Look on the right side of the picture where you will see a "peace line" which is to separate the Protestant and Catholic streets in the community. There is 15 miles of "peace lines" or walls that are up all over the city. These are constructed to keep things from being thrown from one side to the other.




Pictured above is the Loyalist group marching the streets of Belfast. Behind you will see some of the murals that are painted on the buildings that depict the troubles. These murals are all over the city.



Hello everyone and greetings from Ireland. Upon flying into Belfast Tuesday night I was awe struck by the beauty of this part of the world. We flew in right as the sun was setting over the Island and it was just a wonderful way for us to be welcomed into our new home for the year. We all were tired and ready for a shower and a bed. We did not do much after we arrived except get ready for bed and hit the sack. The next day was just a day of rest and preliminary tours around the city. We took a car ride all over the city to kind of get our barrings (which has proven to be difficult and very confusing).


My first impression on Belfast was not the one that I thought I would have. I had all of these visions of a peaceful place with virtually no visual signs of the troubles (a term generally used to describe the war that happened here between the 1960's-2001). Those of you that have been to Belfast or are coming to see me will learn very quickly that this is still very much a city divided and the people continue (while much more peacefully) to be very passionate towards that which they believe in, and very passionately against that which they are not. The political situation here is so complex that even after our 4 hour briefing that we had today, I am not sure that I get even one bit of it. All of it adds up to the fact that the people here are divided, and even though the peace process is in progress, it is going to be very long and very hard.


On a lighter note, my house and housemates are wonderful. We are all just very comfortable around each other. I am very blessed for that and am continually glad that we get to be each others strength and refuge in these days to come, as I know they will be full of joys and sorrows.


My house is in a predominantly catholic part of Belfast which makes the fact that we are protestant very interesting. Our neighbors are nice though and really we are just seen as the "Americans".

We have just spent that last two days going around to all of the volunteers jobs that we will be doing. It was exhausting, but really interesting. I find that the Irish accent is not as hard to understand except in very old men and very young children. The only time I just scratch my head is when they use old Gaelic words which just sound a bit odd to me! The people are so very nice and inviting here. You do have to watch though how much tea you drink a day because everyone will offer it to you and it really does add a lot of caffeine to your day along with the bathroom problem! We have learned how to kindly pass after the 4th or 5th cup!

Just a few minutes ago we heard something that sounded like music from our house and went out to find out what the fuss was about. We found out that there was a march going on right out our doors. During the summer months there are many protests and marches. This particular one was the Loyalists/Protestants/Unionist. If you don't understand anything other than Protestant, don't feel bad. It is very confusing and I cannot even begin to describe all the facets of the political parties and where your allegiance lies. Above I will have some pictures of the march we just saw. It was an eye opening experience. We all went as a group and still felt scared, so we promptly left. Police helicopters were overhead looking at the progress of the march.

You might read this and think, man...Melissa is not safe. It is not that at all. I will assure that my program does all that it can to keep us safe and train us to deal with situations as they come. I am as safe as I can be in a big city. Plus, in our world everyone I think would agree that being safe is no longer a thing that can be achieved in the way it once was.


The purpose of this blog I feel is to tell you how I am doing, but I also want to use is as a space to tell about the situations both bad and good that I experience. Too many times I feel like we just leave out the parts that are less than perfect. I want to be honest! I am very open to your comments about this.

It is truly an exciting time to be in Belfast. I feel needed, something which is always good to feel. I know I cannot change the world, but I can change myself. That sometimes is all we need to do to achieve change in the end anyways!

I hope that this finds you all doing very well. Know that I am thinking about you and missing all of you too.

Peace and Blessings-

Melissa