Stories from the Edge - Volunteer Now

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oversee the new crèche and the enlarged canteen facilities. Most of those Quakers who came forward had their own reasons.They made their own way out to the prison in all weathers and were only given their bus or petrol expenses. Despite thecomplete lack of monetary reward the Quaker volunteers managed for over 20 years to provide a continuous service andhave rarely been acknowledged for their selflessness. In a recent edition of the fringe political magazine 'The Other View'the question is ironically asked, "Which organisation spent 25 years in Long Kesh and didn't get an early release nor a largestate pension?” Flick over a few pages and the answer is revealed to be The Society of Friends.Teams of volunteers traipsed out to the Maze Prison for years to stand behind a small counter serving those who more oftenthan not had travelled miles for a weekly half hour visit. Many had travelled for several hours in a variety of mini buses andcoaches driven by volunteer drivers from different organisations.It becomes clear that if even if many of the volunteers had never become Quakers they would still have volunteered to helpothers. Their Christian beliefs correspond to a classical socialist attitude, which requires the individual to help those lessfortunate. But why volunteer to work at the Maze, which was once considered the toughest prison in Western Europehousing some of the most ruthless killers and bombers? The volunteers find it hard to give a definitive answer. "Is itsomething human beings do or ought to do? Is it that their Christian beliefs were incensed at how the families of prisonerswere also made to suffer by the authorities? Possibly," theyadmit. It is the Quaker that believes there is a piece of God in“I was so movedby the appeal thatI volunteered”everyone. Their task was not to judge, but many did believethat the families of prisoners were innocent.The inability to point to any one particular cause suggeststhat maybe it is the totality of reasons both conscious andunconscious. Whatever their reasons many Quakersimmediately volunteered for the Quaker Service Committee.For many years they prepared and served up food to thevisitors. It was not haute cuisine but it was hot and filling. Likethe outside world the makeshift portacabins of the visiting area were also strictly segregated but the volunteers recallthat they found prison visitors generally congenial and well mannered to each other and also to the Quaker canteen andcrèche staff.There is the opinion that a lot of young men became involved out of peer pressure and that their strong ideologicalbeliefs came later. In this way the volunteers who were mostly women, felt able to empathise with the mothers and wivesof the young men locked up in the Maze and acknowledge that their own children could have also been fodder forthe paramilitaries.Most volunteers remember their time in the Maze as rather uneventful with few incidents if any. There are fond memoriesof the chats and craic with the volunteer drivers who drove relatives to the Maze.Images and impressions of Long Kesh still remain vivid among those hardworking Quakers volunteers. The ominous andanonymous look out posts, the high steel fencing topped by deadly razor wire and the loud clump click of a hundred lockson a hundred gates still haunt the prisoners, prisoner's relatives and the Quaker volunteers.
Martie Rafferty was one of those whom believed that ‘the problems of Caesar were Caesar's’ and should not be allowed toenter the rarefied heights of personal spiritual quest. Yet for Martie, volunteering at Long Kesh became a spiritual journeythat has effected her entire life. At a Quaker meeting she heard a profound plea for help at the Quaker centre at the Maze."I was so moved by the appeal that I volunteered," she said.With pounding heart she approached the closed, dark and forbidding world of the HMP Maze unaware of what to expect.Today Martie still remembers the haunting faces of those coming for a visit. Queues stretched all the way to the back doorespecially on ‘Derry Day’. The day when busload after busload of hungry relatives came from the northwest."Some came to us intears, worried, angry,hurt; sometimes fragileand we shared in a lot ofthe personal pain,” shesaid. Still, for every downside there was analternative and she alsoremembers sharing inthe laughter, friendshipand hope. As a youngMartie Rafferty dealingwith families of“some came to us in tears,worried, angry, hurt; sometimesfragile and we shared in a lotof the personal pain”prisoners, she was taught about endurance, personal loyalty and the raw courage of relatives.Looking back over the decades she recalls her first visit inside the prison to meet a prisoner group. Her stomach in knotsand head throbbing she was now coming face to face with her nightmare. How should she react? What should she say?Why was she doing this? Here in front of her was not some herd of monsters but human beings. The contrast was stark. Allher apprehension and fear evaporated. She found to her amazement that she came to know, respect and more importantlyvalue as friends, some of the individuals she met.Martie is of the opinion that the Maze can really only be understood at a deep level by those who in some way directlyshared the experience. In the early days of the Nissan huts, which then give way to the H Blocks, life inside was harsh andthe draconian rules strictly adhered to by the prison regime. Martie's experience of the Maze was that of a place ofenormous contradictions that deepened her own spirituality. It was a place of great pain, frustration and restriction but thiswas matched by the human laughter, friendship, courage and growth.Perhaps what has become clear during the research of this article is that understanding has still to be found. Perhaps it’sbecause Northern Ireland is still a very divided society that any comprehension of the problem of the Long Kesh experiencecan only be partial. And perhaps it's also the reason why so many of the Quaker volunteers have yet to unravel why theydid what they did.
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