The Brightest and Darkest Faces: our trip to Galway, Ireland 3

Hiring a private guide was one of the best decisions we made on our trip to Galway. We were lucky to have chosen someone who’s not only a total professional, but who’s warm and friendly too. We spontaneously hugged the first time we met face-to-face, and things just got better after that. She met us on our first day in the city, and whisked us off for an epic afternoon.
Though she claims never to have guided blind people before, once we explained what we wanted, our guide Orla effortlessly blended stories, experiences, description, and practical details about navigating on our own! She’s an artist with an uncommon appreciation of all the senses, and so she designed and planned our day with taste, touch and sound in mind. We touched a cannon, felt statues and sculpture, sampled local cheese and $120 a bottle whisky, and smelled flowers.
The highlight was a visit to the workshop of a traditional musical instrument maker. It’s something our guide does only rarely, as there’s nothing in it for the craftsman; who’s really going to buy a $5000 Irish harp? When Orla told him we’re blind he got downright animated, showing us different types of wood and explaining their properties in instrument-making, and describing some of the qualities of an Irish harp.
To get to the shop, we walked in and climbed an extremely steep set of stairs. Even going up the stairs we were wedged between piles of cut wood, frames, instrument cases, and things I was afraid to touch. In fact we were both reluctant to move much or even breathe too deeply for fear of upsetting some priceless musical gem. We got to handle unstrung Italian guitars, a mandolin, and the back piece of a violin. The owner picked up various types and lengths of wood, tapping them to display their resonance, and explain what they’d be best suited for. The room had an almost Medieval feel; it would have looked much the same 1000 years ago. Oh how I love the timelessness of music!
Although Of course I knew of the mass migration of Irish to North America, I hadn’t understood the impact for those who remained. In Eyre Square, Orla showed us the memorial to JFK, who visited Galway in the early 1960s. She described the wild excitement his visit caused. So many had left Ireland for an uncertain future far away, and now here was one of their own, returned as head of state of one of the most powerful countries in the world.
Another of our stops illustrated a dark chapter in the history of Ireland and Galway. Orla led us to a stone statue of a sturdily built, work-worn woman with a mask-like face, wearing a shapeless dress, holding her hands up to drape a sheet over her shoulders. The piece is a commemoration of the women who suffered as a result of the Magdalen Laundries.
For many years, prostitutes or women who became pregnant without being married were imprisoned in convents where they were shunned, sometimes abused, and punished by a lifetime of service doing commercial laundry. The fees paid for this service by hotels and other large institutions went straight to the convent. The metaphor of fallen women cleaning dirty linen is almost too thick to require comment, almost. The children of these women were often adopted out, or worse, raised in institutions that were poorly integrated into society. Older adults recall the sound of these children walking down the road to school in hobnailed boots, and being told not to associate with them because they were tainted by their birth.
The legacy of this dark chapter continues to be illuminated as more and more people come forward. Several people I spoke to about it remarked on how just when you think it’s all been told, someone else shares their story, or shocking new physical evidence is uncovered. The statue we visited had fresh flowers at its feet, offerings left by those for whom the stories have power.
The Galway City Council, who commissioned the statue, has now voted to take it down. The feeling seems to be that it’s a chapter of the region’s history that needn’t be aired in places that are meant to celebrate the city and display its best face to visitors. The controversy is on-going.