Creating Friendships For Peace Celebrates Legacy Of Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland, Current Work In Cyprus And Israel

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)

1994 Northern Irish teens visit the White House

WASHINGTON, DC , USA, September 11, 2023/EINPresswire/ -- Creating Friendships for Peace (CFP), a grassroots all-volunteer peacebuilding organization focused on teens living in divided societies, is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Northern Ireland Good Friday peace agreement - as well as its own legacy in that initiative - by sponsoring an alumni event in Belfast, NI on October 7.

From 1987-2007, the forerunner of CFP called Children's Friendship Project for Northern Ireland (CFPNI) ran a program matching over 2,000 Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant teenagers and bringing them to the United States and Canada for a six-week home stay with American families in 35 states. By 2007 the organization concluded that communication and exchange between the two sides had increased to a level that the initiative was no longer needed.

To mark this incredible legacy of peacebuilding, CFP is attempting to reach as many of its Irish alumni from the program to invite them to the reception, to be held at Ulster University in Belfast, and potentially to connect them to a larger alumni organization CFP is creating of teens from its currently operating programs in Cypand Israel.

“The project was founded on the simple idea that the divisions in Northern Ireland could be overcome by building understanding, trust, and friendships between the teenagers who would become the future leaders in their communities,” said Betsy Small, former host parent and now executive director.“These friendships would be supported by Americans who would host a cross-community pair of teens and who would continue to support their friendships during the rest of their lives.”

Continuing to build bridges in divided communities

The CFPNI vision lives on in today's CFP programs. Volunteers from the original program reorganized themselves as Creating Friendships for Peace, and having concentrated on Northern Ireland for 21 years, turned their sights toward working with the divided Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking communities of Cyprus. During this two-year program the teens spend part of the summer of the first year together in a camp, confronting their history and learning about each other. During the second summer the teens travel to the U.S. for their homestay with their matched teen. In 2018 CFP initiated a similar program to bring Israeli Jews and Palestinians of Israeli citizenship closer together, bringing them to the U.S. for month-long homestays in California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas and Washington state.

CFP is a politically neutral, grassroots, people-to-people organization. The committed volunteers both in the U.S. and in Cypand Israel, work with the teens and their families to dispel stereotypes and rediscover their shared humanity. Working at the individual and family level, the program helps prepare communities for peace by encouraging mutual respect through friendship.

“When two teenagers from opposite cultures and religibackgrounds meet for the first time in a safe environment, what is the first question they ask? It's not about faith or politics.” said Small,“It's about what they have in common-music, movies and videos, fashion, their families, the larger world. We provide a safe environment where they can learn about each other and create lasting friendships that will help to build peace in their communities as they grow and become future leaders of those communities.”

Learn more at

If you or someone you know participated in the CFPNI project between 1987 and 2007, please contact CFP to learn more and to provide your contact information. Visit or contact Meibh McKinney at .

Jonathan Berger
Creating Friendships for Peace, Inc.
+1 (910) 599-1242
emailhere

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