Jill Gurr

As youth grow older in this community, they’re less willing to visit the Forthspring center. They prefer to stay on the streets, hanging out at the park or on street corners with friends. The Detachment Youth Program is a unit of Forthspring staff who slowly walk around the streets most nights, in hopes of coming across youth and engaging them in conversation. The purpose is to build trust and serve as a friend by getting kids to open up on their own turf.

The night that I went out with the Detachment Unit was freezing as usual. The locals are used to cold weather and often go out with T-shirts or light jackets. I managed to stay warm with my heavy coat, hat and gloves, which also made me stand out. I walked up and down the streets with Deidre, who was in charge of the Detachment Youth Program, and Becky, an American intern. We occasionally passed by some kids who would wave or stop briefly for a chat. Several girls, ages 5-8, ran up to different houses and knocked on the doors, only to quickly run away as a prank.

We saw a bunch of kids of different ages at Woodvale Park. They were playing on the swings and had a great contraption where one could jump off a ramp and hang on a hook that twirled down a cable. The boys playing on it were around 15-18 years old. They were very interested that I was from America and wanted to know what I thought about Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. I told them that I thought the music industry had created this “East Coast vs. West Coast” war in order to sell more records. This got the kids talking about the whole situation and I quickly related it to their own religious war. It gave them some food for thought.

We walked around the Shankill Road district. During the Troubles, the Shankill residents were subjected to bombings and shootings by Irish republican paramilitary forces, the most notable of which was the Shankill Road bombing. Murals in the neighborhood depict their history and deep-rooted loyalty to Ulster.

At the same time, there’s graffiti tagging all over with acronyms inciting people to kill their enemies.

In the Shankill Road area, there are signs like “KAT,” which means Kill All Taigs (Catholics). 

In the Catholic area around Springfield Road, the tagging says “Kill All Huns” (Protestants).

While the Detachment Unit was strolling around Shankill Road, we came across one of the teens who visits Forthspring’s center. He was rushing home to listen to the Biggie CD that he just bought. The youth speculated that Tupac wasn’t really dead, but instead had faked his death to escape from Notorious B.I.G. It was obvious that this boy, as well as other youth in that neighborhood, had a lot of strong feelings about the East Coast vs. West Coast battle.

With all of the hatred that the Protestants and Catholics feel for each other, it’s disappointing to not be able to get them in the same room. How can one break down these walls and start the dialogue to heal their rift if they won’t come together. One way might be to use the kids’ interest in the rap music war. I suggested to the staff at Forthspring that they could invite a local rapper to perform and to also hold a discussion about the rap war. This would bring youth from both neighborhoods together and would be the perfect opening for the Forthspring staff to get the kids to relate the rap war to their own ongoing battle.

We walked for two hours around the Woodvale and Shankill Road communities, and then strolled around the Catholic neighborhood. It was exhausting, but also very educational. I was surprised to see kids as young as 8 or 9 years old running around the streets by themselves after 9:00 PM, with no adult supervision. I’d heard that it was common for some parents in poor communities to give their kids money to fend for themselves while they drank at the pubs all night. Unfortunately, child neglect is global.

Every night, whether the staff worked inside the center or out on the streets, they gathered at 9:00 or 9:30 PM to write a detailed evaluation about every youth they’d talked with or passed by and exactly what had happened. Conversations were noted and information exchanged that might indicate progress. While certain info seemed minor, I could see how the small things could grow larger and seeds that were planted might grow fruitful with time.