Peace by Piece

For this special Peace by Piece conversation I was joined live on stage at the Duncairn Arts Centre in north Belfast by Megan Phair. Megan is an all round activist and justice campaigner. She’s a programme co-ordinator for Invisible Traffic and a member of Stop the Attacks, a group that aims to spotlight and challenge the injustices of paramilitary assaults. Megan is also part of an amazing community well-being space and farm in north Antrim called Origin.In this chat, recorded at the e...

David Eagleson was deputy director of the NI Prison Service and has held leadership roles in a number of prisons. David had an interesting vantage point at a key period of our history, working within the Maze Prison in the run up to the release of prisoners under the 1998 peace deal. It is that pressure cooker time, he says, helped fuel a passion he has for restorative justice. In this conversation he shares some powerful stories of bringing victims and perpetrators together with ...

Sarah Lorimer is a young woman who is leading conversations in communities impacted by peace walls. She works on the International Fund for Ireland’s Peace Barrier programme in north Belfast. Sarah has 15 years experience in peace and reconciliation work, with particular passions for oral history, legacy and the impact of trauma on interface communities.In this conversation Sarah shares how childhood in north Belfast was the birthplace of her passion and how she was inspired by yo...

Fr Martin Magill is known by some as a peacemaker priest. He is parish priest at St Johns on the Falls Road in Belfast and is also an author and organiser of the Four Corners' Festival. He’s someone who is constantly crossing divides and brings much energy into behind the scenes conversations on issues of justice & peacemaking.Here, he shares how his journeys to school in north Belfast exposed him to the fraught reality of Troubles’ life. He also talks candidly about the...

Sipho Sibanda is a Zimbabwean refugee activist who has made Belfast home for her and her son. Sipho fled her native country in 2015 amid ongoing political unrest and didn’t even get to hug her family goodbye. She works for PPR, a community organisation here that helps marginalised people know their rights and lobby for more equitable communities. Sipho has been involved in Black Lives Matter protests here and is passionate about raising her voice to support those without sta...

Debbie Watters is co-director of restorative justice project NI Alternatives and is a former vice chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.In this conversation Debbie takes us back to her childhood to share how her faith has always helped her defy labels and challenge the status quo. Here she talks candidly about a passion that drives her to move beyond her own perspectives and the struggles that this can throw up.Debbie speaks passionately about the hurts and hopes she sees wi...

Sue Divin is a Derry based writer and community relations worker who has much to say about the impact of post conflict life on communities.She has recently published her first novel Guard Your Heart; it focusses on the relationships of young people brought up post Good Friday Agreement & how segregation, labels & subconscious prejudices still take their toll.Sue, whose writing often touches on themes of identity, diversity and reconciliation, is currently working on her second novel -...

*Warning you may find some details in this story triggering and distressing*Anne Walker is a peace facilitator and a participant in the powerful Theatre of Witness programme in Derry’s Playhouse Theatre. Through this transformative project, she was able to put words to a childhood shaped by her own family’s tragedy on Bloody Sunday, as well as her experience of being in the IRA as a young woman.Anne has gone on to bravely share her story around the world and lead others in difficult pea...

*Warning you will find details within this story distressing*Kathleen Gillespie courageously shares her family’s story of extreme trauma, and how she has fought hard to salvage peace from pain. Her husband Patsy was killed in an IRA bomb he was forced to drive to an army checkpoint at Coshquin, in October 1990. Patsy & five soldiers were killed.In this conversation, Kathleen opens up about the darkness that descended and how she battled within herself to create a legacy of pea...

In episode 1 internationally renowned artist Colin Davidson talks candidly about a challenge in his own back story that has shaped his deep passion to give voice to victims and survivors of the Troubles. In this conversation Colin articulates rage about the British Government's recent legacy announcement - which they contend will facilitate reconciliation, but which he argues crosses a line. Ulster University's new Chancellor also gives us a sneak peak into his studio and who he's...