A prominent Kenyan Irish political and community activist and the newly elected Mayor of Derry & District of Strabane opens Scariff Harbour Festival over the August Bank Holiday week-end.
SDLP Cllr Lilian Seenoi-Barr will also receive a Civic Reception hosted by Killaloe Municipal District of Clare County Council at their offices in Scariff at 6pm on Friday 2nd August.
Describing herself as a ‘Derry Girl’ and a proud member of the Maasai tribe from the Narok region, in the southern Rift Valley, west of Nairobi, she came to Derry as a refugee in 2010 in search of safety and a better life. She brought with her a commitment to justice, freedom and hope, values that inspired her work in the North West Migrant Forum and now brings to her role as first citizen of Derry.
‘It is a measure of how far we have come in over 20 years of Scariff Harbour Festival,’ said Mike Rodgers, Chair of the Harbour Festival Committee. ‘The first festival in Scariff was opened by the then SDLP leader, Mark Durkan and the late David Ervine, leader of the PUP, this year we are especially pleased to welcome the first black Mayor of Derry & District of Strabane, SDLP Cllr Lilian Seenoi-Barr. It is indicative of a changing Ireland and continues our commitment to North/South links,’ he said.
A chance meeting with John Hume outside Sainsbury In Derry led the new Mayor into politics and the SDLP. She had no idea who he was at the time but was hugely impacted when he spoke to her. On discovering her African heritage, he told her ‘Derry is now your home’. She believes that she has a clear understanding of what politics can do for people and considers it a privilege to serve the people of Derry & Strabane, promising, despite racial abuse and death threats, that she will be a Mayor for all.
The fact that her father was a doctor and her mother left school at the age of 10, meant that education was hugely important in her growing up. She and her brother founded an education rescue project helping girls to go to school, get scholarships and an education and make something of their lives. But it was because of her autistic son, Brian and for his safety that she left Kenya to come to Ireland. Since coming to Derry, she has married Paul Barr and created a home in the Foyle side city.
Scariff Harbour Festival 2024 in association with Waterways Ireland runs from Thursday 1st August – Sunday 4th August. It opens with a performance at the Church of the Sacred Heart by The Celtic Tenors, with their unique rendition of beautiful Celtic songs, uplifting classics, a capellas and contemporary songs. From Meath, Wicklow and Omagh, the male trio travel the world enjoying appreciative audiences.
Other musical events include:  Springsteen – A Tribute, Mundy & Paddy Casey, Drops of Green, Quarter Jazz, Jim King, traditional music hosted by Michael Grogan, with set dancing to the Kilfenora Céilà Band and guest singer PJ Murrihy. Walk the Way of the Famine is new this year, telling moving stories at landmark famine sites, new also is a Biodiversity Exhibition of species recorded on the Old Finsa Site in 2023, Old Photos of East Clare in the Town Centre, a talk on Landlords & Landowners in the Scariff area, Heat me Healthy and Happy in the Sauna with Mindfulness & Meditation in the Community Garden. (www.scariff.ie)
The Riverside Activities with UL Sport Adventure are back, also Toons & Balloons, boat & walking tours, scouting capers, kayaking activities, genealogy sessions, cookery demonstration and build your own chocolate bar, McKernan Woollen Mills Open Days and an Open Air Mass, Pop Up Gaeltacht and the much-loved circus performers Babcock & Bobbins, with all the familiar artisan food, Irish Seed Saver, craft fair & street stalls, (www.scariff.ie).
