Glencree Reconciliation Retreat

For many years now TY Columbans have joined Transition Year pupils from other schools for a two day retreat at the Glencree Reconciliation Centre. This year was no different and Jessica Scott shares below her impressions of the experience. 

Mr. McCarthy brought us up to Kippure Adventure Centre on Tuesday the 4^th of October. There was a change of location due to maintenance work in the Glencree centre. We arrived at Kippure adventure centre shortly after 12:30pm to be greeted by a woman called Joyce. She showed us to our accommodation. The houses were amazing with a small kitchen, dining room and lounge area also with a balcony which had an amazing view.

There were six per house with two rooms with three beds and an en suite. Shortly after arriving Sadhbh, Brendan and I were introduced to the 26 other students who were also in Transition Year and came from various schools: Villiers School, Drogheda Grammar, Newtown, Wesley College, King’s Hospital, St. Andrews, Monaghan Collegiate, and of course St. Columba’s. We then went to lunch where we all got talking. After lunch, we went to the meeting room and were introduced to our mentors Gail and Yasser and they explained to us what Glencree is all about.

Glencree Reconciliation Centre is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to peace building and discussing violence in various areas such as the North and South of Ireland. It was established in 1974. Our mentors explained their main purpose was to strengthen peace between communities and involve more people in the reconciliation process.

We played games to get to know one another. There was an activity called ‘Secret Friend’ where you would get someone’s name and not reveal it to anyone and write little messages to that person and then at the end of the programme reveal yourself. This helped to get to know one another.

There was also a serious side to this, how we spoke about conflict, how it can start and possible solutions, people who are powerful/powerless and what we thought made a good leader. This was a life changing programme in which I learnt a lot about many other people’s opinions. Also I got a chance to give my opinion on topics such as the legal age to vote by doing a debate. Also our mentor Yasser was from Gaza in Palestine and he shared his many experiences of the conflict between his homeland and Israel.

There were other activities too, such as: Cushions, where three teams all wanted the same cushions, this activity was to show the different ways of approaching potential conflict situations. We used violence to get the cushions when there were other ways such as co-operation, sharing the cushions between the teams. This all required communication skills. We also did a rap in three teams where we picked a scenario where someone had been treated unfairly. The group I was in chose the scenario of a boy on our team who once found a trolley in a bush and then the Gardaí arrived and even though he wasn’t involved in it he was forced to walk two miles to bring it back to where it belonged. I enjoyed these activities very much!

There were evening activities after dinner. The first evening we watched the movie “Juno”. On the last evening we watched a documentary about the conflict between Gaza and Israel and the seriousness of this violence. This was a shocking documentary which taught us about a life of violence and conflict and made me appreciate what I have. Also that evening we had a table quiz with questions on music, movies and bizarre rules in foreign countries… did you know that in Switzerland it’s illegal to flush your toilet after 10pm!

It was a great experience to get to know other people and learn different things about the world today. I’m happy I got the chance to go!