A Black Taxi Tour . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV



 
Our first day in Northern Ireland we drove from Moyallon Centre up to South Belfast. We parked the van at the South Belfast Meeting House, took a bus and then walked a bit to get to the Black Taxi Station for our tour. The tour will take us around West Belfast and give us some local history about the Troubles, the Peace Walls, the murals and memorials.



A section of the Peace Wall.

Now, before I go on about our Black Taxi Tour around West Belfast, let me say just a bit about the Peace Walls, in case someone reading this doesn't know about them - I didn't until I began reading the information sent out to those of us going on the Pilgrimage, and I still wasn't really prepared for what I saw. The Peace Walls are a series of barriers in Northern Ireland that separate the Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods. The purpose of the Peace Walls is to minimize inter-communal violence between the Catholics (who are mostly Irish nationalists and self-identify as Irish) and the Protestants (who are unionists who self-identify as British).



Photos of some of those killed
during The Troubles on a section
of the Peace Wall.

The Peace Walls range in length from a few hundred yards to over three miles. They are made of iron, brick and/or steel and are up to 25 feet high! Some have gates in them and some are staffed by police that allow passage during the day but are closed at night.

The first Peace Walls were built in 1969, following the riots and 'The Troubles.' They were originally built as temporary structures meant only to last about six-months, but are now more permanent. And the number of walls has grown over the years as well. Most of the Peace Walls are located in Belfast. There have been recent talks about taking the Peace Walls down, but a majority of the residents feel there is still a need to keep them up.

OK, so now on to our Black Taxi Tour . . .



Our driver explaining the different
murals on this part of the wall.

Our taxi driver had a very heavy Irish accent and spoke very fast - making it a bit hard to understand everything he was telling us. I had to really concentrate on what he was saying and still only caught and understood about half of it. What this did tell me, was that this was all very personal to him and that he was very passionate about what he was telling us. He did tell us that he was a Catholic and that he had been shot at twice. He also told us about his brother-in-law, also a Black Taxi driver, who had been shot 7 or 8 times. So, what we learned about the Troubles was from someone who had lived through it and mostly the Catholic side of it, but he did try to give us a well rounded view of things. A comment was made in our group later, and we agreed, that we were afraid to ask him to slow down as we might be there all day!



Mural on the end of the
building and the
plaques on the front.

During our tour our driver stopped several times so we could get out and look around and take pictures as he talked to us, I also took pictures as we drove along. I didn't realize how many pictures I had taken during the taxi tour until I divided them up into folders after I got home this week. I was amazed to see that I had taken 243 pictures! He said he'd keep driving us around and talking as long as he knew we were interested - in part we showed him we were interested by asking questions, asking him if he'd stop to take pictures and by the number of pictures we were taking. The taxi tour was to be an hour and a half and I think we were out for more like two hours, but I wasn't keeping track of the time.

There were a couple of times when our driver turned the taxi around in the middle of the street. I thought this was odd, but just figured there was nothing special for us to see further down and that he was turning around to go and show us something else in the other direction. It wasn't until later that day when it was mentioned that someone in the group said no, he turned around as he didn't feel it safe for him to drive any further up that road. I hadn't thought of that.



Our driver pointing out the different
element in this memorial.
A section of the Peace Wall is behind
the brick wall where the photos are.

We saw the murals along the sides of the roads and those painted on the sides of the buildings.  We stopped and saw various memorials that have been erected. Our driver pointed out plaques above doorways and on buildings - all had significance. All of this done to remember and honor those who have been killed during the troubles. And the murals aren't just painted and left - they are ever changing, being painted over and over again.



Our driver pointing out the 'cage'
over the backyard of the flat just on
the other side of the wall of this
memorial - this is there to protect them
from items that are thrown over the
wall - on the left.

We saw part of the Peace Wall and drove through the gates. saw houses on both sides and saw what those families who live along side the walls have to do to protect themselves and their property. Before I saw the Peace Wall in person the only thing I could compare them to was the Berlin Wall in Germany - something that I grew-up with. Now that I've been to West Belfast and seen the Peace Walls for myself I know there's no comparison.

When we had gotten back to the taxi station I asked what time of day was the worst, and our driver told us there is no  'good' time of the day. Shootings can happen at any minute.



Mural on the side of a building.

The Black Taxi Tour was well worth it. I expect that we saw parts of West Belfast that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. I have the feeling that we spent most of our time driving around in the Catholic area of the city, since our driver was Catholic and he would have felt safer there.

It's hard for me to imagine living through the Troubles but harder still to see that there is still so much tension between the faith bodies.



Another mural on the side
of a building, note the red,
white & blue painted curb -
 do you know where you are?

We talked about this later and I commented that they just need to 'get over it' and 'move on' in our group. My words weren't well received. I don't want to sound insensitive because I do understand their need to talk about it and share it as part of the healing process that they need to go through, but how healthy is it to dwell on something like this? Our taxi driver talks about it, it's part of his job, it gives him money to pay his bills and take care of his family. But how long can one dwell on the past, on such violence?

Our Black Taxi Tour came up in conversation with other Friends later on in the week over one of the 'shared meals' we had at Moyallon Centre. One of our guests said nearly the same thing I did about getting over it and needing to move on. We discussed it a bit more.



This mural is dedicated to those
who died of starvation during
the Great Hunger.

So, there are ministries going on here, yes Black Taxi Tours are a ministry. The taxi drivers sharing their stories and those of their fellow drivers - those that are still here and those that have died in the Troubles, are ministering. But those of us that take the Black Taxi Tours and listen to their stories and talk with them minister to the drivers as well. It's a two-way ministry as I believe most ministries are or should be.

I've gotta go back to the Berlin Wall . . . it went up and it came down. There is hope that the Peace Walls that went up will too someday come down. It's only a matter of time.