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PAST
EVENTS
Lisa: 'When we first arrived at Cork Airport, there was great panic. The members rushed up to me, saying "the footrests are missing from Carl's wheelchair, the footrests are missing from Carl's wheelchair." (All wheelchairs have "footrests" just above floor level. The person sitting in the wheelchair rests their feet on the footrests.)
I contacted the airline staff, and they immediately searched the aeroplane for the missing footrests. They looked in the plane and the "hold" (where the baggage is stored) but they found no footrests. After an hour of negotiating with Aer Lingus airport staff, we finally agreed that we would borrow some footrests from the airline until ours were found. At that moment, Minnie asked Carl again, "are you sure you brought the footrests with you this morning?" After an hour of searching, Carl remembered that he had left the footrests at home!'
The friendly hotel staff greeted us and we settled into our spacious rooms. Some of us were lucky to have bedrooms with wonderful sea views. On the second day, the coach driver, Willy, took us on a spectacular scenic drive around the Ring of Kerry, on the southeast of Ireland. It is the most mystical and unspoilt area of Ireland, with some landscape carved out of rock formed in the Ice Age. It also has some of the finest beaches in Europe. We travelled through Killarney National Park and its famous lakes. The journey was rather bumpy as we were on rocky and winding roads, resulting in rather sore bums at the end of the day! Ouch! On our way, we stopped for coffee at a café in a small, remote village. We were surprised to be greeted by a woman there who signed quite fluently in BSL to us. She told us that she is British and worked in London as a teacher with deaf children. But she fell in love with an Irish man and got married and moved to live in Ireland. She was so friendly and we had a long, lovely conversation with her. Fancy that! In the evening, at the hotel, we were entertained with lively Irish dancing performed by children and young people. It enticed some of us to join in the gaiety, dancing until very late in the evening. I really did admire the boundless energy of some of the older generation in our group!! The next day - 7 July 2005 - we received the very bad news from home about the London bombings, so we were not in the best of spirits. However, we explored the city of Cork and had lunch there. Cork is Ireland's third city, after Belfast and Dublin. It is built with the river going through it and there are many bridges to cross! Lisa: 'After our morning in Cork, we had arranged to meet at 2pm at the coach. Everyone managed to wander around Cork, do their shopping, eat lunch and find their way back to the coach … except for one person. Susu and I both received panicked text messages from our interpreter, Peter Abraham, saying, "Help - I'm lost! I am in front of the Ambassador Hotel and can't find my way". No problem … Willy, the coach driver, very kindly made a small detour to rescue our missing interpreter'.
That afternoon, we had planned to visit the old fishing harbour of Kinsale. But we cancelled this to go on a boat trip from our hotel to Garnish Island and around the bay. We explored the wonderful botanical gardens on Garnish Island and, on the boat trip, we saw some seals and even caught a glimpse of Maureen O'Hara's house. On the Friday, it was time to say goodbye to our first hotel. We went on our way to the fair city of Dublin, famous for its familiar song about pretty Molly Malone who wheeled her barrow through the street crying "Cockles and Mussels Alive Alive O!" Her statue stands in the city and has become an unofficial well-known emblem of the city … which is also famous for its many pubs and nightlife! On our way to the hotel, we visited the notable Waterford Crystal Factory and had an interpreted guided tour around the factory, seeing how their beautifully crafted crystal items are made. Of course, some of us bought some things from the crystal shop there.
Lisa: 'At the Waterford Crystal Factory the guide was explaining how every piece of crystal has a symbol of a seahorse on it. Susu and I were astonished that Peter knew the sign for a seahorse. Afterwards, he told us that he had made up the sign on the spot!' We stayed at the City West Golf Hotel, situated about 10 miles from Dublin - a huge four star exclusive hotel with enormous grounds. It even had its own helicopter pad! Some of us went to the sports centre for swimming and indulged in some pampering in the jacuzzi. I wonder if any member of the group had a massage there?! On the Saturday, we went to Terenure Synagogue in Dublin for the Shabbat morning service. We were warmly welcomed by the Irish Jewish community there and were served a delicious Shabbat lunch there. An Irish Sign Language Interpreter greeted us and we also met a sister of one of our JDA volunteers, Hennie Benson. In the afternoon, it was free time for everyone including Willy the driver - he needed it! As we all know, our Harry Newman loves to go shopping
for clothes and loves to look smart (for the JDA ladies maybe!).
