Monday, October 3, 2011

A wee update (and by wee, I mean its MASSIVE)

So I am deeply sorry about the ridiculously long gap between posts.  I will make a promise to update weekly from here on out.  If you bear with me to the end I'll do my best to not only post every week but to never be this long winded again.

My life in Belfast is really starting to get going.  It started of quite slow but now its all beginning at once, and so far, I love it.  I have begun working one morning a week at an elderly day centre called Newington.  I go in and serve coffee/tea and biscuits/toast to the elderly who come in each day and I spend time talking to them then serve lunch.  The ladies have decided they love listening to me speak because of my accent and constantly ask me questions to keep me talking.  Many of the people at Newington are suffering from dementia of some sort, which is something close to home for me from when my Grandfather lost the fight to Alzheimers a few years ago.  It was hard the first day having the same kind of conversations with the men and women there I used to have with my Grandfather, but in the end I think it is beneficial that I am already accustomed to the condition and now I find myself being reminded of his memory and smiling and using things I learned with him while I work at Newington.

Since I have been working with WAVE the most since being here I've gotten very comfortable with the people in my two groups.   I have gotten the names down of nearly all the 30-40 people I work with in my groups.    I have helped WAVE with some fundraising by standing on the street with a collection bucket in the City Centre.  Luckily it wasn't actually a rainy day.  They also did a talent show where the people who go to and work at WAVE are the acts.  It was wonderful.  Three young brothers did some traditional Irish music I absolutely loved.  At the end of the night they showed a video of the last talent show which was a lot bigger.  It brought a giant smile to my face and is a defining instance where I can say I know for sure God was absolutely present and working within the group.

I have also gone on day trips with both the men and women's group.  The men went to a small museum in town which is about the history of the IRA.  It was quite interesting.  We got to watch videos from the 70's when there was an enforced curfew and I got to see propaganda advertisements from the IRA that were present during the height of the troubles.   The women did a lighter topic, and chose to go shopping in nearby Lisburn and then went on a tour of the Coca Cola Factory of Belfast.  It was cool because they talked a lot about the original Coke factory in Atlanta.

 Both groups just finished up a program series called "Whatever you say, say something"  The title is playing off a traditional saying from the troubles which was "Whatever you say, say nothing".  The program was to encourage the members of the group to talk about their past and how to deal with it and move forward.  The men and women did different things.  The men did small activities and talked and the women did more craft like things and informal discussions.  The best day of the women's group was when they used "female" building blocks to discuss how they deal with stress and hard times.  One group of women used the blocks to make WAVE and said they know they can come to WAVE and it helps.

The block built version of WAVE

One of the ladies of the women's group offered to take me in as I get slightly more homesick.  She offered me an outstanding invitation to dinner at her house anytime and has insisted if I don't have plans at Christmas, I spend it with her and her family so I won't be alone.  Its nice to know that even though I won't be home with my family during the holidays I am welcome in another, as well as the family of YAVs I am apart of here.  She also tells me about cool things going on in the community.  She told me about a band parade that occurred on my street.  Bands are a big thing here, like marching bands with flutes and drums. People of all ages are in the bands.  Its often seen as a good way to get teens off the streets and doing something constructive.   Groups from both sides of the conflict were in the parade.  It was a very interesting experience, especially to see this part of culture and the neighborhood I live in. 


Two of the MANY bands 

Fortwilliam has been starting up little by little.  I have been doing a lot of planning and training and its nice to finally have the opportunity to put a lot of that into action.  We had our first Youth Club this past Saturday night.  The youth club is different from youth group because its not actually at the church or the youth from the church.  Its at the old Macrory church, the church that merged into Fortwilliam.  The young people who go to the club do not go to the church, but the leaders and volunteers for the club are mostly people from the church.  The youth club is going to be quite a challenge for me, but a challenge I think I will greatly enjoy.  The young people are different from any I've ever worked with.  Saying they are quite difficult is an understatement.  Yet it is something I really look forward to doing.  I can't wait to see how it ends up at the end of my year and how it grows and changes through out my year.

The first night I attempted to teach them to make a kind of lantern for a parade that will occur through their neighborhood at the end of October.  It was virtually impossible to get them to make lanterns.  It would have been easier to get 3 year olds to make them then these 10-14 year olds.  But somehow 3 lanterns got made however and more will hopefully be made next week.  With 2 people or more working on each lantern I feel fairly satisfied with myself that I got at least 6 people of the group to make lanterns.  Since the group was about 12 this Saturday, I'll take that as a victory.  Next week has some other plans and hopefully more of the kids will get involved.

Also at Fortwilliam I led my first adult bible study at the church which happened to be my first time leading any sort of adult bible study. I was really nervous, but I had a good turn out.  During the bible study it seemed as though people were enjoying it and getting into it, but after it was really great because I had numerous people talk to me about how much they enjoyed it.  The assurance felt really great, especially after a few weeks of struggling and often not doing things correctly.  I am really looking forward to seeing how this group develops and progresses throughout the year as well.  My final project of the moment is working with another man in the church to help start a young adult group at Fortwilliam.  There are many challenges to the project and it is still mostly in the planning stage, but I love having something thats my own and that I have so much freedom in.  I can't wait until we can actually starts, hopefully soon if everything goes as planned.

In my free time I spend time getting to know the people of the church and explore the city.  I have been trying to go to the bowls that occur every Tuesday night.  Playing the game at bowls is really interesting.  You take a weighted ball and roll it down a long green mat toward a yellow ball.  The point is to be the closest to the yellow ball called a jack.  But you have to use the weight of the ball just right so it curves the right way and misses the wooden stick located in the middle of the mat.  At times I'm good, but mostly I'm terrible.  However the people are very nice and are patient in teaching me.
Playing bowls

Lastly, we took a visiting group on an informational tour of Belfast.  It was really interesting for me because we crossed a peace wall I haven't really cross yet into a large national/catholic neighborhood.  It was surprising how many actually noticeable differences there were and it wasn't just in the flags that were being flown. The stores were different and the memorials and murals were all very different.  I look forward to going back and exploring the area more.  The picture I'll leave you with is a picture of the largest of the peace walls in Belfast which we crossed to go into this neighborhood.


Until next time... Which should be sooner rather then later =)