Holocaust Study Visit: Introduction to the blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog covering Bann Maine West Community Cluster's Holocaust Study Visit. I'm Lenny I was fortunate enough to get to volunteer with Bann Maine West in The Hub Gift Shop over the summer so if you popped down in you have probably seen me about! I am very excited to be going on this trip. Thank you to Triangle Housing for funding the trip and to Bann Maine West for facilitating it. Additionally, I am very grateful for the opportunity to document the visit here on Bann Maine West's website through the blog!

But first a little about why and how 20 people from all walks of life ended up on a trip to Poland.

This Conflict Awareness & Transformation Project and trip to Poland is funded by Triangle Housing Association from its Housing for All, Good Relations budget.

Triangle Housing Association is a local, registered Housing Association with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. Triangle is a not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity.

Triangle provide supported accommodation, general family housing and specialised care and support services and supported employment programmes for tenants across Northern Ireland.  Triangle is a progressive service provider, promoting social inclusion through a range of strategic partnerships.

Triangle’s values of Choice, Inclusion, Respect and Togetherness match perfectly with the aims of their local ‘Housing for All’ programme. This is also about delivering quality housing that offers Triangle’s tenants the opportunity for the first time to choose to live alongside people from different cultural and religious backgrounds to their own; to do so with respect and dignity of their differences; for neighbours to include each other in their different cultures and experiences to promote learning; and to better empower communities through integrated living that supports their neighbour and makes a difference about how we live in Northern Ireland in the 21st Century. Ultimately, the Housing for All Programme aims to shape new community pathways for future generations.

This Holocaust Study Visit reflects the aims of the Shared Housing programme and local Good Relations Plans by enabling people of all ages and backgrounds to explore conflict and opportunities for transforming communities and mindsets.

I am really looking forward to going on this trip and feel it will be something that will not only be enjoyable but very educational and can't wait to meet the amazing people at this pre-visit workshop!

Lastly, thank you to triangle housing for the funding and to Bann Maine West for facilitating this trip!

Lenny.