There is a story behind LLV, and it begins in a quiet cemetery of the forgotten.
It started off with a fall hike with a friend in New Hampshire. What we found changed everything. No names, no dates, no memorials. Just simple headstones with single numbers displayed as an identifier.
It was devastating to see hundreds of graves off to the side of a hiking trail. There was one sign to describe this site that stated only numbers were on the graves because adding any identifying information was too expensive. All of the people here – their names, stories, and identity – were all erased with only a digit left in their place.
Seeing this enraged me.
How is it possible that this could happen? Why did this happen? Who are the people buried here, and why are people okay with a number representing a life?
All of these thoughts were racing through my mind. I felt upset that people were okay with this. It took all of me to hold back these emotions and continue throughout my day. Later that day during dinner, that I decided that I had to do more research. I needed to know more about what happened there. While at dinner, the research I could easily find stated that the land I hiked through was a poor farm in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
It was a farm where people were described as “the poor, the unfortunate, the sick, the insane and the idiotic.” None of this felt right; it felt disgusting, hurtful, and lonely. I do not understand how we continue in society to be satisfied with the labels that cause this cycle to continue.
At some point in time, we as society decided that this was the norm, that anyone who did not fit into a certain box was deemed an outcast and judged. How can we allow this to continue?
All of the people buried in this cemetery known as the Hillsborough County Poor Farm Cemetery or Pine Grove Cemetery are forgotten, lost, erased, and silenced. I know what it feels like to be known as a statistic, as a number, and to be silenced. It is pain that grows to be a part of your story.
It was that day that myself and the founders of LLV decided that the cycle of the erased voices would not continue. It was that day we decided that their stories would be told. It was that day that the founders created Lantern for Lost Voices.
Photo Credit: Danielle St. Pierre