Many of these stories were simply known up to now among families and friends, but were seldom heard in wider society. It is a privilege and very moving to hear the voices of those bereaved or hurt telling their own stories.
As Northern Ireland continues to make the transition from violent conflict to peaceful democracy we believe it is important that these stories are not lost. They highlight the human cost of conflict. They insist that atrocities like these should never be carried out again.
We are profoundly grateful to those who have contributed interviews to Stories from Silence.
The interviews for the first phase of the project were delivered in by Laura Haydon. Later phases were delivered by Susan McKay and Amanda Ferguson.
This latest set of interviews includes some with people who were very young children, even babies, when their parent(s) were killed. Their pain is not diminished by the reality that they have few or no memories of their lost mother or father. Others are with older people, some of whom lost their child decades ago. All of them still experience pain and grief over their loss. We present these new interviews as a group now – later we will move some of them to join the interviews in groups recorded in earlier phases. These new interviews were delivered by Susan McKay, with 2 interviews delivered by Amanda Ferguson.
"They say grief is the price of love"
The words of one of those interviewed for WAVE’s new phase of its highly acclaimed Stories from Silence audio project.