As my time in
Derry comes to a close I look back on the experience of a lifetime. I have had the opportunity to go places that I never would have thought existed or thought of traveling to. I have gotten to know a great group of people that I did not know at all before this trip and I am really glad that I had the chance to meet them. I have also had a chance to sample new cuisines such as fish and chips and the Doner kebab which I hope that I will be able to find at the same quality I experienced here.
From an academic stand point what I can take away from this trip is the one thing that I definitely did not understand before coming here and that is the human element is really the deciding factor in this conflict. Anything that people say about the conflict in Northern Ireland is religious or it’s economic or anything else they are missing the key factor. The people here have been embattled for so long that there is a tremendous amount of resentment that has been built up. People here will never be at peace with one another because the hurt runs so deep. Everyone has been hurt by this conflict in some facet or another. These are a peoples that have built up their identities and divisions for so long and used them to separate from the other groups that the conflict here is going to take a long time to really be resolved, but there is hope on the horizon and there are some really good people here that understand all of this and are working to make a better tomorrow for everyone and bring about a lasting peace.
From my time in the community at the Gasworks I have taken away issues that I would not have had I been in strictly an academic environment. I have learned about social issues from the people out on the streets working to address them and who have to experience them on a day to day basis rather than looking at them from a classroom. The people I met there have allowed me see the community and to see that there really are people working to make a difference. My time in the community has made me much more hopeful for the future of Northern Ireland than anything some professor has told me in a classroom.
