Sinead’s storming success
HER topic may have been stormy, but the weather was anything but when Wexford student Sinead O’Reilly took time out to escape the classroom heat for a very important engagement in Dublin.
Sinead, who has just finished up as a 6th class pupil at the Mercy School, John’s Road, Wexford, was at the National Library of Ireland recently to pick up her award in the Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition 2017.
The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Before the Storm’, exploring how people, especially those living in some of the least well-off regions of the world, prepare for extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Sinéad’s poem, entitled Foreboding, gets across the helplessness to the ravages of storms and hurricanes faced by simple-living communities living on exposed low-lying coasts. Climate change means that these communities can expect to experience the devastating effects of even more frequent extreme weather events.
The competition was judged by poet and former competition-winner Jane Clarke, Aidan Clifford, formerly of City of Dublin Education and Training Board, and Trócaire’s Trish Groves.
Sinéad admitted to a touch of nervousness on being asked to read her poem to the large audience and was delighted with how well the poem was received. Foreboding, along with all the other award-winning poems, has been published in a volume bearing the title Before the Storm.
John Smith, Head of Outreach at Trócaire, spoke of how the organisation is working with some of the most vulnerable communities in Honduras so as to make them better prepared to take action in the face of catastrophic events brought on by climate change.
‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ (DRR) involves making plans to prepare for extreme weather events, to ensure the least amount of damage is caused. DRR is all about being ready ‘before the storm’ hits.
FOREBODING, BY SINEAD O’REILLY
The warning comes in,
Its worse than they thought. In a hurricane’s path,
All items are caught. They think back two decades, To Hurricane Mitch, Destroying the fields,
And crops that were rich. It swept through the land,
Its fingers stretched out,
All houses and trees
Were snatched down its mouth. The hurricane’s hungry, It wants to be fed, It ploughs on, relentless, Fills people with dread. They try to build shelters, Make ways to escape,
But some will not leave For their histories sake. They pile up the sandbags, And build up the walls, They know that tomorrow Some houses will fall. They gather together, And ponder their fate, All they can do now Is sit there and wait.