The Diamond or center of town in Derry/Londonderry.
The new blankets of lights.
I have never been outside of the
United States during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays until now.It was a wonderful experience to walk the
streets of Derry/Londonderry on the first night we arrived and see evidence of
the holidays all around us.The lights
on the streets where very lovely "blankets of lights" that covered the four
streets that feed off of each side of the Diamond- the center square of
town.There were Christmas trees and nativities
in the shops and Christmas wreaths on many of the memorials around the
town.
Christmas tree in the shopping center.
Come to find out, the “blankets” of
lights were new this year. They also had the older style of lights hanging
around the town, but the new lights had been positively embraced by the
community.There were articles in
the paper about the lights and when we went to the BBC Foyle Radio Station, we
were told that a group of citizens were asking the City Council to keep the
lights up the whole year for “the City of Culture” events that would be occurring
throughout 2013.I haven’t been able to
find out if a decision was made on this proposal, but I think it is a wonderful
idea.It was a great example of the
community rallying around something positive and uplifting.
The Tower Hotel - Home away from home.
Christmas light on the streets of Dublin.
Wreaths at the World War memorial.
A star and nativity at St. Columb's Cathedral.
The holidays tend to soften people’s
hearts and the New Year is a time to formulate decisions about the changes we want
to make in our lives and the world - for the better.I am grateful I got to be in this special
place to witness a tradition celebrated worldwide.The time of peace on earth and good will
toward all men.In Derry/Londonderry it
seems they are seeking to live in peace not just at Christmas, but every day.
By Teresa Notarmaso Jean
Hegerty grew up in the Pennyburn neighborhood of Derry. As a child of the 50’s
and 60’s, she lived in an integrated neighborhood of Catholics and Protestants,
with four siblings.The first inkling,
she says, of any discrimination of Catholics was when she went on her first job
interview.Because one could not tell by
her name (Elizabeth Jean) or the street she lived (Phillips Street), the
interviewer asked her where she went to school. When Jean told the interviewer,
“St. Patrick’s Primary School”, the interviewer ended the interview, saying
that he did not hire Catholics.Jean was
not outraged or horrified by this. She went on to get another job.
In
1965, she left Northern Ireland for Canada with her husband, where she worked
for the next few years. Then on one night in 1972, Jean received word that her
brother, Kevin McElhinney, had been shot and killed in the Bloody Sunday civil
rights demonstration in Derry. She returned for the funeral, and while on the
plane ride back, her thoughts initially were of finding and killing the soldier
who killed her brother.
Upon
return to Canada, Jean remained there but was still wondering more about why
her brother was killed, and who had done such a thing. Meanwhile, the first
inquiry (Widgery Inquiry) took place, and the results in 1972 maligned the
victims of the Bloody Sunday incident, saying that those shot were guilty of
terrorism (and worse).
Recently,
I asked Jean moving forward, whether the peace negotiated in the Good Friday
Agreement in 1998 would stand, and what would it take to have complete
reconciliation.Jean’s response:
“Integrated schools, beginning with the education of our youngest
children.Jobs and a good standard of
living for all.And the ability to have
a good education, which enlightens and provides the road to compassion.”True words.
In 1972, ten-year old Richard Moore, was on his
way home from Rosemont Primary School in Derry/Londonderry when he was shot in the eye with
a plastic bullet. He has been blind since that time.
In an instant Richard's world turned to darkness.
Richard’s story is about forgiveness and
compassion.
Richard in his office on St. Joseph's Avenue in Derry/Londonderry.
“I am a victim of the troubles and there is nothing I can do about
that but I refuse to be a victim of anger and I do have control over that.”
Richard sees with his heart and focuses on his abilities.
He questions why anyone would want to be
angry and live anger.
He believes that forgiveness is a gift for
yourself: it’s not for the other person. Forgiveness doesn’t change the past,
but it can change the future. Forgiveness is not about the perpetrator; instead
it is first and foremost about your ability to let go. When you can do that
anything is possible.
Six years ago Richard met the soldier (Charles)
who shot him. He rehearsed what he would say at that meeting because he wanted Charles
to know he has no animosity towards him and that he forgives him.
Dialogue is a bridge and an opportunity to come together. The statue 'Hands Across the Divide' in Derry/Londonderry.
For Richard, forgiveness was easy, but he knows
it isn’t easy for everyone. Clearly victims never want to be victims but it
doesn’t mean they don’t have the capacity to forgive.
Richard is not saying that by forgiving others
you say that what they did was okay. Forgiveness isn’t about justice.
Richard hopes his story is an example of how
forgiveness can have an impact on the future. He explained that emotions and
feelings are like cells within the mind and each of us holds the key.
“If my
ability to forgive is held by the soldier then he has the key. Sorry is a type of key. If I am
unwilling to forgive Charles unless he says sorry, then I have given Charles
the key. In my mind, I shouldn’t give Charles the key.”
According to Richard, the peace process isn’t only
about what’s happening in Northern Ireland – it’s also about what’s happening internally. He believes we can implement
structures of the peace process such as government policies, environmental
conditions, dialogue, but those structures mean nothing if you’re not at peace
with yourself.
