Friendly Fire?

Our morning correspondent is Patrick Gibbons:

Sunday was supposed to begin rather early. As things stood the night before, we were going to spend the morning hiking to the top of Cave Hill in north Belfast. We even celebrated Mass on Saturday night to free up Sunday morning for the trip. However, it was raining early in the morning and the idea was abandoned due to safety concerns. On the bright side, though, we got to sleep in. It was a refreshing change from the usual.

After everyone had gotten up and had a chance to eat, Mr. Bizga took anyone who wanted to on a “walk to the park” which “wasn’t far away.” Most of us took him up on the offer, and unwittingly became part of what we now call the Belfast Death March. The park was not close by any stretch of the imagination, and the trip there would easily count as a good long walk, but as they say, getting there is half the fun. In fairness, it was interesting to see a different, more affluent side of Belfast. Anyway, when we finally got to the park, we still had half the journey ahead of us. The park itself was beautiful, and a bit similar to the Cleveland Metroparks. The path we took ran next to the River Lagan, and was crowded with people since it was a remarkably warm day. One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is that people don’t walk their dogs on leashes here. Instead, the dog runs free but pretty much stays next to its owner. In fact, I’ve seen more kids on leashes in Belfast (9) than dogs (5). All in all it was a great day to take a walk in the park, even if it was long and a bit hot. At the end of our walk we came to a restaurant with a very interesting place in current events. The DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) was recently rocked by scandal when the wife of DUP First Minister Peter Robinson was discovered having an affair with a man nearly a quarter of her age. As it happens, she gave him ownership of the restaurant and he can usually be seen there (If he was, I didn’t notice.) The food there was very good, and it was a nice break after our long march. Once the food was eaten, Mr. Bizga ordered us taxis back to the Elms and got ready to go to the Lower Castlereagh festival.

The festival was similar to a small summer carnival in America. There were bumper cars, inflatables, and other booths for people to go to. However, we weren’t there to hang out, we were there to “work” with local kids. To “work” some of us went to the football field and started playing football (soccer), while others went to the basketball courts and shot around. Both groups tried to recruit kids to play with them, and the results are interesting. When the basketball players came back to the field, there were a couple locals who had joined in. When we tried to get more people into a basketball game, we were told “basketball is for gays” and as I said, we gave up on basketball and went back to football. One of the two from Castlereagh who had joined in was Robert who we had met last night at the Human Rights Workshop, and who is a really nice and very interesting person, though sometimes a bit rough around the edges. After a while Robert and his friend got tired, the football game ended, and a new game began.

After the game broke up, a few younger kids showed up and started talking to us. About the same time, many of us began to get hit with what felt like small rocks; it turns out one the kids had an airsoft gun. While I’m sure he was having a blast, it was no fun being shot. But more importantly, it looked like fun. So a couple of us asked where he got the gun and found out they were selling them in a stall at the festival. Everything fell apart after we heard this. Ryan Brown and I went to the stall and got guns for ourselves, as well as a massive stash of ammo. The guns were made of real metal, so they looked real, except for the fact that someone had painted them red; it wouldn’t be good for them to look too real. After leaving the armory, Ryan and I loaded some ammo and opened fire. It was all fun and games for those of us who had our own guns, but for those who didn’t, it became a pain. The kids got a kick out of sneaking up and shooting people from up close, especially the girls, and no one got out without a couple hits. The irony, of course, is that our presence was meant to reinforce the peace process and help the people of Lower Castlereagh. Instead, I’m afraid we might have only reinforced a violent worldview. Regardless of the violent character of the game though, the kids had fun and we managed to become friends with some of them, which was part of the goal.

After playing football and airsoft, we were told to “decommission” our weapons, and we went back to the Elms for the evening.

Our afternoon correspondent is Alex Barnes:

Cheers! Alex Barnes here reporting the rest of Sunday, 11 July 2010. Our interactions with the Castlereigh Community continued with a rousing match of futbol! From the community two guys joined us, Brian and Robert. Both were exceptionally good and the match was quite enjoyable to be a part of. While the match was going on I was fortunate enough to be interviewed along with Nina for a local program describing the state of the community and Northern Ireland as a whole. With the video camera running we described our impressions of the country and reflected on our favorite parts of our trip. I felt very honored to be able to do this and I hope that our interview will be put to good use in the community.

Once the match ended due to lack of participation (and two hours of constant playing), some younger players showed up fully garbed in their uniforms and we began to play World Cup. I was partnered up with Tom, but there were many other teams composed of Americans and locals working together to try and win the game. After an intense half hour of this Mr. Brennan captured some photos of us and we had to say good bye to our new friends around 4:30. I was really sad to go; not only because I loved the chance at outdoor activities and sports, but also because I wanted more time to get to know these kids better and hear more about their own lives and thoughts about their community. However, our taxis were arriving promptly today and before we knew it we were back at Queen's.

We spent the new few hours at home catching up on homework or trying to take a shower that actually had hot water. Today Ian and I were both sporting Spain jerseys because at 7:30 the World Cup Finals were on. For dinner we at the dorms and feasted on pasta, pizza, lasagna, and salad prepared by the head chefs Mr. Bizga, Mr. Brennan, and Ms. Duarte. We began to eat just as the game began, and I was locked in my seat for the next two hours. In the 116’ minute Iniesta finally broke the scoreless game with a shot that landed in the back right corner of the goal. Spain took a 1-0 lead and held that for the last four minutes of the game. Spain had finally won the World Cup and everyone here at Queens could not have been happier!

The match was over around 10:00 PM so we soon after departed once more to the Avinole Leisure Center. With the sun quickly setting behind us, we saw a very different scene compared to early in the day. The bonfire loomed before us and already high volumes of music and partying was beginning. We were fortunate again in seeing our friends from early in the day, and after some playful roughhousing (during which many kids focused in on Ryan or John’s hat), we moved a safe distance away from the bonfire in order to see the beginning of “the show.” Around ten till midnight the band came in. This band was not in any set uniform but they began marching around the bonfire and playing their customary songs for this celebration. Watching from a safe distance, we saw teenagers preparing their petrol bombs which would be used shortly for the lighting of the fire. With the launching of these and the burning of a Celtics jersey near the top of the bonfire, the fire eventually caught and the massive edifice began to glow. This day proved very interesting to me because today I could see most clearly the effects of sectarianism. The flag burning and songs that were clearly anti-IRA show the lasting effects of sectarianism and the mind-sets of these very young people.

Well that’s all for today events! Tom will now take over from 12:01 AM on this quite extraordinary day. Cheers!