Day Thirteen: County Dublin
Wednesday 13 May
The annual VOX magazine Finding Faith Tour looks very different this year. Instead of a 7-day road trip around the island, this year VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams brings you highlights from all 32 counties (one per day plus one for each of the 31 days in May). Contact Ruth if you have a story to share.
Day Thirteen: Inner City Compassion
Our “visit” to Dublin gives just a taste of three different Christian ministries that are showing compassion among some of the most vulnerable communities in the city.
The Light House, Pearse Street
Nine weeks ago, Dublin Christian Mission reluctantly took the decision to close their Light House drop in centre which serves the homeless community and began providing takeaway meals instead. With many other services closing, the small team of volunteers decided they would offer meals seven days a week.
“It’s probably a good thing that we didn’t know how long it would be!” admits Joe Murphy, “but now that we are in it, we are just going to persevere. Right now we are serving between 300 and 350 meals a day.”
Numbers have grown significantly in recent weeks. “We’ve noticed new people every day including some who have just been released from prison and who don’t have spare clothes or belongings. There is a wonderful sense of community among our volunteers even though we are working so hard to prepare over 300 meals a day. There can be a lot of challenges with the homeless community but 90% of people are so grateful to be handed a cup of tea and a good meal,” Joe said.
“One day, I stepped outside to look at the queue and a guy said, ‘I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.’”
The team has been so encouraged by donations from businesses as well as from churches and individuals. “God has opened up unique doors and we are glad to be a Christian ministry that is able to impact people’s lives during the crisis.”
ACET Ireland - North Inner City
The ACET team watch the lockdown announcement on Zoom.
Richard Carson is the CEO of ACET Ireland, a Christian organisation which seeks to improve the lives of those living with or affected by HIV in Ireland. He shared some of the challenges for the community his organisation is supporting.
“Switching to remote working was fairly easy but because our work is relational we started to miss eye contact and not being able to “listen” to each other’s body language. The government message was ‘stay safe, stay home’ but for many people we work with home is not a safe place and staying home creates a whole new set of difficulties because of addiction, abuse and poverty.
“Covid-19 is a pandemic and that means there are now two pandemics in the world. The other is HIV AIDS. People started to say that coronavirus was a great leveller, but that is not true at all.”
“In response to the HIV AIDS pandemic we have learnt a lot about “lament”. God draws us into those deep places and shows Himself to us in the place of suffering and grief.”
Covid-19 impacts different groups in different ways, Richard told me. Those who are already wrestling with illness, mental illness, poverty, discrimination or institutional living will be disproportionately affected.
“As the weeks have gone by it has got tougher and tougher. A lot of our work has been managing expectations. Some are facing severe challenges especially when problems are exacerbated by drug and alcohol issues. At the same time, there is a real amazing resilience. While some were struggling to come to terms with the chaos, many we know were saying, ‘Anxiety and stress are normal for us.‘“
The Fair Play Cafe, Ringsend
The little slice of heaven that is The Fair Play Cafe and Anchorage project in Ringsend was a highlight of another Finding Faith Tour. This year, Joe Donnelly and his team were forced to move quickly. Closing their cafe to the public, they began creating takeaway lunches for people in their community who were self isolating or cocooning.
With huge support from the community, the cafe’s deliveries have expanded to serve dozens of elderly and vulnerable people. “When the shut down came, I thought I might have eight weeks of ‘chilling’ time but the exact opposite has been the case since our local chief superintendent pleaded with me to keep our ‘share your lunch’ programme going for as long as possible!" Joe said.
Welcomed by the local community, the scheme was featured by RTE news.