It’s simple. The bottom line is there’s never
going to be peace where there is conflict. People need to talk. People need to
listen. People need to share. And in the end it’s okay to agree to disagree.
It’s
a personal journey and dialogue is the key. Richard wanted
to tell his story about forgiveness and compassion to show that forgiveness is
possible. He will continue to share his story. In 2009 he wrote Can I Give Him My Eyes?
I only learned of his friendship with the Dalai Lama when I read the back cover of his book. In conversation with other members of the community I heard many stories about Richard's special relationship with the Dalai Lama. The stories were clear evidence of Richard's humanity and further proof that he is a living example of truth, forgiveness and compassion.
In 1996 Richard Moore founded the charity Children in Crossfire because he wanted to give something back.
Documentary on Children in Crossfire.
The office of Children in Crossfire at 2 St. Joseph's Avenue Derry/Londonderry
Gerry Lynn's title is "Guide." However, Lynn is so much more than a guide, he is a teacher, historian, philosopher and inspiration. I found Gerry in a chance meeting at the Tower Museum. I shared why our group was in Derry and how we are studying the peace process. He chuckled a bit and asked did you say peace process or peace building? I responded, I suppose both why do you ask? From there, Gerry was gracious enough to share his story.
Gerry explained building peace as creating a field in farming or planting a garden. In his metaphor stopping the violence is the first step in preparing the field. Currently we are in the process of tilling the field which is in essence starting the conversation. The challenge that crops up currently is like rocks. Imagine plowing a field back in the old days and your plow hits a rock. Those rocks slow the process and the have to be removed. If you don't remove the rocks your field isn't going to be as nice as it could be. He sees the rocks as truth.
The truth, if not dealt with, like a rock, tends to resurface causing problems if not properly addressed. He thought the most effective way would be a Truth Commission similar to what South Africa had done. Gerry grew up on the Bogside and remembers the Battle of the Bogside as a 10 year old. I had made the assumption that Gerry was Catholic but when I asked Gerry responded with, "If I was born in a stable would it make me a horse?"He is definitely gifted with the use of vivid imagery. I was interested to know how he viewed David Cameron's Apology for Bloody Sunday, he saw it as a positive step in the right direction. The apology enabled a lot of healing for a lot of people in Derry. Gerry also lost his father during the Troubles. His father was caught in cross fire between the IRA and British soldiers. Gerry still doesn't know which side fired the shot that claimed his Dad. He said he has reached forgiveness but still wonders exactly what happened. I asked why the details are important if he feels as he has forgiven the people involved. He responded with, "The Truth sets you free."
What happens after we remove the rocks, I asked. He said, "Plant the seeds." The seeds are the children and this garden will grow better when the seeds are together. The separation of schools perpetuates issues. He viewed the increased immigration as helping the peace in Derry. The people that relocate here from other countries tend to send their children to the integrated schools. The integrated schools continue to grow and each generation it will improve. With education and exposure to each other prejudices will decrease. Gerry also covered a number of myths in the history most of us have learned, reasoning some history has had better P.R. than others. He told me we're not any smarter than we were we just have the gift of hindsight.
Brigid McElroy is a manager of a Hospice Shop for the terminally ill and she has also been a part of Towards Understanding and Healing for many years. She is from Strabane which is where her story began over 40 years ago. Brigid was part of a large Catholic family that included nine children. Brigids father Seamus was an active IRA member that left his family behind and crossed the boader to avoid arrest. However, he still still spent 1-2 years in prison three different times. He was away from his family for 40 years. During this time Brigid's mother Nora supported herself and the nine children as well as her husband. She did this in a town that had the highest unemployment rate in the industrial world and was once the most bombed town in Europe per size and was the most bombed town in Northern Ireland during the height of the "Troubles".
Brigid's family was considered IRA, which in her words means they were "treated as nobody". She was not actively involved, but she had two sisters that were. She has always kept herself and her family away from getting "actively involved" and she doesn't agree with hurting and killing. She wants to have a united Ireland, but "not at the cost of lives".
Brigid didn't know she had a story until she attended a residential. It was there that she realized what she had been through and that someone wanted to listen. She discovered that through the storytelling workshops people can share their stories and begin to heal. They build relationships as well. Some of her best friends are protestants and ex policemen. This is proof that peace can be built through dialogue.
Today, Seamus is back in Strabane and has been in a nursing home for seven years due to Alzheimers. Nora is in poor health, but her mind is strong. Brigid has managed to keep her own family from getting actively involved and is helping others through The Junction and Towards Understanding and Healing. Her hope is for a united Ireland, but she believes that Irelands future will be "tricky" because "everyone will never be satisfied, someone will always be starting up".
