SPIRIT OF GOODWILL ON TRIP OF A LIFETIME
Spirit of goodwill on trip of lifetime
ELEVEN young people from Omagh town are preparing to go on an 18-day trip abroad as part of The Spirit of Enniskillen Trust to explore cultural differences in America.
It is the first time young people from the same town have been chosen to go on a Spirit of Enniskillen project and the group met at the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast yesterday for the last time before they depart for Penobscot, Maine, on July 18.
The Trust started in recognition of the remarkable spirit of goodwill that followed the 1987 Enniskillen bomb on Remembrance Sunday.
Christine Nesbitt, one of the Coordinators of the Omagh Project and Omagh Community Relations Officer, said the young people would learn about different cultures on the trip.
They will learn how other communities cope with diversity and adversity and will attend a number of workshops, programmes and spend some time with an American host family," she said.
"Many of the young people on the trip are youth leaders and we hope that everyone going on the programme will return with knowledge and experiences that they can put back into the community.
"It is an anxious time as we prepare for the anniversary of Omagh in a few months. It is very difficult to know even what we can do for the anniversary.
"There has been and still is so much trauma and grief. There are still reminders, even in the last few days, Omagh has been in the news over people arrested for the bomb."
Through the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust many hundreds of young people have travelled abroad to share experiences with young people from Cyprus, Israel, Germany, the USA, and other countries dealing with division.
Organisers hope participants will return with an increased sense of confidence in their own identity and a greater sensitivity to the hopes and fears of the other community.
ELEVEN young people from Omagh town are preparing to go on an 18-day trip abroad as part of The Spirit of Enniskillen Trust to explore cultural differences in America.
It is the first time young people from the same town have been chosen to go on a Spirit of Enniskillen project and the group met at the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast yesterday for the last time before they depart for Penobscot, Maine, on July 18.
The Trust started in recognition of the remarkable spirit of goodwill that followed the 1987 Enniskillen bomb on Remembrance Sunday.
Christine Nesbitt, one of the Coordinators of the Omagh Project and Omagh Community Relations Officer, said the young people would learn about different cultures on the trip.
They will learn how other communities cope with diversity and adversity and will attend a number of workshops, programmes and spend some time with an American host family," she said.
"Many of the young people on the trip are youth leaders and we hope that everyone going on the programme will return with knowledge and experiences that they can put back into the community.
"It is an anxious time as we prepare for the anniversary of Omagh in a few months. It is very difficult to know even what we can do for the anniversary.
"There has been and still is so much trauma and grief. There are still reminders, even in the last few days, Omagh has been in the news over people arrested for the bomb."
Through the Spirit of Enniskillen Trust many hundreds of young people have travelled abroad to share experiences with young people from Cyprus, Israel, Germany, the USA, and other countries dealing with division.
Organisers hope participants will return with an increased sense of confidence in their own identity and a greater sensitivity to the hopes and fears of the other community.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/218
Published Date: 23-Jun-99
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