Out of the twenty years I´ve been living here in Ireland, seventeen I´ve spent living in the same neighbourhood: Adamstown, in West County Dublin.

Adamstown is a really interesting place, quite different from the typical Irish housing estates. It was first projected in the late nineties as a brand new town, following an urban planning model that was similar to those from other European countries. The building of this "strategic development zone" started in 2005, and it was all going fine until the 2008 crisis came along, causing an economic standstill that left the town half built.

Luckily, by then, Adamstown already had its own train station, a creche, two primary schools and planning approval for a secondary school. We thought it was the ideal place for us to start growing roots as a family, so we moved into a rented duplex apartment just beside the creche, with little Irene as a toddler and Alicia a few months from being born.

As years went by, our neighbourhood continued to grow very slowly, alternating phases of moderate building with phases of almost no building at all. But far from becoming "a ghost town" (as the press labelled it sometimes), Adamstown got consolidated as a new community, modern and, above all, very diverse, staying active despite the circumstances. At that time, given the lack of public spaces where people could meet (the community centre would not open its doors until 2018), the primary schools became the main meeting point, making their spaces available for a variety of activities. And as many families had moved from either other countries or other regions of Ireland, having the opportunity to meet and support each other was a massive help as we settled and found our place.

It was during this time, ten years ago, when a beautiful project was born to give a voice to our community: the book called Adamstown my home, a compilation of stories of 27 women and their families, representing the diversity of culture and nationality that´s so intertwined in this neighbourhood; a symbol of a new Ireland.

Because what really makes Adamstown interesting is not its buildings, but its people. It´s a multicultural and intercultural community, with families coming from practically every corner of the world... Just to put this into context: in our primary school, there are kids from about 45 different nationalities, and the vast majority of them, if not all, live in our neighbourhood. And our secondary school is even more diverse, with 52 nationalities. The variety of cultures, ideas and customs our children are growing up with is truly invaluable.

Back to the present, we´re currently going through times of unprecedented building activity, with lots of growth happening in our area; I believe the job will actually be finished this time (and we may even become a whole new town!). We continue to be an international and very diverse community, now with the support of our community centre, which is doing a remarkable job in every possible way. We are blessed with several parks, sports facilities, a commercial area, a health centre just recently built and a library planned for some time in the future.

But also, twenty years after Adamstown´s birth, we have something much more important: a whole generation that has grown up in this new Ireland, being part of a diversity that´s natural to them, merging multiple cultures and building an identity that´s even more complex, rich and nuanced than that of the previous generation.

We couldn´t miss the opportunity to compile some of those stories, ten years after the original book. And that was the origin of Adamstown our home, a very special project created by two of the most beloved and admired members of our community, and quite rightly so: Father John Hassett, who also ideated and coordinated the original book, and Gema Pintor, our community centre manager. The result is a compilation of twenty more stories, several of them spanning more than one generation, of families who call Adamstown their home.

(Photo of the cover of the book Adamstown our home.)

Thanks a million, John and Gema, for counting me in on this project; I´ve really enjoyed being one of the interviewers, and I´ve also learned a lot. Thanks to the other interviewers, Anisa, Bernie, Ita, Michael, Rose and Sunita, and above all, thanks to David, Aida, Joseph, Vicky and John for the time we shared during the interviews.

The interview recordings will become part of Adamstown´s oral archive, and will be available in our library (once it´s built). In the meantime, the book is on sale now, and all proceeds will be split between the three schools in our area (two primary and one secondary) to help children with special needs.

Will there be a part three in 2035? Who knows...