Click here to learn about our "Create A Mural Now" workshops, where youth work as a team to design and create a mural. The theme can fit your needs. Each project culminates with a party and gift bags for all participants.

JOURNEY TO BELFAST

Create Now was selected by the British Council and Volunteer Service Organization (VSO) to participate in the first-ever multilateral Global Xchange, which connects youth and community leaders from six countries: France, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, UK, and USA. There were three other organizations from Los Angeles chosen to represent the U.S.: LA’s BEST (Mary Aguilan), REACH LA (Margaret Chono-Helsley) and Street Poets (Andres Rivera). We spent three weeks in Durban, South Africa from January 17 to February 6, 2010, collaborating with other community leaders to exchange our best practices.

I’ve already shared my experiences in South Africa, which you can read on our website or in my blog. Now I’d like to tell you about my journey to Belfast, North Ireland, where I spent three weeks from March 6 to March 28, 2010.

As in South Africa, I was assigned to a host home. Kelly Colbert is a school teacher who lives in a suburban community on the edge of Belfast. We got along fantastically and I feel like I have a new friend for life. Unfortunately, it took me two hours of commuting just to get to our meeting place at the Farset International Hostel, where many of our team members were staying, and it was only five minutes from my work placement at Forthspring. Luckily, I was able to transfer to the Farset for the last two weeks of my stay, and I also got to enjoy Kelly’s company on my time off.

All of the Global Xchange members collaborated with local artists and musicians from Belfast to work with large groups of children and youth to prepare for our grand march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We helped kids from 4 years old to 18 to make percussion instruments, hats, T-shirts, badges, paint our banner and to practice drumming and dancing.

St. Patrick’s Day is a huge event in North Ireland and there were thousands of people lining the streets. I was dressed as a butterfly and was asked by our leader to dance alongside a giant caterpillar (operated by our GX members), shouting “Hail to the Caterpillar!” Most of the Global Xchange team marched behind the caterpillar, carrying our banner and dancing to African drum rhythms.

I was assigned (with my counterpart Rafiki), to work with a local youth agency called Forthspring. They have three separate programs: (1) Day care for children 4-9 years old; (2) Center-based activities like basketball, billiards and arts and crafts for kids ages 8-17; and (3) the Detached Youth unit, where staff roam the streets looking for kids to talk with and engage.

While we only had five days to work with the staff at Forthspring, it was a very interesting experience. I found it amusing to watch Rafiki playing “house” with little girls and videogames for the first time in his life. But what really struck me was the challenge that Forthspring had in bringing together kids from two different religions: the Protestants and the Catholics. Their war is called “The Troubles” and it has been going on for centuries. The rivalry is so intense that there are massive “Interface” walls made of cement and wire that separate the two groups.

Just like gang warfare in L.A., it’s about turf and retaliation, mixed with religious intolerance and many other factors. When Rafiki and I asked the staff at Forthspring if we could bring the Protestant and Catholic youth together to do some conflict resolution exercises, they said there was no way they could get them into the same room without spending months to prepare the youth. Rafiki and I gave them some innovative ideas on how to build that bridge.

When I went out on patrol one night with the Detached Youth unit, we met a number of kids who were fascinated by the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry between Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. I suggested to Forthspring that they might invite a local rapper to their center (which even has separate entrances for both sides) so the Protestant and Catholic kids could come together to discuss this rap war and how it relates to their own battles. All over the world, the arts are a powerful way to get troubled youth to open up.

I had a great time in North Ireland, enjoying good theatre, music, dance and art. We even got to meet the Lord Mayor of Belfast. Global Xchange arranged guided tours of local landmarks and the beautiful coast, with magnificent sites like the Giants Causeway (that's me in the white hat!) and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. I made some wonderful friends and deepened my relationships with many of the GX members. These are memories that I’ll always treasure and share.