Alex: Strokestown Famine Museum

On the 28th of September we had the privilege of visiting the Strokestown Famine Museum in western Ireland. After spending the earlier part of the day traipsing around the beautiful Kylemore Abbey, marvelling over the elaborate gardens and luxurious castle, the tragedy of the Irish Potato Famine conveyed at the Museum was a stark and undoubtedly sobering contrast.

The famine, which occurred between 1845 and 1850, was caused by an airborne potato blight that destroyed vast amounts of Irish potato crops. At a time when many of the poorer communities relied on potatoes alone as their main food source (one adult could consume ten to fifteen pounds of potato per day!), this crop failure was understandably disastrous as it left millions starving to death,
unable to feed themselves or their families. Tragically, more than two million people – nearly one-quarter the entire population – either died or emigrated during this time period.

While reading the various displays set up in the museum, I was aghast at the sheer indifference that was so often shown to the poverty-stricken by those who were relatively well-off and comfortable. Perhaps most chilling was the last room, in which were detailed horrors of current famine and poverty occurring in our world today – horrors to which we are so often blind.

On the drive home, I looked out across the wild and beautiful landscape and snapped several photos as Frank, our bus driver, pointed out several of the “lazy beds” and tiny cottage ruins that would have belonged to those affected by the famine. It was hard to believe that a place so picturesque could be the site of such a terrible tragedy, where so many died and watched their loved ones die before them.

Such issues as the Potato Famine have already inspired several difficult class discussions, in which we contemplated how we, as privileged Westmont students, are called to respond in the face of such tremendous suffering. Should we feel guilty? Grateful? Useless? And how can we help those in need without shaming them? These are certainly not easy questions to answer, and I cannot say I have the solutions. But nevertheless I am thankful for the chance to recognise and respond to such exhibits, no matter how difficult they may be to ponder.