The End Of Year Album 2024

As we approach the end of 2024, we’re presented with the unique opportunity to look back on the journey of 2024. In this video, we take you through Afri’s efforts over 2024 to build a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world through events, publications, films, and activities.

This moment also presents a chance to cast our gaze towards the possibilities 2025 holds—a significant year as Afri turns 50! 2025 marks five decades of Afri actively opposing war, promoting food sovereignty, and tackling climate change. We will celebrate this momentous anniversary in September 2025 – watch this space! Lastly, this moment is also especially important for us to express our heartfelt gratitude to you, our community of friends and supporters. Our work would not be possible without your steadfast support, compassion and solidarity! We wish you and your loved ones a peaceful 2025 and hope to see you at some of our events!

Reflections from our Teacher Training Day

Last Wednesday, November 20th, we hosted a fun and challenging workshop, diving into how teachers can cultivate emotional intelligence, empathy and empowerment when exploring global issues through drama-based activities and other creative methodologies 🌏 

Led by Pete Mullineaux, participants explored how to:

  • foster dialogue about global issues 
  • model methods of conflict transformation in the classroom
  • support emotional intelligence, with a significant focus on awareness, expression, empathy and decision-making in solidarity 
  • facilitate deeper emotional connection to issues through storytelling and simulations to motivate students to take action

Many activities came from our resource, Interdependence Day, which uses drama to explore global issues. From role-playing scenarios and simulations to collaborative problem-solving exercises, everyone walked away with new insights and practical tools to engage and empower with topics that can often be overwhelming, like the military-industrial complex, global hunger, and forced displacement. 

Thank you to everyone who participated 🌱

The passion and energy in the room blew us away. Teachers have highlighted the need for practical ways to support emotional connection to issues, cultivate attitudes and values in school, such as compassion and empathy, and develop essential skills, like critical thinking and problem-solving, to support global citizenship. We hope this training did just that!

If you are a secondary school teacher and would like to be added to our mailing list, use our resources, or participate in student workshops exploring themes such as global hunger, war, and forced displacement, please contact katie@afri.ie. 

Our next teacher training will take place on March 20th, 2025,  focusing on using our new Resource for Secondary School Teachers, Slí na Síochána, by Nicola Winters. 

Let’s sow seeds of peace wherever we can!

Afri’s Hedge School 2024 at TU Dublin Blanchardstown

On Wednesday, November 13th, 2024, we held our 12th annual Hedge School in partnership with TU Dublin in Blanchardstown. Our Hedge School harks back to the informal gatherings in Ireland that provided education at a time when strict laws suppressed schooling. This history serves as a reminder of how dominating powers can restrict, withhold, or distort knowledge. Today, our annual Hedge School holds space for humans’ innate need to share, learn, and take action for a just, equitable, and sustainable world.

This powerful student-led event delved into the justice issues of Palestine, housing, and gender equality, framed within the very apt theme of the Hedge School ‘Human Rights for Humanity’. The video below beautifully captures the workshops, speakers, discussion, stalls, music, art, and, of course, tree planting. Together, we explored pathways of solidarity, centred on Fannie Lou Hamer’s words: “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Teacher Training: Cultivating Emotional Intelligence for a More Peaceful World

Calling all Secondary School Teachers! Harness the power of creative skills and strategies to create a more peaceful world!

When: Wednesday, November 20th, 10.30am – 3 pm

Where: Carmelite Community Centre (56 Aungier Street D02 T258 Dublin 2)

Join us for an engaging and transformative training designed specifically for secondary school teachers led by the fantastic facilitator Pete Mullineaux. This interactive session focuses on building emotional intelligence (EI) in classrooms through creative methodologies, to empower students and foster a more peaceful and just world within our classrooms and communities.

Workshop Highlights:

– Understanding Emotional Intelligence: Explore the critical components of EI and why it is essential in the educational environment. Learn how emotional awareness can enhance communication, conflict transformation, and student engagement.

– Practical Strategies: Participate in hands-on activities that offer practical strategies for integrating emotional intelligence into your teaching practices. From developing empathy in students to managing classroom dynamics, you’ll discover tools that can positively impact your approach to education.

– Creating Peaceful Classrooms: Delve into cultivating a more harmonious classroom atmosphere. Learn how to recognise and address emotional triggers, promote mindfulness among students, and encourage open dialogue.

