O As this book has so many different stories I found it difficult to come up with a cover that U R would represent all of them at once. Instead of tackling each individual story I decided S T to base the cover around the stories main corresponding feature. All of the stories in this O OUR STORIES MOVING US FROM R I book were written by ordinary people who have a story to tell and this book enables E S them to do so. This is something that really inspired me and got me thinking. How each M person we meet has a library inside of them, but too often we shy away from sharing it O V I Shame to Dignity with anyone else. This was why I chose to do an assemblage of faces for the front cover. N G It shows the diversity of the storytellers in the book. I arranged it so each face still U remains hidden. I think these are the two defining features of the book. Firstly, these S F stories are coming from a range of people. Secondly, the fact that the book encourages R O people to dig deep and write down those stories that have been hidden away for so long. M The image on the back cover is of our local church, St Laurence O’Toole’s. S H A Tara Kearns – the artist who created the designs for the front and the back cover. M E T O D I G N I T Y M A R Unravelling the Spirit As We Trudge Through Life at the Margins T I N B MARTIN BYRNE Y R N E Our Stories Moving Us From Shame To Dignity (Digital Media Class at the NWCTC) Unravelling the Spirit As We Trudge Through Life at the Margins Martin Byrne Scribbles from the Margins Press, Dublin 2017 1 CONTENTS Foreword 5 Introduction 9 Acknowledgements 11 Dedication 12 Aoife Watson Who Am I? 13 Lennon Grimes, Patrick Knowd, Stories From The Larriers 17 Cameron McCabe, Kaylem O’Reilly, Evan Conroy and Daniel Kenna Geraldine Griffin Waves Dashing Against the Side of the Boat 21 Raghnall Cooke An Baile Bocht agus Comhairle Mo Leasa 28 Alex Kennedy Christina Caffrey: Her Final Days 31 Noel Gregory The Voice of An Inner City “Servant Leader” 34 Amy Doyle, Niamh McKee and Jane Mellett World Youth Day 2016 38 Abbie, Fayth, Ellie, Katie, Sadhbh Larrier Girls Deserve To Win 42 Katelyn, Kayla, Teegan, Jayla, Amber, Shaneece, Madison, Lacie, Grace, Kianna, Angel, Elizabeth, Éabha, Hanneen and Cassie Donal Blake, Anne Keating, Searching For Mystery 52 Jane Mellett, Denis Gleeson, Shelagh Lockery, Christy O’Carroll, Peter Dowling and Seamus Gill Roisín Kearney Chasing A Dream 58 Sean Dunne and participants The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 61 of NWICTDP Ronnie McCabe Shared Reflections on our Pilgrimage to Rome 63 Sean Carroll Climbing Four Peaks 65 Seamus Gill Shelley - An Experience of Forgiveness 67 2 Kim Flood From Sheriff Street to MTV Lebanon 69 David Lambert The Raid 72 Ashling Golden, Taylor Molloy and Dylan Darcy SWAN In Boston 73 Mary Mooney, Gwen Shiels, Fourteen Moments of Mystery 76 Anita Maher, Marie Maher, June Howell, Dolores Cox, Marie Lord, Siobhan Mokrani and Dolores Griffiths Pauline Brennan “You Out There Change It” 86 Paul Jennings and Des O’Brien St Laurence O’Toole GAA Club and 88 the 1916 Commemoration David Rogers From Cherry Orchard to Compostela 92 Martin Byrne Arise Artists, Activists and Artisans of Humanity 95 in Dublin’s North Inner City Ritah Merembe and Diane Ihirwe Cooper Creating A Support 99 Network For Young Mums Star Ballyfermot Where Peace Dwells Fear Cannot 102 Hugh O’Donnell A Blessing For Charlotte Rose 105 Unexpected Beauty 107 Gareth Herbert The Ballyfermot Cycling Project and 109 the Matt Talbot Trust Charity Cycle Debbie Moore Being Mother 111 Pato Batt, Sean McDermott and Noel Kelly Frilly 113 Austin O’Carroll On Being A Loser 115 ACRG Creative Writers Group Walking Down The Recovery Road 117 Eddie Byrne The Street 126 Ann Matthews The Parish of St Laurence O’Toole Dublin 1844 - 1850 128 Sharon Harding Cherishing All The Children Of The Nation Equally 134 3 (Digital Media Class at the NWCTC) (Digital Media Class at the NWCTC) These amazing photos have been generously gifted to this book by Gary Somers and the Digital Media class at the North Wall Community Training Centre. 