TABU - Towards a Better Understanding - 2009 Exchange Programme
Last year a group from Highland Park Rotary Club arrived on 1st April 2009 for a 10 day visit.
The 6 Students, one teacher and 3 Rotarians from the Highland Park Club participated in a very busy and varied schedule including: (some photographs of the visit can be seen here)
o visit to Parliament Buildings, Stormont where they met and questioned representatives from 5 of the local parties
o the Lord Mayors Parlour where they were received by the Deputy Lord Mayor and had a discussion lasting over an hour
o visits to 3 schools, Belfast Royal Academy, Methodist College and Our Lady and St Patricks College, Knock, sampling classes and meeting and having discussions with the students
o presentation from Rev Harold Good on the Stumbling blocks and Stepping stones behind the peace process
o a day spent in Laganside Courts and at the Hydebank Wood Prison and Young Offenders Centre
o meetings with the PSNI who also sponsored valuable and insightful visits on the ground to two community centres on an interface involved with the Belfast Conflict Resolution Consortium
o discussion with Mediation Northern Ireland who explained their distinctive approach to the interfaces and explained that at the time of the Belfast Agreement there were 18 interfaces in Belfast, now there are 42, all requested initially by local communities
o visit to the Seanad in Dublin and the recently re-opened Memorial Gardens where the facts behind the participation of Irish soldiers were graphically presented by Dave O’Brien
o all finished off by a lively lunch and discussion with the US Consul General.
o Other experiences included visits to the two Belfast Cathedrals, the Synagogue, walking the walls of Derry, St Columba’s Cathedral, and the Giants Causeway. The students were also, in the evenings, in the company of the Belfast Rotaractors and at several Rotarian’s homes as well as with their host families.
On Monday 6th April the group attended the weekly Rotary Club of Belfast Lunch at the Europa Hotel. Each student spoke effortlessly and confidently about their experience on the programme so far and their stay with host families.
On their last night, President Courtenay presented the group with their participation certificates and, as one of Her Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenants for the County Borough of Belfast, presented each with one of the first official sets of Belfast Rotary Maundy Money. As a ‘1911’ Club each set contained one penny for each year of the Club’s 98 years of existence since its founding in July 1911. He then led the students (both last years and this) and Rotarians on the dance floor.
The students, teacher and Rotarians all articulated about the wealth of experience and the hospitality received and their admiration for the programme. Wherever they went they displayed searching and knowledgeable questions of all they encountered and impressed all they met.
They left long lasting friends behind.
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