– Building a Just World: Understand the role of educators in shaping a just society. By fostering emotional intelligence, teachers can empower students to become compassionate global citizens capable of contributing to positive change.

– Interactive Discussions: Engage in meaningful conversations with fellow educators, sharing experiences and insights to enrich your teaching practice and contribute to a supportive community of growing EI advocates.

Who Should Attend:

This workshop is ideal for secondary school teachers, school management, Youthreach tutors, and educators committed to cultivating empathy and emotional intelligence for a more peaceful educational environment and world.

About the Facilitator:

Pete Mullineaux is a long-time facilitator of Global Citizenship in schools. He’s published several educational resources, including Interdependence Day – Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals through Drama for All Ages (Afri, 2021). He’s also written articles for Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review (Centre for Global Education, Belfast). His recent poetry collection We are the Walrus focuses on the environment, while emotional intelligence as part of developmental learning is imaginatively explored in a novel, Jules & Rom – Sci-fi meets Shakespeare (Matador 2021).

Costs:

The workshop is completely free for teachers to participate in. This is thanks to the grant we received from WorldWise Global Schools. Find out more about WorldWise Global Schools here: https://www.worldwiseschools.ie/

See you soon!

Don’t miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding of emotional intelligence and learn how to apply it in your teaching practice. Let’s shape a more peaceful and just world for our students!

To find out more or register, access the Eventbrite page here

 

Afri Hedge School 2024

Date: 13th of November 2024

Location: TU Dublin, Blanchardstown Campus

Description: Get ready for an exciting learning experience at Afri Hedge School 2024! Join us for a day filled with insightful workshops, engaging discussions, and networking opportunities. Don’t miss out on this chance to expand your knowledge and connect with like minded individuals.

Tickets are free, but registration is essential. To find out more or to register on Eventbrite, follow this link

Contribution by Donal O’Kelly at the Famine Walk 2024

‘On Thursday I heard Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, banned from receiving her prize at Frankfurt Book Fair, talk about how her parents kept silent about what they endured in the Nakba of 1948. It took her thirty years to realise they couldn’t talk about it. As humans we find it hard to talk about the memory of being rendered powerless. Continue reading “Contribution by Donal O’Kelly at the Famine Walk 2024”

Famine Walk 2024

The Doolough Famine Walk will take place on Saturday, May 18th 2024.

Once again, this year, walkers will gather in Louisburgh for conversation, talks and music before being ferried by bus to the start of the walk. Retracing the steps of several hundred people who made this journey in search of food during An Gorta Mór, walkers will make their way through the spectacular Doolough Valley in the course of this iconic journey.

View the brochure here

Register on Eventbrite here

Please assemble for registration in Louisburgh from 11am. Shuttle buses will bring walkers to the starting point from approx. 12.40pm. A brief ceremony (5 minutes) will take place at the Famine Memorial in Delphi Lodge before walkers return to Louisburgh. Please note, there is no parking available at Delphi Lodge. The walk is approximately 11 miles and a shuttle car will be available along the route if needed.

We are delighted to have as our Walk Leaders Faten Sourani, lawyer and advocate for human rights and social justice, with a particular focus on the rights of the Palestinian people and Donal O’Kelly, Dublin-born writer, performer and activist who has been involved in many Afri projects over the years since the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strike in Dublin in 1984. Music will be provided by the brilliant Irish-Palestinian artist Roisin El Cherif  accompanied by Katie O’Connor.

Since 1988, our annual Famine Walk has shed light on the interconnectedness of the tragedy of An Gorta Mór in Ireland with modern-day injustices worldwide. For nearly four decades, we have focused on human rights violations all around the world, from Belize, East Timor, El Salvador, Guatemala, South Africa, to the Niger Delta. As we remember our ancestors, we stand in solidarity with those all over the world for whom the experience of deprivation, destruction and death is a current reality, and use it to struggle for a more just future.

At our first Walk, Niall O’Brien, a Columban priest, just released from a Philipino prison summarised our shared experience with the Philippines stating, “if the difference between famine and starvation is that famine is caused by natural forces, while starvation is man-made, then An Gorta Mór was not a famine but a great and deliberate starvation, because there was no lack of food in Ireland at the time.” He went on to say, “be shocked but be not surprised, the same holds true in much of the global south today.”

