Peace by Piece

Our guest on this episode is a young peacemaker called Zach Hutchinson.  Zach was born just after the Good Friday Agreement was signed so his lens on life is entirely post conflict and his passion for a peacemaking type of politics led him to the Centre of Democracy & Peacebuilding.  Through its work he convenes leaders from all political hues, believing in the magic of encounter and relations...

Ian Bothwell is not a household name but is someone who has been quiet peacemaking in south Armagh for almost half a century.  At the height of the Troubles he felt a draw to defy some of the barriers and fears in his own context to move from his home in Amagh to Crossmaglen.  Ian and his wife Pauline set up a charity that brought care to people through anti-poverty work, prisoner support, youth w...

Inioluwa Olasebikan is an incredible young Nigeria woman who now calls Belfast home.  At 18 years old Ini has overcome many challenges to become an impassioned advocate for ethnic minority communities on integration and education rights for young people seeking asylum.  In this conversation she speaks candidly about what it’s like to arrive here as a young person and to notice how our two communit...

Artist Carole Kane is a beautiful under the radar force for peace.  Trained as a weaver, she has a hands-on, graceful approach when it comes to community peacemaking.  As a young artist she felt moved by an appeal on the radio after the Omagh bombing, that was an ask for ideas on what to do with the carpet of flowers left in honour of the victims.  In a spur of the moment move Carol made an offer...

David Porter is someone whose passion for peace is a thread that runs throughout a career that has taken him right to the heart of church life.  His own heart for reconciliation and his expression of that within various key roles gives him a lived vantage point from which to offer challenge and insight.  He was Canon for Reconciliation at Coventy Cathedral which has always been a hub for peace, in...

When Belfast youth worker Stephen Hughes organised a panel event on reconciliation for his young people he never imagined he’d have to reckon with an utterly personal moment of forgiveness.  In Episode 3 Season 2 we're joined by the heart-on-sleeve Divis youth leader, who shares real personal moments of challenge during the darkest and lighter days of youth work in inner city Belfast. Stephen...

Davy Adams is someone who turned his life around 180; he was a paramilitary insider at the height of the conflict who went on to help make peace here and then travel to war torn parts of the globe as an impassioned peace advocate.  Our conversation begins with honest reflection on why Davy joined the UDA and his great regret over that.  He provides insights into the building of the loyalist ceasef...

What defines a home? Jazz singer Dana Masters , who hails from the deep south of America and has found her heart in Northern Ireland, joins us to unravel this profound question. Through Dana's lens, we explore the concept of home as a source of peace. Her story is beautifully woven with her family's legacy in the civil rights movement, offering a unique perspective on justice and reconci...

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 commu...

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 conversa...

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 ch...

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...

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 p...

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...

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 touc...

*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....

*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...

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....

Find out the heart behind Peace by Piece & hear voice snippets of some of those who will feature in this our first podcast series.  Excited to get this story experience underway... More episodes coming soon!