A crafty solution to social isolation

Human beings have never been as well connected as in our technology-led world. That’s the theory, at least. But despite online connectivity many people have never felt more isolated, and loneliness is not just a problem for older, rural residents, according to Norah Mahony.

Norah, a mature student in Community Development at NUIG, feels so strongly about this that she has set up a voluntary organisation to bring people together.

The charity, Friends Ireland, aims to tackle social isolation by organising events in community locations, where people can come together to share hobbies and their interests. It does this via classes, courses, and crafts, all organised by volunteers, with tutors involved giving their time for free.

Norah, who lives between Ardrahan and Craughwell, is from Loughrea originally. She and her siblings moved to England when she was four when her parents separated. They moved back to Ireland 10 years later, settling in a rural area outside Loughrea. For a teenager who had been reared in an urban UK environment, the move was not easy.

“I love Ireland now and it’s home now, but at the time it was difficult,” Norah says.

In England she had attended a huge secondary school with over 4,000 students and she found the transition to a smaller Irish school difficult.

As one of seven children Norah was never lonely, and she did make friends at school. But because she had missed out on learning Irish dancing, music and sports from childhood – and all of these were popular locally – she struggled to find her niche initially.

However, even then she was interested in working in the community and had a reputation in her own family as the one who would always bring home strays and try to fix things for people.

“The rest of them would be laughing at me,” she recalls, wryly.

But that community interest opened up new horizons for her.

“I did a lot of volunteer work after school, with groups like the Samaritans and Age Action and found it a great way of meeting people.”

After a brief period in England, Norah moved back to Galway and at 23, returned to education, taking a Fás access course and then going to NUIG where she studied Spanish. Now she is in her third year of a four-year degree in Community Development and it is this course that led her to set up Friends.

The idea had been developing in her head “for years”, and in August 2013, she and a colleague at NUIG organised a walk in Rinville Park with the idea of getting participants to give feedback on her concept.

This was done via a questionnaire about isolation in the community and how to tackle it.

To Norah’s surprise, the participants were of all ages, with one 22-year-old woman taking part. Norah had initially felt that a social group was most needed by older people, but after that experience, she revised her opinion and decided that it would be open to all adults.

The questionnaire responses showed that people felt classes would be a good way of meeting people, so Norah started looking for volunteers to share their skills. She also needed to find free venues for the classes as she had absolutely no money.

One place that has offered huge support is Ballybane Library on the east side of Galway City, where classes are held regularly. Currently there is a free course in computers, tablets and smartphones in the library. Many of the students are older people, while the tutors are all young, a couple of them from Spain and Brazil, so it’s a great way from people from different backgrounds to meet. It also allows foreign students to improve their English, so everybody benefits.

Tuam’s Traveller Resource Centre hosted its first Friends-run computer classes this week, and again the room was given for free, something Norah is grateful for.

“It’s hard enough to get space,” she says. “It’s my ambition to open our own space, maybe in Athenry or Oranmore.”

Such a centre could also operate a charity shop, to fundraise for Friends Ireland, she adds.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.