Adventure
Hiking, rafting, camping and the canyons. For most of them it is the first mountain they have stood on.
Omagh, Northern Ireland to Salt Lake City
Host a teenager from Northern Ireland this summer.
Since 1985, ten teenagers from Omagh have spent four weeks each summer with a Utah host family. More than 750 have been through it. What begins as a month-long visit often becomes a lifelong connection.
- Catholic and Protestant, together
- Omagh, County Tyrone
- Host teens aged 14 to 16
- Late June into July
- Two counselors, every summer
- 40 summers in Utah
- A registered 501(c)(3)
- No cost to host families
About the project
Creating unity, amidst diversity.
Teenagers in Omagh often grow up attending different schools, worshipping in different churches, and spending much of their time within their own communities. While daily life increasingly brings people together, many young people still have limited opportunities to build meaningful friendships across community lines.
Each summer, ten of them travel to Utah. For four weeks they live with host families, share daily experiences, and discover how much they have in common. They return home not only with memories, but with friendships that can bridge longstanding divides.
More about the project →
Our mission
To promote reconciliation between Northern Irish Catholics and Protestants by fostering tolerance, understanding, and friendship among future leaders.
-
To promote a spirit of community and commitment among our Ulster Project participants.
-
To educate and encourage our Northern Irish and American teens and families to appreciate their roles as peace makers and mediators, and to understand the purposes of the Ulster Project.
The Ulster Project of Utah, since 1985
Inside the month
New activities, each week.
Service
Food banks, garden work and clean ups. Shared work does something that shared conversation cannot.
Faith
They attend both Protestant and Catholic services together, often for the first time in their lives.
Discussion
Facilitated sessions where the hard subjects get said out loud, with someone in the room to hold it steady.
Photos and videos
See a summer from the inside.
The project's own film, and a few frames from recent Julys.
Take part
Three ways to get involved.
Host a family
Open your home for four weeks. You gain a second teenager, and your own will not see the world quite the same way again. You provide a bed, meals and the driving. Everything the group does together is paid for by the project.
Be a counselor
Four counselors, two from Utah and two from Northern Ireland, along with a Program Director, work together to guide the month. Together, you lead daily activities, facilitate discussion sessions, and create the trust and support that make the deeper conversations in week three possible.
Give
Donations make every part of this experience possible, covering activities, transportation, and program expenses throughout the month. Because of that support, no teenager is ever excluded because of financial circumstances, and every family has the opportunity to participate regardless of income.
Why Omagh
The town knows what division costs.
In August 1998 a car bomb killed twenty nine people in the centre of Omagh. The teenagers who fly to Utah now were born long afterwards, inheriting the peace their parents negotiated and the separations nobody has undone.
Read the full story
Applications for next summer
We need families before we need anything else.
Ten teenagers are being selected in Omagh right now. Every one of them needs a host family in Utah.
Questions? Email info.uputah@gmail.com. Host teens must be 14 to 16. Teens arrive late June. Confirm this year's dates before you apply.
Stay in contact
Not ready to host? Stay close anyway.
Leave your details and we will keep you posted on host applications, events and news from the project, whether you want to host one day, volunteer, or simply follow along.
Thank you.
We have your details and will be in touch.