Sunday 20th October: A Life in Twelve Parts by Carlo Gébler voice by Ciarán McMenamin
Malachy is one of twelve children living with his family in a poorly built rented cottage, outside Enniskillen. His father cycles part of the way to work and gets a lift the rest of the way. There is never enough money. He knows there are different sides people are on, there is them and us. At fifteen he leaves school and starts at Coulter’s coal yard, mostly doing delivery work. At seventeen he throws more cash than he need in to the bucket when he buys a copy of An Phoblacht on a Saturday night out by the local GAA Club. It is noted. He feels pride, which is not something he often enjoys. His future is sealed.
On considering his story, Carlo has says…’…In his life as a prison teacher in the north Carlo Gébler met many paramilitaries. He says ‘they would express regret but that it was caveated; they hadn’t done that they’d done freely. Circumstances had made them act as they had’. His story A Life in Twelve Parts, is about one such individual. Gébler says, ‘we need to hear stories about men like Malachy because in the Ireland coming down the tracks, he will be your and my neighbour. We can’t have the Ireland we want, only the one that’s given us. That will be the true state of us.’
Carlo Gébler – Spoken Stories