“Women could not speak, now we have a voice”: A cross-community centre for and by women in Belfast

Words, acknowledgement of others’ pain and the simple sharing of experiences and courses foster resilience.

Betty Carlisle, co-founder and director of the centre, explains that it first saw the light of day in 1987, when it “grew out of a poem that was written about the hummingbird” and its ability to fly.

“Women are usually told they can’t do things. So we said, come to the hummingbird and you can do things.

The activities, she adds, are free of charge: “Everything is free, but we ask for a registration fee of 10 pounds (11.87 euros) per year to contribute to administration costs. This new centre allows women to meet other women. And it is easier to access from both sides of the community.

The importance of speech

Another feature of the centre is the importance of women’s voices. The vast majority of the centre’s staff and visitors are women from the different communities in the neighbourhood. Isabel Gibson, a Catholic, was involved in the crisis at Holy Cross School.

“I had to move house because I received death threats from the paramilitaries,” she confesses. Then she lost her daughter and her world fell apart. Through conversations with other women and acting classes she got back on her feet. “We can do as many courses as we want (…). We performed in a play and we had to act, we are a cross-community group and we talked about the Shankill women and how they felt dominated by their husbands, the paramilitaries. And it was the same in Ardoyne, where I live. Women could not speak, everything was said by men; whereas now we have a voice, we can speak. So it’s much, much better”

Betty Tompson is a Protestant. For a time she lived away from Belfast because her ex-partner was in prison for several years. She explains that he became involved with organisations and crime: “I didn’t want my children to be like their father, who grew up with a criminal record (…). I understand Catholics and Protestants who have someone who was killed, and they hold that grudge, I understand that. Nothing like that happened to me, so I guess it was easier for me to move on. But not everyone can. Some people have it harder than others, I don’t know. I didn’t think I needed to go on holiday abroad until I came back here and now I’ve started to go on more holidays, holidays with friends”.

Betty announces that she and Isabel are preparing a trip together with their grandchildren to Spain.