Ulster Project

 Each summer, we bring twelve youngsters from the Greater Belfast area for a month-long
stay in the Massillon/Canton community. Equally divided between Catholics and Protestants,
our Irish guests are all about 15 years old. We match them up with local host teens of the
same gender and religious faith. Our hosts share their homes and hearts with their new-found
friends from across the sea. Together, they work, play, and learn how to make a more peaceful
world.

 Our Project Committee, made up of local volunteers, has prepared a full schedule of social,
spiritual, and service activities designed to build a community of young people dedicated to
changing the world. Every day brings something exciting and new. Tuesday might find them
helping to build a home for a disadvantaged family. Wednesday may be spent at an amusement
park. Later on in the week they might enjoy a swim party, drive-in movie, or a hike through the
Wilderness Center. We do more in July than most kids do all summer!

  Fun? We've got it! But this is more than just a good time. This is a party with a purpose.
We're working to break down the walls that seperate people. Once a week, our Spiritual
Directors lead the teens in what we call "UP-Time", a special day of sharing and reflection
that lends itself to a deeper insight. "Up-Time" is spent exploring issues that are directly
related to the troubles in Northern Ireland, such as tolerance, acceptance of others who
are different, and caring about the world in which we live. A weekly service project gives
our teens the opportunity to reach out and help people in our local community. In the
Ulster Project, we bring the world to our youth.

 The spiritual side of life is embraced within the Project. Our teens attend church services
together each Sunday. One week will find them at a Protestant church, the next at a Catholic
Mass. For our Northern Irish guests, this very well may be the first time in their lives that they
have set foot in a house of worship belonging to Christians from the other side of their conflict.
They get the chance to learn how much they have in common with their Catholic or Protestant
neighbors back home.  And our own American youth learn a deeper appreciation for the values
of tolerance that make their country a beacon of freedom and justice for the rest of the world.

   The Ulster Project is all about friendship. From the very beginning of the Project month,
our teens begin to forge bonds that will last a lifetime. Teenagers are notorious for having
trouble getting out of bed in the morning, but this doesn't seem to be a problem for Project
teens. They can't wait to meet up with their new friends each day. All of our planned activities
are meant to encourage them to become closer as the month progresses, and they do. But we
find that just "hanging out", talking, or playing a game seems to strengthen friendships as much
as our scheduled activities do. So we also make sure to allow some unstructured time for fun
and fellowship. Perhaps the hardest part of the Project is getting our teens to say "goodbye" to
each other at the end of the day!

   Learning about a different culture is one of the most interesting aspects of participation in
the Ulster Project. Irish and American teens are alike in many ways, but they're also different.
Although we share the same language, Project teens quickly learn a whole new set of words
and phrases just by talking with their counterparts from across the "big pond". They also
learn a different lifestyle, cuisine, and philosophy of living.

  Friendships that are made in the Ulster Project continue beyond the Project month. Long
after the boys and girls of summer have flown back to Northern Ireland, our teens keep in touch
with each other through the mail, phone calls, and the magic of instant messaging. Many of our
local Project alumni have traveled to Northern Ireland to visit their old friends and re-live happy
memories of good times shared in the Massillon/Canton Ulster Project. It's truly amazing what
one summer month will do. We turn strangers into friends. Give us your summer and we'll give
you an experience you'll never forget.


For more info email the webmaster: dcirelli@neo.rr.com