4 Foreword The Dublin-born statesman Edmund Burke, speaking more than two centuries ago, said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”. That is as true now as it was in Edmund Burke’s time. This publication recognises the truth of what Edmund Burke said. It is a loud and powerful naming of the current reality experienced by so many people. At its core it challenges the failure of Irish politics and Irish society to build a nation where every man, woman and child has access, as of right, to what is required to live life with dignity. It is important to note that the hundred pieces contained in this book were written during 2016 - a century after the 1916 Rising. While there is much to celebrate and to be proud of at a time like this, there is also a need to recognise some major failures. Recent statistics published by the EU show that Irish people face much higher levels of poverty and deprivation than other comparable EU states. Large-scale homelessness is obvious on our streets, especially in Dublin, for the first time in many decades. Our health and education systems are not at the EU average levels that people would expect. After years of austerity and despite being one of the richest countries in the world Ireland has failed to eliminate poverty, inequality or social exclusion. Traditionally Ireland has coped with social deprivation by resorting to increased emigration. Since the crash of 2008 the population flow emigrating from Ireland has been proportionately higher than at any time since the middle of the 19th century potato famine. It is more than ironic that, as the world has focused on the mass migration of people into Europe, many Irish people have again been forced to emigrate so that they can have access to a decent life. This need not be the case. A better future is possible. The authors who write in this publication refuse to remain silent. They know the importance of speaking out, of telling their stories, of ensuring that reality is named and the truth is told. This brings us to another major development in the past year – the growing realisation of the importance for leaders, especially political leaders, to listen. The UK electorate voted to leave the EU. The American electorate chose Donald Trump as the president. In both cases the polls taken in advance of the ballots were wrong. Both results were completely unexpected. Analysis of these results 5 show that people are reacting to the fact that many politicians and policy mak - ers have not listened to their experience, their concerns or their proposals. More and more it seems that decisions have been made in the interests of the better off while it is the rest of society that pays the costs of these decisions. The society we have today is the result of decisions taken over many decades. It can be changed. A better future will emerge when better informed decisions are made by the variety of policy-makers and institutions that impact on peo - ple’s lives. All decisions are based on values whether decision-makers realise that or not. Do we value banks and financial institutions more than we value people and the ordinary lives that they live? Do we as a people accept a two- tier society in fact while dismissing it in principle? For the past decade, Ireland’s answer to these questions has been yes! The authors in this volume want a world based on the values of human dignity, human rights and the common good. It is long past time for decision-makers in Irish society to prioritise these values and to take the decisions required to ensure that everyone in Ireland has sufficient income to live life with dignity; meaningful work; appropriate accommodation; participation in shaping the decisions that affect their lives; appropriate education; essential healthcare; and an environment which respects the culture. Ireland has the resources to produce such a society and to do so in a sustainable manner. A special word of congratulations to Martin Byrne for his initiative and imagi - nation in drawing the strands of this book together and not just this book but the twenty volumes that have preceded it. This publication gives us a glimpse of the real lives of the people of North Wall and Cherry Orchard where Martin spends his life and it highlights their hopes and fears and the love and solidar - ity that drives them to resist the temptation to give up or to remain silent. Every day they work for a better future and they want to work in solidarity with others to make that future emerge. This volume demands that decision-makers listen and hear and act accordingly. Seán Healy S.M.A. Social Justice Ireland 6 This picture ‘The Summer Garden’ was drawn by Katie McDonagh aged 7 1 This picture ‘The Owl in the Tree” was drawn by Lauren McDonagh aged 5½ 1 Katie and Lauren occasionally join their mother Susan Cleary as she sings with the St Laurence O’Toole Folk Group at the Sunday noon mass in the North Wall.