Intensive seminar takes Irish teens from soup kitchen to White House
8/19/1998 NOTE: Photographs are available with this story. by United Methodist News Service WASHINGTON - When 48 teens from Northern Ireland presented a peace plate to Hillary Clinton one day in late July, the formality and serenity of the White House grounds provided a sharp contrast to their activities of the previous day.
Yet talking with the first lady, sweating in the sun while doing service projects, and listening to six homeless people share their stories in a Capitol Hill church basement were all part of a recent seminar designed for them by United Methodist Seminars on National and International Affairs.
The young people were participating in the Children's Friendship Project for Northern Ireland Inc., which matches a Protestant and a Catholic teen from the same area to spend six weeks with a host family in the United States.
The all-volunteer project to promote peace and friendship has been bringing pairs of children with leadership potential to the United States since 1987, but this is the first time for a seminar such as "Breaking Down the Walls and Bridging the Gaps." The three-day event included presentations on a wide range of social problems and skill building in conflict resolution, as well as service projects and the visit to the White House.
Although the seminars program is a joint effort of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and Board of Global Ministries, this seminar was carefully crafted to be Christian without favoring a denomination.
Working together in service projects helped the students build trust among themselves, said seminar director Neal Christie. For one project, 14 young people did several hours of yard work at a low-income housing project. That was not a fun experience in Washington's heat and humidity, Christie noted, but the participants derived great satisfaction when told of the value of their work to the community. The teens were divided among five local ecumenical projects so they could see different communions working together.
Fiona Hughes and Christine Paul, both 17-year-olds from County Derry, delivered hot meals to homebound people with AIDS for an organization called Food and Friends.
The seminar, with sessions on social problems including racism and teen prostitution, was a revelation for the students.
"Whenever you come to America you really only see the good things - the nice cars, the big houses. You don't realize all the problems," Hughes said.
Before she heard the homeless people talk about their lives, Paul said, she had thought the homeless were responsible for their own situations. "But then I realized they had no control over it most of the time," she said. "I was shocked to learn how difficult and dangerous it is on the streets."
Christie said he observed a new appreciation for some of the good things the students have in Northern Ireland, including a free college education and free health care for all.
Each pair of teens stayed with an American family, doing whatever the family did. The host family agreed to offer a politically and religiously neutral home, with provisions for both children to attend worship services.
Hughes and Paul stayed with Sharon and Rick Harroun, members of Dranesville United Methodist Church in Herndon, Va., for half their time in the United States. Sharon Harroun accompanied them to the seminar and encouraged the young women to apply what they learned when they return home.
Both teen-agers said they enjoyed the social and tourist parts of their trip, but the opportunity to get to know each other was unique.
"I live in a very sort of Catholic neighborhood and go to a Catholic school so I don't really have much contact with Protestants," Hughes remarked.
Paul, a Presbyterian who lives only five miles away, said the school she attends is integrated religiously, but little mixing occurs.
At the seminar, which occurred midway through their U.S. stay, the students wrote a mission statement for themselves. It stated: "We will create an environment where people express, respect and accept each other's opinions, traditions and fears, through education, integration and interaction. To regain and achieve peace, we need to compromise through honest and sensitive dialogue. The key is time, patience and hope for a brighter future."
This year, 126 young people came to the United States. More than 800 have come since the Children's Friendship Project for Northern Ireland Inc. was founded in 1987 by Peggy Barrett, a Pennsylvania homemaker.
Students are selected for the program by a committee in Northern Ireland. They and their families commit to preparation and follow-up participation at some risk. The group's reunion in October has had bomb threats in the past.
Niamh Gallagher, 17, from County Antrim, told Christie that she and Laura Millar will be grateful forever for being brought together in the program and the seminar.
"The workshop has taught me to appreciate that we are all different and to accept people the way they are," Gallagher said. "I enjoyed the kindness of the homeless coming to speak to us. Their stories touched my heart, and I would like to help the homeless both here and in Northern Ireland."
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*Parts of this story were supplied by Tara Peterman, Washington correspondent for the Irish Voice newspaper.
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