Gerard Deane
grew up near the Catholic neighborhoods of the Bogside and Creggan in Derry,
Northern Ireland. Growing up as the son
of one of only two paid community workers in Derry, Gerard had a different
experience towards understanding peace and reconciliation than most in the area. Eamonn Deane, Gerard’s father, is a teacher
and activist who fought for equal rights for all people in Northern
Ireland. Eamonn was witness to the 1972
Bloody Sunday Massacre, which occurred before Gerard was born in 1973. Gerard
received his degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster,
Magee Campus. He was struck by the
learning experience there in contrast to what he grew up with and knew. The program materials covered the conflict in
Ireland up until 1968 and then stopped at that point in time, despite the wide
breadth of peace and conflict that could be researched in the immediate area
surrounding the University.
During
Gerard’s last year at university, a group of 20 community activists traveled to
Israel to learn about the peace process.
The majority of the group who attended the program in Israel used the
information from that trip to continue to move towards peace and coexistence in
Ireland. Gerard was impressed by that
example. Though he wasn’t able to go to
Israel in that first trip, Gerard was able to participate in organizing the
subsequent 1994 exchange trip for Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews to come to
Ireland. After that, he continued to
build his resume in working with the Journeys of Coexistence Project and the
North-West Community Network.
Gerard Deane in the temporary office home.
His
work in peace and reconciliation sprung Holywell Consultancy. The Consultancy has a different business model
than most other organizations active in community building. Many of the community building and activist
network programs are non-profit and run off of grant funding. Holywell Consultancy, however, is a
for-profit social firm that contracts with various community agencies and their
partners to provide them with program facilitation, policy-making assistance,
and program evaluation. While it is a “for-profit”
business model, Gerard is clear that the profits are, in turn, used to run more
work towards the peace process. By consulting directly with community groups, the Holywell Consultancy helps plant the seeds for others to develop their own capacity for community building.
In working
with the community groups who request the Consultancy’s service, Gerard cannot
imagine success without dialogue being a basis for the process. For example, if an agency employs the
Consultancy to help create some sort of policy that will help in the governance
of a project, it is important that he and his staff listen to those who will be
affected by the policy. For him to come
in and say that a policy that worked for one group in Armagh will also work for
the affected group in Sligo would not be appropriate or ethical to that group.
Gerard
recognized that there are a millions of stories that are part of the history of
this island and that the eyes of the world tend to look back on Ireland as an
example. Though many may feel that they
are on a small isolated island (an island, off of another island, off of a
continent), the diaspora of Irish to other parts of the world puts the eyes of
the world back on the island. So the
work that communities throughout Ireland complete is important to many in the
world.
The Diamond War Memorial
Gerard pointed out that community building
is not related solely to The Troubles.
Some of the border counties, including Donegal and Sligo, do not necessarily have
the same tangible effects from The Troubles that Derry and Belfast have. There, however, are other hurts from history that
communities may be working to reconcile.
County Sligo, which sits 30 miles beyond Northern Ireland’s border with
the Republic, suffered a great human loss in World War I. Sligo never had the chance to reconcile with
both the human and economic tolls caused by approximately 1000 men from Sligo
town and an additional 500 from the countryside marching off to war. Over 400 of the men died in the war, but silence existed
around the long-lasting effects of the loss.
Sligo, therefore, did not have
healing opportunities. Gerard’s group is
consulting with local programs where remembrances around World War I and World
War II lead to understanding about the processes of peace and
reconciliation. Community reconciliation such as those around the
Great World Wars are effective for people in the cross-border counties to understand reconciliation and healing. They also help people in these locations to
prepare for issues of future reconciliation needs, such as those involving
non-traditional Irish, i.e. immigrants from different European countries and other
continents. Where the Irish are historically
used to emigrating, membership in the European Union and a short-lived economic
boom made both Northern Ireland and Ireland open to immigration. Gerard is working to prepare people to
positively deal with intercultural conflict as it arises. Locally, Gerard actively collaborates with members of the DiverCity Community Partnership to transform
the area around the Diamond into a place where people from all identities and
backgrounds can safely meet. He shares vision
for The Diamond: it will be an area that celebrates diversity, be a change from
sectarianism and prejudice, and be a symbol of professional partnerships that
promote working better and stronger together. Part of this vision includes the
new building that the DiverCity Community Partnership will work out of: 10-14 Bishop Street, right off of The Diamond.
This building will provide a shared
space for public discussions, story-telling, and a garden. It will have a youth area in the basement and
office spaces at the top. The offices
will have community partnership entities that serve the various needs of the
community, so that people can easily access different services. The ground floor of the building is
designed to be the place for storytelling and dialogue. There is a large public meeting room in the
front. The back part of the ground floor
will house a story-telling and collection area where two members of a family
can come and record their stories. Each
family member will receive a copy of the recorded story and one will be housed
in the building. Though initial plans for the
building started in 2005, the project has taken some time, as well as a lot of
collaboration and effort, just like the peace process. Currently, a battleship grey-painted plywood wall and structural scaffolding along the facade mark the front of the building site. Many of the community partners, including
Gerard’s Holywell Consultancy, are wedged into a small temporary office off of
The Diamond. But when it is completed, the
partners will take their places in a new building, built through collaborative
effort. It will help provide a space for
people to discuss and reconcile with the experiences before and after 1968 and
not ignore them…and Gerard’s been a part of it.
