Northern Ireland 30th Anniversary

What is known as "the troubles" in Northern Ireland began in the late 1960's but is rooted in events from the 1920's and in the centuries earlier settlement by English and Scottish people in parts of Ireland. Often regarded as a "religious war," the communal divisions also run along political, economic, social and territorial lines.

In the past thirty years, over one hundred Brethren Volunteer Service workers have served in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. As Dale Ott writes, the Church of the Brethren was invited by a Methodist pastor to send a youth worker to a community center in the Shankill area of Belfast. Since then BVSers have worked in Catholic areas, in Protestant areas, with cross-community schemes, with infants, young people, mothers and toddlers, with people with disabilities, with pensioners, in church offices, with women's groups, in multi-cultural centers, with peace groups, on farms, with ex-prisoners and their families, with ex-paramilitants, clergy and laypeople, victims, perpetrators, and peacemakers. They have not gone to Northern Ireland or Ireland to solve the conflicts but they have been invited to come and accompany some of the groups and individuals who were/are trying to seek ways that "make for peace."

BVSers have not brought great change to Ireland/Northern Ireland; rather, they have taken part in small, ordinary ways in the powerful force of life that has not been extinguished by the pain and confusion of ongoing conflict. In Northern Ireland, where the past four years have brought a tentative peace and the growing awareness that peace cannot last without justice, BVSers are now, more than ever, a rare gift. They bring their desire to learn, their belief in the future, their willingness to live lightly, and the history of a church that doesn't shy away from conflict in order to avoid war.

Here are some perspectives and memories from Dale and some of the BVSers throughout these thirty years. Shorter versions of six of these stories can be found in the June edition of the Church of the Brethren's Messenger magazine.

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List of projects and volunteers who worked with them
Photos of current and past BVSers who served in Northern Ireland
Letter sent to those who served in Northern Ireland
Stories from people who served
Dale Ott (Director of BVS office in Geneva, Switzerland, 1966-87)	Ken Smith (Agnes Street Community Centre, Belfast Northern Ireland, 1972-74)
Ruby Stickel Irish Council of Churches & New Ulster Political Research Group (NUPRG), Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1974-76 & 1979-81	John Jones (Ligoniel Youth Club, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1975-77)
Peg Gibble (Family Center & Irish Council of Churches & Corrymeela, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1983-85)	Amy Coursen (Conflict Mediation Network, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1990-91)
Dave Meredith (Kilcranny House, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, 1992-94)	Mysti Roberts (Peace and Reconciliation Group, Londonderry/Derry, 1997-98)
Janice Gibbel (L'Arche Kilkenny Community, Republic of Ireland, 1998-2001)