Celtic Tidings: YAV Retreat number 2 part 2

It has been awhile since the retreat so I may not be one hundred percent accurate on which days we did what, but here is the rest of events from this retreat:

We had the privilege of visiting a farm to see baby sheep!! This made all of us incredibly happy! The owners of the house we were staying in had a nephew with sheep that had just had two lambs that day so we were very lucky.

Newborn lambs

As you can tell we were quite happy

Other sheep at the farm

We named him Tuffy due to his hair on his horn.

One night we ventured into Donegal town to see Irish music at a pub which made for a very nice, relaxing night. We also had time to explore the town on another day as well.

Another night, we watched the movie Bloody Sunday in preparation for going to Londonderry/Derry the next day.

You can watch the movie here.

Fellow YAV Anna sums up the events of Bloody Sunday really well:

"Derry/Londonderry has a long history of sectarian violence and disruption. In the 1970s, the British Army was stationed in Northern Ireland to patrol the streets and “keep the peace.” (In fact, they were deployed in 1969 and the operation officially ended on the 1st of July, 2007). Protests weren’t uncommon, and often ended in rioting, usually led by teenagers. There was a civil rights march that day, which was meant to be a peaceful protest against internment without trial (at the time, the government could arrest and intern anyone suspected of being involved with the IRA without a proper trial). However, some of the marchers began to throw stones, etc. at the heavy military presence. This is where it gets really fuzzy. The army maintained that they were being fired upon by the IRA, which is why they opened fire. An initial inquiry by the British government into the incident concluded that the people injured and killed had, in fact, been armed. However, that’s now been proven false with a second inquiry. You see, the first inquiry, many believe, was carried out swiftly in an effort to clear the British Army – and, therefore, government – of any wrong-doing. The second inquiry, known as the Saville inquiry, cleared the names of those people who, for over thirty years, were officially seen as members of the IRA."

The movie provokes so many emotions that it was very draining to watch. It is also filmed in a way that creates confusion to simulate the confusion that took place that day. Maybe a reason I haven't blogged about watching this film is because I'm still trying to process it all. It was an intense film to watch that also brought up so many questions and after watching it.

I've tried this year so hard to be an objective outsider, hearing both sides of every story and acknowledging that no one side is better than another. But watching this movie... it was hard to remain unbiased because lives were lost. And it hasn't been just with this instance in history, I have struggled with other parts of history in Northern Ireland. Lives were lost before, during, and after the Troubles from both sides of the conflict.

It has all made me take a step back and look at how I feel about instances where lives have been taken in the United States history as well. Reflecting on wars and even on the death of Osama bin Laden... I have thought even if a person believes another person should die because of an act(s)/atrocity that they have committed, is that our right to decide whether or not they die?

I've sort of come to the conclusion that no one has the right to determine whether or not someone else should live or die (that being said I know there are special circumstances such as keeping someone on life support) But I believe that life and death are and should be in God's hands.

I have been forced to look at my own views because of what I've been exposed to here in Northern Ireland. It has been unexpected in a lot of ways, but I'm grateful for it.

The next day we traveled to Derry/Londonderry.. which also gets the name "Stroke City" due to the stroke inbetween the two names. It was originally Derry in the 1600's and eventually became Londonderry under British control.

Essentially, those who are Unionists (British) would say Londonderry and those who are Nationalists (Irish) would say Derry. It interests me how divided the city is from the name to the River Foyle that runs through it separating the Bogside, predominantly Nationalist from the predominantly Unionist Waterside.

We toured the city with Doug and walked along the walls that incase part of the city. We learned more history about Londonderry/ Derry and saw some of the sights.

Later we went to the Museum of Free Derry which is actually situated right in an area where a lot of the violence took place on Bloody Sunday and only adds to the potency of the content in the museum.

I found myself deeply moved by the content of the museum, which includes clothes worn by the victims where you can see bullet holes, advertisements for the Civil Rights march, and other articles pertaining to or leading up to Bloody Sunday.

I have been told by many people here that The Troubles had an effect on most everyone. Not necessarily directly but in some way shape or form. And thats exactly what I found in the Museum of Free Derry. We didn't have an official tour guide but I may have straggled behind to listen to the man who was in charge of the museum, John Kelly. His brother was killed on Bloody Sunday.

Words cannot really describe what it was like to stand there and listen to him talk and how I felt. I haven't had many experiences that have been close to that in the U.S. making it only more intense. It's hard to process it now almost a month later to write about.

We ended the day crossing the peace bridge built that connects the Waterside and Bogside.