Photo Project

The main group of young people I'm working with this summer is involved in a photography project. They take photos of where they hang out, their homes, the chinese and chippys they frequent, their side of the peace wall. Then, they meet with a group from the other side of the wall, with the end product of an album (print or online) of the photos both sides have taken. We met with the other group for the first time tonight. The groups went bowling together (I didn't go, I had to be at the center for afterschools stuff) and then to hear two ex-paramilitary men talk. It was really interesting to hear a former UVF man and a former IRA man give their thoughts on Belfast today. Both did jail time, and both are now working in the community to improve the quality of living in Belfast. The first man who spoke had some really great things to say to the yp about how you can stand for a cause without taking up arms, and how it doesn't ever need to come to killing. He was telling them that it's okay to go against the crowd and be different. It was just so wild to sit in a room and hear these men talk about all the events, people, and opinions that I have read about. Belfast today is so different, than even 10 years ago, they said, and it definately gave me a bit of historical context.

I'm pretty excited about the rest of the project, too. Next week we're supposed to take a tour with both groups through their neighborhoods. Most have never seen the other side of the wall or the neighborhoods behind them. I think there's also some water sports coming up, and maybe even developing their own photos in a darkroom. It's sometimes tough to picture the yp getting a lot of out of these events because they can be so unruly and wild most of the time, but it was cool to see them all listening intently while the men were talking tonight (and we'll just try to forget the chair they threw down a flight of steps and the bucket of ice cream they dug into...)