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Published: April 19th 2009
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Whenever I tell someone I live and work in Belfast, the most common response I get is 'Really? Is that safe?' Being largely ignorant of the details of Northern Ireland's troubled past, I took the job here without a second thought. Arriving in Belfast those first few days, I had no preconceptions about what to expect, and indeed barely noticed the tell-tale signs of 'The Troubles' still lingering in the cityscape. I was focussed solely on trying to find my way from A to B, avoiding collisions with the numerous black cabs that drive erratically along Falls Road and trying to understand the slang of the locals so I could join in the craic!
Having been here for four months now, I've learnt a lot about Northern Ireland's troubled past. One doesn't have to look far to see reminders of the past, especially where I live and work in the North West. The suburbs in Belfast are very much divided along political lines into a split of either Nationalist areas or Unionist areas. There are a few 'neutral' districts, especially around the university, and some parts of the city centre. But historically, locals have based themselves, their home and their
children's schooling within a district aligned with their political views. I only really understood how significant this was when I contacted a parent to offer their child an Occupational Therapy Assessment. After agreeing her child desperately needed an assessment, the offer of an appointment time was turned down when she discovered where The Maureen Sheehan Centre was located. She quickly informed me she couldn't possibly come to this clinic as 'It's too far into the other side'. I had to make arrangements to see this child in an alternate clinic, without really understanding which side the 'other side' was.
People don't like to talk much about the Troubles. This period is referred to in vague terms, with sentences beginning or ending with 'during the Troubles'. I had to do a bit of research to find out exactly what the Troubles were. Reading about this period in text on a page doesn't really give any true perspective of the lives of those who lived through the decades of violence but I got some small insight into the experiences of locals through a small photographic exhibition held here in Belfast two months ago. Photographers and locals had submitted photos of this
period to this small exhibition. The photos depicted Belfast in happier times, as well as during the political warring with demonstrations, bombings, street violence, and funeral marches all depicted in the array of photographs on display. Recognising many of the streets where I live in photographs depicting violence during the Troubles gave me an understanding of how incredibly different Belfast once was, and some inkling of why locals here don't dwell on this period of the past anymore than can be helped.
Around the streets where I live, there are still a few buildings which have been derelict for decades and bear scars of bullet holes and minor blasts. There are fences topped with barbed wire coils and police stations are set back from the road, surrounded by huge fences, barely identified by any signage. There are separation barriers between where I live and where I work. These so called ‘Peace Lines' range in length from a few hundred metres to over five kilometres and separate the Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods in Belfast. The barriers themselves are iron, brick, or steel walls up to 7 m high, topped with metal netting, or simply a white line painted on the
ground similar to a road marking. The stated purpose of the barriers 'is to minimize intercommunal sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics'. The one that exists on the road leading between my home and work has a road gate which still gets locked every night so this can mean a longer drive home if heading that way after around 10pm.
One of the main Peace Lines in Belfast stands over 6 metres high, and stretches for several miles, separating unionists and nationalists in West Belfast. Locals and visitors to this peace line have been adding their messages and signatures to the wall for years now. Whether it's some form of eloquent prose, or merely initials scratched into the concrete surface, it's definitely a melting pot of alternating views. Most of the messages left are themed around the peace process. My friend Clare and I visited here recently. It's not a site that is well publicised, despite it having become a tourist spot for visitors to Belfast, and it took a bit of driving around for us to locate it. We did eventually, and added our signatures among the thousands of others, with a wish for ongoing peace for the
communities we've come to know and love over the past four to five months here.
The murals for which Belfast is famous are the other visual reminders of the political past here in Northern Ireland. I drive past the murals that line Shankill and Falls Road areas every single day and there are many other murals in hidey-holes all over the city. They serve as tributes to the innocents lost during the Troubles or means of communicating with the world a plea or demand or a political perspective. They are a very dramatic way to make a point and many of them are very hard hitting. There is one wall in Belfast which shows the faces of dozens who lost their lives during the troubles which I found particularly upsetting. There are others in the Shankhill areas that portray masked, armed fighters standing beside the emblems of their group. Black Taxis now take groups of tourists around Belfast's Peace Lines, trouble spots and famous murals, sharing the history of these sights.
Belfast has no doubt been though a lot over the last few decades. But the people here are warm and welcoming and are keen to look forward
to a future unencumbered by the troubled history which has seen many tragedies and atrocities. I love life here and if not for the fact Adam is still in Leeds, I could happily settle myself in this corner of the world. As it stands now, I commute weekly between Belfast and Leeds which is no easy feat (I could never have imagined flying to/from my workplace to home to see my husband!) But it's been worth the opportunity to discover the warmth of the Irish here in Belfast-always at the ready with a kind word and a hearty laugh.
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