The World Cup started this week as host Brazil took Croatia. We headed to city centre to watch the game on an outdoor screen by city hall. Of course, this being part of the UK, the buzz has been around England and their chances this tournament. Belfast, divided over patriotic loyalties to the UK and Ireland, is equally divided on support for the English. Earlier in the week Steve and I had watched an England friendly at Robinson’s bar, where we met a group of pro-England supporters optimistic on the squad’s chances. On the other hand, catholic nationalists are rooting for English failure. Some of us went to watch Friday night’s games at the Rock Bar own the predominantly Catholic, nationalist Falls Road. It’s actually owned by a former footballer Martin O’Neill. This pub listed its rooting interest at Brazil, Argentina, and anyone but England. With England’s loss to Italy Saturday night, it’ll be interesting to watch the reactions in the community.
I’ve been working for the last four weeks with Save the Children UK’s branch in Northern Ireland. They run a variety of program aimed at alleviating child poverty and ensuring the UN Rights of Children are being met in the country. Unlike some of the other service partners, STC is a large, multinational charity that sometimes seems to run like a company. Regardless, everyone is still extremely friendly and involved in the local community, especially with primary schools. I’ve helped them with research work for preliminary planning for some new programmes and helped managed some of the incoming data. This week I met with the policy director to learn about the Born to Read campaign they will be running across the UK; I will soon be helping with Northern Ireland research to help implement the program here.
Over the weekend, I was fortunate enough to accompany my community partner, Fergus Cooper, to a hurling match in Thurlas. Thurlas, a small city in the Republic of Ireland, was hosting a Gaelic Athletic Association semi-final matchup between the counties of Clare (An Clare) and Cork (Corcaigh). I was surprised to learn that GAA athletes are not paid; they volunteer to represent their counties and effectively sacrifice their free time for practice and matches. Regardless, the skill of hurling players was incredible to watch. It’s a game completely unlike anything I’d ever seen in the US; it like a strange blend of soccer, lacrosse, and basketball. By halftime I’d become a bit of a Cork Rebels fan, who went on to win the match to advance to the next round of the Munster championships. I’ll be rooting for them against Limerick in the finals.
Archit Verma Pratt ‘16
I’ve been working for the last four weeks with Save the Children UK’s branch in Northern Ireland. They run a variety of program aimed at alleviating child poverty and ensuring the UN Rights of Children are being met in the country. Unlike some of the other service partners, STC is a large, multinational charity that sometimes seems to run like a company. Regardless, everyone is still extremely friendly and involved in the local community, especially with primary schools. I’ve helped them with research work for preliminary planning for some new programmes and helped managed some of the incoming data. This week I met with the policy director to learn about the Born to Read campaign they will be running across the UK; I will soon be helping with Northern Ireland research to help implement the program here.
Over the weekend, I was fortunate enough to accompany my community partner, Fergus Cooper, to a hurling match in Thurlas. Thurlas, a small city in the Republic of Ireland, was hosting a Gaelic Athletic Association semi-final matchup between the counties of Clare (An Clare) and Cork (Corcaigh). I was surprised to learn that GAA athletes are not paid; they volunteer to represent their counties and effectively sacrifice their free time for practice and matches. Regardless, the skill of hurling players was incredible to watch. It’s a game completely unlike anything I’d ever seen in the US; it like a strange blend of soccer, lacrosse, and basketball. By halftime I’d become a bit of a Cork Rebels fan, who went on to win the match to advance to the next round of the Munster championships. I’ll be rooting for them against Limerick in the finals.
Archit Verma Pratt ‘16