'Journeys Out' – and Back Again…                  

Having only just recovered from the Christmas/New Year festivities we set off on January 14 on the first leg on of our trek to the Middle East. I say 'we' – a motley collection of community activists, former combatants, academics, representatives from the PSNI, Parades Commission and yours truly (an ordained Presbyterian Minister who, for almost ten years has been Director of The 174 Trust, a Christian Community Development organisation operating out of the Duncairn Complex in North Belfast – formerly occupied by the Presbyterian congregation of the same name).

Our destination was the United Nations University International Leadership Institute in Amman, Jordan where, as part of year long Conflict Resolution programme involving Loyalist and Republicans from Belfast and Derry/Londonderry, we were to meet with Israeli, Palestinians as well Sri Lankans and two people with personal experience of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The intended purpose of the 'Journeys Out' Programme 'From Conflict to Participation'  was to:

• Engage a new generation of community leaders in the debate about dealing with the past;
• Document and share these community leaders' journeys from conflict to participation;
• Build the capacity of these community leaders to mentor and train their peers in relation to local and international approaches to dealing with the past; and to
• Develop a 'Journeys Out' training module with input from these community leaders to be piloted at INCORE's 2008 Summer School.

In preparation for the Jordan trip delegates were involved in several days training and participation in workshops, peer mentoring and peer education as well as facilitation skills with everyone – delegates, steering group and peer mentors - being video interviewed for inclusion in a protected, web-based archive of journeys from conflict to participation.

As the programme's title suggests, the focus of all our discussions was the sensitive – but essential – subject of how we are to deal with our past and the legacy the 'Troubles' have left us with. 

The five days in Jordan were filled with presentations, discussions – formal and informal – on topics as diverse as Orange parades, particular incidents during our 'Troubles', the role of the churches at the time and how they might play a role in the painful process of dealing with the past and fostering reconciliation.

The delegates were involved in sessions – presenting, listening, discussing – that included: 'Policing and Republicanism'; 'Healing Through Remembering'; 'Transforming Loyalism'; 'Parading and Commemoration'. In addition to our own post-conflict issues we listened to International perspectives on 'Dealing with the Past' when we heard firsthand accounts of the situation on the ground in Israel and the 'occupied territories' as well as in Sri Lanka where sectarian violence and civil unrest continues to claim lives and, unlike the Middle East conflict, goes almost unnoticed by the outside world. 

As the Northern Ireland delegates listened with interest to graphic stories of hatred and violence in another context and another country – heard about the atrocities committed and the vast reservoir of pain and suffering one group of people have inflicted on the other – simply because they were the 'other' – I  couldn't help but feel grateful that we lived in (and would thankfully be returning to) a 'Christian country' (sic) where, regardless of our traditions, we just got on with each other and treated the 'other' with tolerance and respect...or was I thinking of the way it should be – could be?

It wasn't of course all hard work, we did get to do a little sightseeing with a trip to the ancient city of Petra being the undoubted highlight for most of the group – although for me the late afternoon swim in the Dead Sea with the sun setting over Israel on the opposite shore was truly spectacular.

For me at least, the abiding memory – and one that has given renewed impetus and focus to my own organisation, the 174 Trust's mission of 'Building Peace and Promoting Reconciliation' – was some video coverage, originally broadcast on South African television, on the workings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We witnessed, albeit second-hand, testimonies and stories that shocked and disturbed which were a vivid demonstration of how racism (and all the other related '-isms') – institutional and personal – can dehumanise and desensitise, helping create the conditions for unrestrained bloodshed and carnage.

The group returned (via various routes) to Belfast and Derry/Londonderry weary and tired, but also challenged and, I think, determined to do all we can to ensure that the new society that is emerging and of which we are a part, is an improvement on that which went before – one that has space in for everyone, regardless of race, religion or political ideology and one that we all, regardless of where we came from or when we got here, feel they have a share in.

Journeys Out is funded by the European Union's Peace and Reconciliation Programme 200-2006 under Measure 2.4 Pathways in Inclusion, Integration and Reconciliation of Victims and managed for the Special European Union Programmes Body by The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland

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