The Repair Café Belfast started just over four years ago, it is a community initiative that provides something novel to Belfast. Run by volunteers, it offers a place for repairs, a sense of community and if you’re keen, a place to learn the art of repairs. But is it about more than ‘fixing stuff’?

Chris Harding, Treasurer of the Repair Café, became involved after moving to Belfast from Doha, where he had used repair cafes, which became popular in Amsterdam. While he was drawn to The Repair Café for the practicalities of being able to repair something, he stayed for the community feel.

“People come for the repair but they stay for the people….[they] sit together, stories get told and connections are made,” he said.

Already it is clear that the Repair Café is about much more than just repairing broken things. But beyond a sense of community, it also aims to empower. While volunteers are carrying out repairs, guests are welcome to sit and watch, picking up a few things along the way.

Chris reflected that “most of us go through life not knowing the joy and satisfaction that can come from being able to do certain things yourself.”

“[It] empowers people, by sharing skills and knowledge, so that they can experience that satisfaction for themselves”.

While most of us may know that some of the things we routinely buy are not designed for longevity, we may not realise that often repairing is not even an option. Chris highlights that he has come across products that have been designed so that they cannot be repaired. These barriers to repair can be as simple as proprietary screws which prevent you from accessing the inner workings of your toaster, for example. But it’s about more than a broken toaster, it’s about exercising a right not to buy into a throw-away, consumerist society. As Chris says “disposing of stuff feeds the growth narrative” at the centre of the environmental crisis.

Chris suggests that “repairing is political”. It is a call for change, a challenge to the status quo, and a rejection of consumerist society.

The Repair Café is, therefore, more than what it may at first appear- it is a humble community movement, with people at the centre making a big political statement. It expresses a community-based vision for the future, one which rejects our current linear economic model. It rejects what our current economic models demand of us; that we consume and dispose of things on a massive scale.

In the end, fixing our stuff is symbolic of the radical shift in thinking needed for more sustainable economies.

The European Union has legislated for the right to repair, enabling consumers to demand repairs where required, during a period of guarantee. In the UK, government-funded repair shops are already in operation in Wales and Scotland.

For Belfast, as repairs remain low on the political agenda, it will continue to be centred around a community organisation that is looking to expand across Northern Ireland by growing its network of volunteers, while remaining self-funded.

A victim to its own success, the Repair Café is now only doing repairs by booking to ensure that everyone who visits is paired with a volunteer. The volunteers who run the workshops organise themselves based on skills.

On booking, you can select from the main categories which reflect the diverse skills the Repair Café has attracted over the years:; bikes, electronics, IT, sewing, and miscellaneous, for those odds and ends that don’t fit neatly into a category.

Remember, And remember it’s about more than the repairs, you can come just for the people, the stories, and the connections.

Their next workshop will be taking place on 14 May 2022 at the Vault. Keep an eye on their website and social media for more details!

Flavia Gouveia is host of The Eco Scoop and a Liberal Arts student at Queen’s University Belfast.

LIFESTYLE: Is The Repair Café More Than Just A Place To Fix Broken Things?