Wrap up at Glencree, Ireland

FINAL REFLECTIONS

As we wrap up our work at Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, we share the “thought for the day” left by our teammate Joan Moore on Monday morning:

“Although deeply conscious of their past, the Irish have come to terms with the modern world. In the future, their buoyancy and creative energy seem to assure them a prominent place in Europe, and the world.”

Joan didn’t indicate if this was her personal reflection, or one quoted from resource material, but we agree that those we’ve met in these two weeks surely embody resilience, vision and brilliance to meet Ireland’s future challenges.

Tuesday brought a new synergy as the three remaining members of the team set out about our remaining tasks. Ann painted the men’s bathroom in the Wicklow Wing, while Michele and Susan went down on hands and knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor with paint remover and soap and scraping with razor blades. After many, many hours of work, the floor once again looked like a kitchen floor rather than that of a construction site. We left the floor to dry during dinner and then returned at about 7:00 PM to apply the first coat of tile sealer. We barricaded the door against latte night visitors and went to bed, planning to arise early to recoat the floor before breakfast and the later arrival of the new furniture. The new furniture arrived just shortly after the second coat of tile sealant that Ann and Susan applied had dried. All were amazed by how well we were able to “rehabilitate” the dingy kitchen floor. With the new window blinds installed, the gathering space looked “cozy” again, and surely will be well-used by the international long-term volunteers. The satisfaction and gratitude of the Wicklow Wing occupants was warm payment, indeed, for our significant effort the day before!

This morning’s task was to clear out refuse in the “arches” area at the Glencree campus entry; left-over craft and project materials from previous beautification efforts. The sun broke through the gray clouds momentarily from time to time – long enough to show our shadow and warm our hands and noses a bit. If we weren’t certain why Ireland is so green before this program, experiencing the persistent spring and fall rains (and snows) leaves no questions!

On our departure day, we felt the misty weather appropriately matched our mood...as we took one last look at this center of hope and promise. Glancing over our shoulders as the car pulled out of the driveway one last time, we said "good bye" to Glencree and filed our memories away under "peace is possible."