14 March 2009
To continue with introducing organizations that Kevin and I are working with here, I’ll tell you about Wave Trauma Centre. Wave exists to provide support to people who have been affected by ‘The Troubles’ – whether they lost a family member in the violence, or were injured, or a family member was injured, etc. Wave provides everything from counseling and aromatherapy to an art group and lunch club. Often, they have their groups engage is some sort of creative project, like making stain glass windows or painting pictures or making/decorating plaster shoes. These projects help people to tell their stories, and members say that it is very therapeutic for them. Generally, once a group finished a project, they publish a booklet to share with others what they have created and the story that goes with the piece of art.
Kevin works with a men’s lunch group on Wednesday afternoons. They just finished a stained glass project and are beginning to work on fixing up a conservatory at the Wave centre. Sometimes I help out in office answering phones and stuffing envelopes for mailers and things like that, but I also work with a women’s lunch group that meets on Thursday afternoons and who just began working with ceramics. The ultimate goal of this project is to make a wishing well out of clay that can be put in Wave’s garden and can represent our hopes for the future. The women in the group are absolutely incredible. A couple of weeks ago one of the Commissioners for victims and survivors, Mike Nesbitt, came in during lunch to talk to the women about their concerns and what the commission is doing to better serve this population. The women spoke passionately about their experiences, and it just struck me how brave and strong these women are. Most of them have unexpectedly lost husbands, sons, daughters, fathers, etc. in sectarian violence – but a lot of them are using those experiences to help others.
I have also started with a new young women’s group at Wave that meets every other Friday night. This group is probably one of my favorites here. The women that come are around my age and are so much fun – I don’t think we ever stop laughing during our sessions. This week we went to a fashion show that was part of Belfast fashion week. It was awesome!
As a side note – some of you may have heard about recent killings in Northern Ireland. If not, basically two young army men were shot last Saturday night outside of their barrack in County Antrim (about 20 minutes north of Belfast) and a police officer was shot while responding to a house call earlier this week. A small splinter group called the real IRA claimed responsibility for both incidents. Evidently, this group is trying to destroy the peace process. Anyway, I am sure more information can be found on the BBC website – but be assured despite the recent violence Kevin and I are still safe here in Belfast. Northern Ireland, though, could really use your prayers. The people that I have spoken to about the incidents all have a very similar reaction – they don’t want things to go back they way they were.
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