#changeinourlifetime
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June 1, 2023
“The future of this place needs to take young people’s voices into the conversation so we can create a new legacy”. Blue Andrews
On 25 May 2023 Blue Andrews, enthralled audiences at the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement 25th Anniversary Civic Reception, hosted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris MP and attended by Micheál Martin Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence.
A participant on Springboard’s’ ‘Our Lives, Our Legacy programme’, Blue shared the experiences of young people living in communities impacted by the legacy of the conflict, “My experience so far has been a world of prejudice and one where mistrust runs deep,… where peace is fragile and where the echoes of violence still lingers. The walls around us are not just physical but mental and emotional too”.
He went on to say, “It was only through having the opportunity to join an organisation like Springboard and being exposed to people from different communities, as well as a safe space to talk about these things that I am now more understanding and recognise the impact of growing up in a post conflict society”.
Through the Our Lives, Our Legacy project, funded by Spirit of 2012, Moments to Connect Fund, Blue and his peers will take the lead in exploring the legacy of the conflict through their ‘lived experience. At an event during Good Relations Week in September 2023 they will express and showcase their hopes and aspirations of young people for the next 25 years.
After the event Chris Heaton-Harris recognised the invaluable support of the community, tweeting, “As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, it was a privilege to meet community workers, charities & young people from across NI working towards community reconciliation”.