American couple who opened their doors and their hearts share an emotional reunion with Troubles children
children growing up in Troubles-torn Northern Ireland, it was undoubtedly the trip of a lifetime.
Thousands of young Catholics and Protestants will surely never forget the time they were whisked across the Atlantic to the United States, where they were hosted by American families as part of an initiative aimed at opening the visitors’ eyes to a different world.
Now, decades later, one of the kindly US couples who took part in the Project Children Program have gone in the opposite direction for a poignant reunion with 14 local children they opened the doors of their New Jersey home to for six-week summer breaks between 1985 and 1994.
Jim and Peg O’Donnell’s guests were between eight and 11 years old back then, but are now in their late 30s and early 40s with families of their own — and living in more peaceful times.
Through tears, Peg (72) said the reunions meant the world to her and 74-year-old Jim, whose children Paddy (43), Brian (41) and Christine (40) were 11, nine and seven when they became involved in the programme.
“We became involved because we wanted to keep Northern Irish children off the streets so they wouldn’t get hurt,” she said.
“We wanted them to see what peace was like. That was the whole idea.”
Two of those wide-eyed visitors — Paul McCafferty and Joanne McAllister, now aged 43 and 39 respectively — described the trip as “invaluable” and said they wished it was something their children could also experience.
Speaking in the foyer of a Co Antrim hotel the O’Donnells were staying in, taxi driver Paul, who was 11 at the time, recalled “getting the golden ticket” when he was told he had been chosen.
“It was all doom and gloom at home so going to America showed me there was something else out there,” he said. “It was fantastic to experience other cultures. Previously, I’d spent a lot of time at Clonard throwing stones for reasons I didn’t understand.”
Paul, from the Falls area of Belfast, who has four children — Paul (21), Megan (18), Chloe (nine) and Caoimhe (seven) — with partner Moya Sloan (43), said he remembers the digital display on the radio.
“I thought it was a clock so I initially couldn’t understand how strange time was recorded in America!” he said.
Nine months ago, the O’Donnells, who had always wondered what had happened to their Northern Irish visitors, decided to find them by searching on social media and the internet.
And now they are executing their carefully organised plan to meet up with each of them
❝ It was all doom and gloom at home so going to America showed me there was something else
individually — after a 24 to 33 year hiatus — during their 10day trip here.
Bookkeeper Joanne, from the Ardoyne, who has three children — Deaglan (13), Darrach (nine) and Faelan (five) with her partner Michael McGuckian (41) — said the experience changed her outlook on life.
“When you mix with people from both sides of the community you realise that everybody is just the same,” she said.
Jim O’Donnell explained: “This all came about because of the efforts of (Cork-born, New York-based brothers) Denis and Pat Mulcahy who started the Project Children Program in 1975. We became involved in 1985, first as host families and then as co-ordinators.”
The O’Donnells are also taking advantage of the reunions to give back letters they were sent by the children upon their return to Northern Ireland.
“We have been keeping them all safe in a folder, but we wantFOR ed to read them out and return them to each of the kids now that we have the chance to see them face to face,” Jim added.
In 40 years, between 1975 and 2015, over 22,000 children participated in Project Children and flew from Belfast to New York for a summer away from the Troubles.
As of the beginning of 1996, children from Belfast, Armagh, Strabane, Enniskillen and Londonderry could be counted among its alumni.
Project Children worked with teachers, clergy and social workers in Northern Ireland to identify youngsters in the 10 to 14 age group who would benefit most.
In the States, over 4,000 American host families, including Jim and Peg O’Donnell, opened their homes to visitors from Northern Ireland, spanning more than 60 communities in 20 states.
Its overriding goal was to give children from neighbourhoods where the Troubles had taken an especially heavy toll a summer they would always remember. It clearly worked.