This sentiment rings true today, having devastating consequences all over the world. In the Congo, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, millions of people face hunger and starvation at the hands of those who have the power to prevent it. But these crises are not isolated. War anywhere threatens peace and security everywhere. This is evident with the war in Ukraine, with the conflict not only devastating the people of Ukraine, but having a detrimental effect on food availability across the world. In what was once heralded as “the breadbasket of Europe” and one of the largest grain producers in the world, the war has seriously impacted Ukraine’s capacity for food production. More than this, the threat of a strike on a nuclear power plant poses an existential threat on a global scale.

This year, we dedicate the Famine Walk to highlighting and standing against genocide in Palestine. Just as Niall O’Brien highlighted the deliberate starvation of the Irish people, we want to shed light on the ongoing apartheid and colonialism to which Palestine is being subjected. Israel’s brutal bombardment and occupation, the use of imposed starvation and the countless other forms of violence being committed against the Palestinians, are unconscionable. For this Famine Walk, we want to promote action. We know the hearts and minds of the Irish people are with Palestine, but we need our government to put these feelings into political action. In the future, our actions, or lack thereof, will record us as people of courage and action, or as complicit. In the words of Malala, “there’s a moment when you have to choose to be silent or stand up’.

During An Gorta Mór, more than 26 million bushels of grain were exported from Ireland to England. We must never forget the million people who died from starvation or hunger related diseases and more than a million forcibly displaced at the hands of colonial rule. This experience deepens our empathy with people who have faced great injustices since then, including the horrors of the Holocaust and the abomination of the Nakba.

The Famine Walk gives us an opportunity to commemorate, learn and act. It is a poignant journey echoing the past and striving for a more peaceful future, giving us an opportunity to stand for humanity and against injustice. Let’s walk together with purpose and determination.

Faten Sourani is a lawyer and advocate for human rights and social justice, with
a particular focus on the rights of the Palestinian people. Coming from the Gaza
Strip, Faten has pursued her studies and professional endeavors in Galway and
Dublin. Over the past few years, she has collaborated with dedicated
individuals in the felds of international law, human rights research, and
advocacy to amplify the voices of those affected by confict and oppression in
the MENA region. Currently, she supports the work of the NGO Front Line
Defenders by supporting human rights defenders in the occupied Palestinian
territory.
Donal O’Kelly is a Dublin-born writer, performer and activist who has been
involved in many Afri projects over the years since the Dunnes Stores
anti-apartheid strike in Dublin in 1984. He considers the genocidal attack on
the Palestinian people a culmination of the repressive forces operating since
then, such as the arms industry of the rich white world, the beneficiary in
money and political infuence of the slaughter in Gaza. He is writing a book on
twenty-five years of Direct Provision in Ireland and the criminalisation of
migration.
The brilliant Irish-Palestinian artist Roisin El Cherif hails from Galway and draws
influence from Tracy Chapman, Stevie Nicks and Daughter to create a sound
that blurs the boundaries between folk, country and indie-pop. She recently
sang at the National day of Action for Palestine in Dublin and also at the ‘Artists
for Palestine’ concerts in the Olympia and the 3 Arena last year.

Registration and opening ceremony

  • Registration begins at 11.00am in the local town hall (€25 registration fee per adult participant – this includes payment for the shuttle bus). Even if you have pre-registered you will need to go to the registration desk to collect a ticket to board the bus.
  • This will be followed by a short opening ceremony. WE ASK ALL WALKERS TO PLEASE BE PATIENT DURING REGISTRATION AND THE OPENING CEREMONY. The opening ceremony is a very important part of the Famine Walk experience with inspirational speakers and wonderful music.
  • Shuttle buses will bring walkers to the starting point from approx. 12.40pm. BUSES WILL NOT DEPART UNTIL THE OPENING CEREMONY IS COMPLETED, SO PLEASE DO NOT APPROACH THE BUSES UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE ORGANISERS.

Please see the Information Leaflet for Further information

Register on Eventbrite here

Death at Doolough by James Barry

Féile na Beatha Ceatharlach – Carlow’s Spring ‘Festival of Living’

Carlow’s Spring festival of living takes place on March 19th this year, with a range of compelling events throughout the day. Féile na Beatha has grown out of the Famine Walk which has taken place from South East Technological University to the nearby Famine Graveyard for more than a decade. 

Continue reading “Féile na Beatha Ceatharlach – Carlow’s Spring ‘Festival of Living’”