Local Job Corps hosts peace initiative Conflict resolution is goal for young delegation from Northern Ireland

BANGOR – For some, it was their first time in the United States. Others had never been to Maine, and a few could proudly say it was their first time trying lobster. The 12 students from Northern Ireland, ages 16 to 23, reported feeling “extremely welcome” Thursday at the Penobscot Job Corps Academy lobster bake.

But the students, who arrived on Saturday in Bangor, are not here just to absorb the New England culture.

They are participating in the “Spirit of Enniskillen” Youth Program, which brings together young people from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds and encourages them to work together to find peaceful ways to resolve conflicts and learn tolerance.

“People ask, ‘Why go to America to discuss this?'” Fiona McCaffrey, 18, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, said to an audience of about 50 people from local organizations who gathered on campus to learn more about the youths’ views. “It’s a challenge. Northern Ireland is our home, so we couldn’t remain impartial there. This is the perfect place.”

McCaffrey and her peers will participate for two weeks in discussions concerning the longtime conflict between people of Catholic and Protestant faiths in Northern Ireland, while they live and interact with students on the Job Corps campus.

The program, which Job Corps has hosted for seven years, was formed after a bombing in the town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, in 1987, which claimed the lives of 11 Protestants.

Town resident Gordon Wilson lost his daughter in the blast and spoke out about peaceful resolutions. The program was created in honor of his efforts.

While it receives funding and community support within Northern Ireland, the program is mostly known through word of mouth, according to team leaders Aaron Fletcher, 22, of Belfast and Ingrid Hoeritzauer, 23, also of Northern Ireland.

“We really emphasize how to bring the program back and share it with the community,” Hoeritzauer said. “We say, ‘While you aren’t responsible for the world, you are responsible for your contribution.'”

Job Corps staff see the program as a way to spread the word among students at the academy, as well.

“Part of the program is to help develop diversity and multicultural attitudes,” Andrew Carpenter, Penobscot Job Corps Academy director, said. “It’s an excellent environment for our students to engage in discussions and learn how to work together.”

The conflict in Ireland began in the 1600s, when the Protestant British government ordered Catholic landowners into western Ireland, where land development was poor, and gave fertile land to Protestant British and Scottish settlers.

In the 1920s, Ireland was divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland because of continuing contention between the two groups. Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.

Brutality and terrorist warfare between Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups have raged since the late 1960s.

Although the conflict persists today, many of the teens expressed a belief that a resolution could be reached in the near future.

“Things have come along so much from when the problem was at its climax in the 1970s and ’80s,” Joe McMullan, 17, of Moghera, Northern Ireland, said. “Yes, there are always going to be mild discrepancies. That’s true with any community. But through this program, they teach us to deal with those differences.”

McCaffrey said that although she has been in Bangor only four days, she has learned a great deal. She hopes to share her new perspective with her parents, who both are open to the idea around peace in Northern Ireland.

“There are other underlying issues, and a lack of education and fear is what brings those out,” McCaffrey said. “I feel that I should try to challenge people about peace and reconciliation when I get home.”