I Blog with my Mouth Open

At the Gasworks on Thursday I was again introduced to a different part of the organization that make up the Gasworks. For the first two hours of the morning, I spent it with the preschool children in the program that is offered at the community center. Most of the children where under the age of 4 and had very limited speaking ability so you can imagine the type of interaction that I had with these children, but it was nice to see a very helpful community service that is provided for parents so that they can go about the early hours of the day getting their chores done or just to give them some free time. The program ended at 12 very similar to most preschool/daycares in the U.S.

The second part of my day was spent over at the Gail school that is linked the gasworks but not specifically run by anyone within the Gasworks building. For those of you out there in the blogging world who may not know a “Gail” school is the equivalent of an elementary school back in the states except for the fact that from day one they teach the children in the Irish or Gaelic language in order to give them a broader cultural understanding. From my discussions with the teachers and administration of the school I found out that they can speak both English and Irish because for the most part most of their parents either do not speak Gaelic or have forgotten over the years so the children can speak the language but their English writing skills are taught in their later years. I also found out from the principle is that once they get to the equivalent to middle there are no Irish speaking schools and the children tend to lose the language due to a lack of practice and there is a big movement to get the language to be taught in more schools and at the next level but it is meeting a lot of resistance in the political sphere due to the dualistic nature of the two sides give and take. They see the problem being that protestants feel the Irish language is an attack on their own culture so much like the integrated education system only a small number of children who’s parents choose to send them attend this school.

While at the school I got to lead a PE class for 3^rd grade students which I found to be quite an experience. At first I was not wholly sure of what I was getting into because on the way to the play area the teacher only spoke to the children in Irish so I had no idea what was going on. Then I noticed that at time the students would intermix English and Irish so I could understand about half of what was being said. When I got there the teacher explained to the students that I was an American and they could only speak English which all of them spoke remarkably well considering their age and school life and the PE class started. To my surprise I these kids all the way in another country in a school that taught two languages like the play the same games I did growing up such as tag and Simon says which really caught me off guard but made the job easier and then of course we ended the day with Soccer (Football as they would call it ) which ended my day. I think this was a great opportunity for me to get a glimpse at the community first hand rather than a group that is working for the community.

I Blog because I want to/ its the cool thing to do

My community experience was not quite as hands on with the community as in my previous post, but it gave me a better opportunity to get the some one on one talking done with the people who work at the Gasworks, as well as get a better understanding of what the community center is really there for . I also want to know what the people are trying to accomplish on a more personal level as well as getting their feelings on different issues that they feel needs to be addressed within the community now that there is peace at least for the moment.

Tuesday was a better day for me to get to see and talk to people on a more intimate level then I have been getting in the classroom and on the tours. Just a little over view of the Gasworks, because I didn’t know exactly what it was all about in my last post. The Gasworks was set up through government funding most of which came from the EU, and was set up as a home base for many community based organizations. Some of these groups include a health forum to address the many health issues in the surrounding communities, a preschool to give parents a free place for their younger children to learn and play, the BBA which is the Bogisde Brandywell initiative and this group finds for the lack of a better word crappy areas and turns them into community gardens so people have something to be proud about, and finally a café that is inexpensive because it is subsidized by the government.

The fist part of my day was spent with Brian who works at the Gasworks for the organization known as the BBA, or formally as the Bogside Brandywell Initiative. As we walked to one of his appointments, we past through the Brandywell community (where Brian is from) and he explained the purpose of his organization, which I described in my previous paragraph. Brian who goes to the United States a minimum of three times a year, had great insight on the differences between American culture and Catholic Irish culture ( he also has a much easier accent to understand because of his travels). During this short time with Brian I got a different view then what I have been hearing in lectures, because he grew up in the same deprived area and he has a personal view of the conflict. I enjoyed talking to Brian because I got a real view of how people see Americans, just by talking about the upcoming elections ( which a lot of people know more about that you would think). This surprised me how open people are about their views without any negative conotations just their personal view.

The rest of my day was spent with Linda McCafferty who is the director of Gasworks. Since there was not a lot going on during the day she and I spent the rest of my time talking about the problems that exist now that there is peace and specifically what she sees as needing to be addressed in the community.

What she told me is that one reason that the Gasworks was built and funded is because there are a lot of areas of serious deprivation and the when kids are not in school they have no other outlets of entertainment other than drinking. So on the weekend’s youngsters as young as 12 or 13 years old run around and cause a ruckus in the community, and their parents have no control over them. In fact last Sunday the hill behind the Gasworks was set on fire by a bunch of drunk kids who have nothing else to do but drink and set fires. If the fire went ten feet further, it would have burned the pre- school that was located behind the Gasworks. Linda and I went out to asses the damage and the top of the hill was covered with empty beer cans and vodka bottles.

From what Linda and Brian have told me there is a big push to raise the drinking age to 21 and create more programs and opportunities for young kids outside of school and keep them on the right track. I really got a better look at the issues surrounding the less advantaged communities and got a great understanding of how people feel. If you think about it, we have the same issues in many communities inthe US and not always only in the poorer communities but also wany where kids are not provided with outlets and activities. For me, this was really important insight to my placement in the community.

Guiness is the nector of the gods

My experience in Northern Ireland so far has been a far better one than I ever expected. I have experienced the warmth and sunshine with very little rain as a part of some of the best weather that they have ever had hear or so I’m told. I have seen everything from city to country to the coast of a beautiful country to the inside of quite a few pubs which as you can image has lead to some good times.

My experience with the community so far has been wonderful everyone that I have met here has been truly great and some of the nicest people I have ever run into in another country, you would never know that only a few years ago this country was deemed one of the most dangerous places to live because of all the violence. While I have had only one real day within my community placement it was a great experience and really gave me a lot of insight into a part of the community here that you really cannot get on any tour. My placement is at the Gasworks which is a community center that does a lot of work within the bogside and other less fortunate communities. I ran into the dentist who works there because of the UK’s socialized healthcare system and she took me with here to the long tower community center were several of the community groups in the areas had set up a day for younger children from the poorer communities to have a party. Jennifer was one of the activities the children attended where she talked to them about dental hygiene because with many of the other issues facing these children’s parents dental hygiene is forgotten much of the time. Other activities that are provided for the children include yoga, soccer, Gaelic football, cooking and an activity area where group games are organized for them. This was in sort a celebration for the end of the school year. Through out the school year the children are exposed to each of these activities in their own schools at different times and this is an accumulation of it all in one big day for the kids. The children were all fairly young and you can tell the still had an innocence about them, that maybe because they did not have to grow up in a time of trouble and violence. I look forward to more interactions with the community like this one.

On a bit of a side note I did not know what to expect from the food here in NI and I heard a few things about it that maybe it wouldn’t be that good but I have found it to be very similar to that of American cuisine in that a lot of sauces tend to be involved. I do enjoy fish and chips with salt and vinegar and I have made the discover of the trip very early on and that is the Doner Kebab which is a combination of Gyro meat lettuce onions and about 5 sauces that can either be served on chip (thick French fries ) or naan which is a type of pita bread, while this may not sound extremely appetizing the combination is amazing.