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The Other View |
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Issue No.2 Autumn 2000 A Quaker Reflection By Marty Rafferty Thinking of Long Kesh evokes a series of images – grey ugliness, the high wire fence, the lookout tower, the loud clacking noise of the entrance turnstile. Alongside that are memories of the families that came to the Quaker hut. Queues stretched all the way to the back door, especially on ‘Derry Day’ when the busloads arrived starving, having left home early that morning. Some came to us in tears, worried, angry, hurt sometimes very fragile. We shared in a lot of personal pain. We also shared in laughter, friendship, and hope. The families taught me about endurance, personal loyalty, and raw courage. I remember my visit inside to meet with a group of prisoners – my nervousness, stomach in knots, head throbbing, asking myself why I was doing this. The answer lies in subsequent memories of individuals that I came to know, respect, and value as friends. Long Kesh was a place of great inconsistencies – a brutalising place of frustration, pain, and restriction. Yet it was also a place of laughter, friendship, courage and growth. It was a unique and intense place and one that can really only be understood at a deep level by those who in some way directly shared the experience. |
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