In Dublin, he decided to buy some pairs of brand new stylish
underpants. Lisa: 'In the evening, we were lucky enough to get the last few theatre seats to see Riverdance. The show was spectacular and finished just in time for us to catch our coach back to the hotel at 11pm. When everyone was on the coach, I decided that it would be nice to have a little time to myself. I said "goodnight" to everyone and started to hop off the coach … but they wouldn't let me go! My own father would not have been as protective over me as the members. Everyone said "It's 11 o'clock! You can't go out all alone, it is dangerous wandering around at this time of night!" I thought this was very funny, because I have travelled alone to many places all over the world, and I also come from Johannesburg - one of the world's most dangerous cities. I did not think that a little walk round Dublin would be a problem! Eventually, with Kay's help, I managed to convince everyone that I would be fine on my own and went out by myself. I walked around for a short while and saw many police cars and fire engines speeding along. I started to worry a bit - maybe Dublin was more dangerous than I expected. Then I saw the reason for all the chaos - three boys had jumped into the river and the police and fire department were trying to fish them out! When I arrived back at the hotel, the members all said "Thank G-d you are alright - we were so worried!" I walked round to let everyone know that I was okay.'
Lisa: Sunday 10 July was a perfect summer's day. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather. At Powerscourt Waterfall, Lydia Handscomb, Neil Schriek and Peter Abraham went climbing over the rocks and into the water. They kept calling me to join them. I went to cool down my feet a little but the other three had different ideas. Suddenly, I was being drenched from all sides - Lydia, Neil and Peter were all laughing and splashing me! Quickly, I ran away, but I was soaked … and I had to smell like a river for the rest of the day!
We bumped into a Deaf Polish man at Powerscourt Waterfall, who signed to us and told us he was staying with some Irish friends and was touring Ireland! It seems that wherever the JDA group goes, we always seem to bump into a Deaf person or group, or a person who can sign in BSL in strange, remote places! Next, we visited Powerscourt Mansion, with its beautiful gardens - 47 acres, in Japanese and Italian style. There was a pet cemetery, where beloved animals were buried, including a cow, dog and rabbit, which endeared us to it. We had lunch at the Terrace Café there. In the afternoon, we went to see the world famous Guinness Factory in Dublin. Here, quite a few of us were eager and drooling badly for our free pints of Guinness!
The Guinness Factory was built in 1759 when Arthur Guinness had a brainwave about making the unique brew. It flourished from a rundown brewery at St James Gate in Dublin and the rest is history. The factory still has its original pipework and steel frames and is built around a massive glass pint structure. From here, Guinness is now exported to 150 countries worldwide.
The tour finished at the rooftop 'Gravity Bar', which has a fantastic, 360-degree panoramic view of Dublin. Here we sat, happily slurping our free pints of Guinness. Later in the holiday, we visited Dublin Castle, originally built in 1204. Over the centuries, the building has had several extensions built onto it. It was an official residence of Royal chief representatives and visiting English Kings. We also visited Kilmainham Jail, which is no longer a working a prison. From the guided tours both here and at Dublin Castle, it was interesting to learn the history from the perspective of the Irish people, fighting against the British armies. Kilmainham Jail was built in 1795 and was one of the largest prisons in Europe. It was filmed in the 1993 movie 'In the Name of the Father' which some of you may have seen. The jail has witnessed many heroic and tragic events in Irish Independence history. It has many dark, murky corridors with thick iron-doored cells, which were previously filled with political prisoners fighting for Irish independence. Some were executed there. It was really, really awesome to visit. All in all, it was an enjoyable holiday, lasting seven days. We all returned to our homeland tired but happy! We learned that Ireland has two emblems - the shamrock and the harp. It's a beautiful place, and the Irish people were so warm and friendly. Many thanks to Lisa Katz for arranging this wonderful and well-planned holiday; to Susu Selkus for so caringly looking after the welfare of everyone in the group; to our muscular volunteers Roger Hellary, Mike Brine and Jonathan Sterne, for pushing the wheelchairs and to our gutsy interpreter, Peter Abraham for his wonderful interpreting, his forever joking and smiling ways and for all his help. Lastly, our gratitude goes to our easygoing coach driver Willy, who drove us skilfully around the winding roads of Ireland and went out of his way to make our holiday comfortable. Lisa: A huge thank you also to Kay for all her hard work, support and amazing peace-keeping skills! Kay Kaufman Here's an Irish blessing for you all: May the road rise to meet
you,
Kay Kaufman
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Lydia
and Peter larking about
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