On the steps of Áras an Uachtaráin, in a burst of unexpected sunshine, we sang happy birthday to Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins and to Mark.
The President was 77, short of a few days, and Mark was 17 the following day.
They were not only separated by sixty years of life but also separated by a series of circumstances, which affected their lives differently. One telling difference: the President was born in Limerick, Mark was born on the Shankill – Shankill Belfast, that is, not Dublin.
It was this difference that brought them together in the President’s ceremonial home where Mark spoke about his young life and the President and his wife Sabina treated Mark and his friends as if they were foreign accredited visiting dignitaries.
They rolled out the ‘red carpet’, with the accompanying pomp and ceremony, for the sixty-odd visitors from Belfast, members of Active Communities Network (ACN), who came down to tell the President and Sabina about their lives – lives challenged at the point of ‘coming of age’ in areas of high deprivation; where hope was in short supply and education available but not pursued and life itself balanced on an emotional knife-edge and sometimes lost in despair through suicide.
It was a story I am sure Michael D has heard before but he and Sabina reacted to it as if they had heard it for the first time as they enthusiastically embraced the teenagers from across nationalist and unionist Belfast.
In the splendid, grand and ornate décor of Aras an Uachtaraín Megan, Mark and Dean took centre stage with the President.
Their stories were shocking but their resilience was remarkable.
They provoked an emotional response from the President, who praised them for their personal ambition and aspirations and weaved their stories into his own ‘coming of age’ experience.
The subtext of his message to the young people was that if he could make it to Áras an Uachtaráin so could they – a metaphor if you like, that no matter the circumstances of one’s life it can be improved when help meets desire and ambition.
And help was at hand to make the trip possible through the good offices of Seanadóir Niall Ó Donnghaile, who I work for and who contacted the President’s office when he learnt about the Belfast-based ACN winning the prestigious Laureus ‘Sport for Good Award’ at an event in Monaco dubbed the ‘Oscars of the Sporting World’. He accompanied the visitors on their special day with the President and Sabina.
The speed of the reply and the event last week clearly shows that the President understood the significance of the work of the ACN with young people.
In May 2000, Nelson Mandela was at the setting up of the Laureus Awards. Of it he said, “Sport has the power to change the world”.
And a former republican prisoner from Belfast’s Ballymurphy, Jim Donnelly, who led the group to meet the President has his sights firmly set internationally as the director of programmes for ACN.
ACN has active organisations in London, Beirut, Tripoli, Capetown, Karachi, Palestine Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and India. It is organised across the North and in Mayo.
Jim’s job, from his base in Belfast, is to ensure that ACN’s development mission is fulfilled, in Ireland and internationally.
Its mission is distinctively different from all other sporting organisations in that the ACN use sport to personally develop those involved; “It’s youth work, sport and education all rolled into one”, Jim said.
ACN is involved in developing through sport, resilience, stability and cohesion within young people to help them live better and more fulfilled lives which in turn benefits the communities they live in.
Its work has been supported by world-famous sporting legends like the All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick, who attended the President’s event; former Ireland rugby players, Brian O’Driscoll and Tommy Bowe and soccer player Rio Ferdinand.
Being connected to oneself, to family and community are important anchors in life – life is complex, no matter what age we are, and the more help we get along the way the easier it is especially when we are young and vulnerable.
The President and Sabina have enriched the lives of the young people they opened their doors and hearts to last week.
A moment in their lives will be remembered for a lifetime by the young people they embraced.
