Prayers for Peace

On Thursday, the Irish Life Experience arose very early for an amazing tour to Belfast, the Giant's Causeway, and Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge. With a 7:30 AM start to our long day, students settled in for the two hour bus trip to Belfast. Many slept the whole way and listened to their iPod's, while Taryn took some classic ILE sleeping pictures. She has most of the students catching some "Z's", except for Dakota, Joe, and Savannah. She is determined to get everyone by the end of the trip! When we arrived to Belfast, we were met by Taxi Trax Black Taxi's. Our fantastic tour guides-Eddie, Joel, and Paul-took the Irish Life Experience students on a journey into the politics of Belfast from the late 1960's to the Present Day and gave the students an insight into the conflict's history. They took time out to show us the famous wall murals throughout Belfast that conveyed the people's culture, history, and politics. We visited the Shankhill first-the Protestant area in West Belfast. Students were amazed to see the amount of Union Jacks and the very depictive murals here. A few also noticed the remnants of bonfires from July 12th; the beginning of Marching Season in the North. From there, we went to a few memorials along the way, paying tribute to those who had innocently lost their lives during the Troubles. Our guides told the students about the Hunger Strikers and stopped at the Bobby Sands' mural-taking time to honor him. We finished the tour on the Falls Road-the Catholic area of West Belfast. The Falls and Shankhill Roads are still bisected with a high wall with gates that shut the one side off from the other at night. Ironically, it is called the Peace Wall. A few Irish Life Experience students left heartfelt messages behind on the Peace Wall, encouraging prayers and a hope for an end to the violence forever. It was amazing to see the students share faith and a vision for peace on the once bloody battle grounds of the Troubles. It was so moving! "Peace, Not War," wrote Clara.

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