Responding to injustice in the world caused by war and other violent conflict
Contributions from Donal O’Kelly – ‘Welcome the Stranger’; Emmet Sheerin (Trocáire) ‘Student Activism – A Success Story’ and 3rd year Community and Youth Development students in I.T. Blanchardstown.
Free entry to all – donations welcome to cover costs. Lunch and tea/coffee is provided.
To register go to https://www.eventbrite.ie
Just A Second! Teacher Training for Secondary School Teachers
Monday 12th November 2018, 11am-3pm in the Irish Writer’s Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1
Afri’s ‘Just A Second!’ teacher training for secondary school teachers takes place 12th November 2018 from 11am to 3pm in the Irish Writer’s Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. The training is an energetic, creative and informative experience, demonstrating effective ways of bringing global issues into the classroom. The training is led by a global education expert together with Pete Mullineaux, a leader in the field of combining drama and global education, and author of Just A Second! Exploring Global Issues Through Drama and Theatre.
“I enjoyed the workshop very much. What was most valuable to me was demonstrating how necessary participative methodologies are in teaching Dev Ed (global education). This is something that I haven’t really explored before and it will be very useful to me in the future.” – Participant in the 2017 Afri Teacher training workshop.
Teacher training resources will be provided – including lessons plans for a number of Junior Cycle subjects including English, CSPE, History and Geography.
Teacher substitution cover is available and a light lunch is included in the training as well as a copy of a new educational resource for teachers published by Afri.
How to book
Booking is essential to ensure a place. Contact Afri at admin@afri.ie to express an interest and fill out a registration form.
Registration forms should be returned by 15th October. If booking after that date please contact the office directly on 01 8827563 or by email (admin@afri.ie).
Amazon Activist and Solutionologist
Venue: the Teacher’s Club, Dublin
Date: Monday, August 13th
Time: 7.30pm
(Admission free, donations welcomed)
Nicola Peel is an award winning environmentalist, filmmaker, speaker and solutionist. Nicola has been working in the Ecuadorian Amazon for 18 years on a number of environmental and social projects. Finding solutions to oil spills with fungi, building rainwater systems for indigenous people suffering from contamination due to the oil industry, training farmers in agroforestry to prevent the slash and burn of tropical rain forests and cleaning the beaches of tons of plastic, turning rubbish into a resource.
Nicola’s focus has been to find practical solutions to respond to those in need who are suffering due to resource extraction, poverty and climate change.
She believes that ‘nature is our greatest teacher’ and during her presentation she will give examples on some of the solutions found in Nature.
During her visit to Ireland Nicola will be speaking in:
The Afri Famine Walk is a unique and highly significant annual event in Ireland. Recalling a tragic episode from An Gorta Mór, with reverence and respect, it also promotes compassion, action and solidarity with those oppressed and excluded in today’s world.
Reflections from The Famine Walk Weekend
By Liam Murtagh
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
As part of the Famine Walk weekend, a seminar entitled ‘Food for Thought’ took place on Friday 18th May in Castlebar. It was organised by FEASTA, the Foundation of the Economics of Sustainability and other groups and marked the 20th birthday of the founding of Feasta and the legacy of one of its founders, the late radical economist and author Richard Douthwaite.
Mark Garavan of Feasta highlighted the fact that about 100,000 people died during the Famine in Co Mayo – that’s about the size of the population of the county today. He drew parallels between social policy in the Great Famine and the situation today in many powerful countries when he said that in Ireland some £9.5 million was eventually spent on late and poorly designed ‘relief’ during the Famine period while £14 million went to sustain the military and police forces.
Keynote speaker Peadar Kirby, in a bilingual address, explored ecological parallels in culture, language and resilience – with a backdrop of the Famine, which he said was often termed ‘an Drochshaol’ (the bad life). He focused on the impending challenges for humanity of the crises of climate change and the extinction of species. He concluded by saying that we will need to draw on various resources including from resources from within our cultural traditions of language and spirituality to deal with these challenges that we face.
Reflections and Solidarity at Afri Famine Walk
The fate of people in famine situations and other disasters linked to injustice and oppression was highlighted and reflected on at events in Co Mayo organised by Afri on 19th May. Their 30th Famine Walk from Doolough to Louisburgh is an annual commemoration of the Irish Famine. Afri is an organisation that works on the promotion of global justice and peace, and the reduction of poverty.
The Afri Famine Walk retraced a journey of horror which occurred on 30th/31st March 1849. Two poor-law commissioners were to assess people in Louisburgh, entitling them as ‘paupers’ to meagre relief rations. The inspection never happened, but the people were instructed to appear at Delphi Lodge at 7am the following morning. They walked the hilly road in wintry, snowy conditions. At Delphi Lodge they were refused food, or admission to the workhouse, and so began their weary return journey, on which many, even hundreds, died.
Afri recalls the dead and displaced of the Great Hunger – and all those facing the same avoidable cruelties in today’s world. The Famine Walk leaders who were selected to represent the spirit of resistance and transformation addressed the walkers in a packed Louisburg Hall before the walk. They included Richard Moore, who was blinded as a 10-year-old child by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier in Derry during the Troubles. Richard was inspired by his own experience and by Afri’s work to found the charity ‘Children in Crossfire’. Another 2018 walk leader was Fatin Al Tamimi, Chairperson of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign. This year is the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Palestine war. Fatin spoke about the current suffering of the people of Gaza and her personal desire to be reunited with her sister who is living there.
At Delphi Lodge the walkers were addressed by Joe Murray of Afri and by the Manager of Delphi Lodge, Michael Wade who welcomed everyone. After a tree planting ceremony, singer Lisa Lambe gave a haunting rendition of the song ‘The West Awake’ before the walkers started on their journey through the stunningly scenic Doolough Valley and on to Louisburgh. Like the 1849 walkers, not all the 2018 walkers, including myself, could manage the full journey. However, unlike the 1849 walkers we received help in that we were transported for the later section of the journey to Louisburgh.
Liam Murtagh is involved in Transition Monaghan and regularly writes a ‘Sustainability Matters’ column in the Northern Standard newspaper.
2018 marked 30 years of the Doolough Famine Walk and was attended by around 300 people. The weather was good and the day was memorable with inspirational words from Richard Moore and Fatin al Tamimi and stunning songs and music from Lisa Lambe and Nigel Linden. Here is a short film which captures how the walk went.
Michael Davitt is one of Ireland’s great unsung heroes.
His work and commitment produced extraordinary results around land ownership in Ireland.
He influenced such people as Mathatma Gandhi and is strongly associated with ‘boycott’ – a non-violent methodology which is a relevant as ever in the world today.
In 1996, Michael Davitt’s granddaughter, Gráinne, joined Marciana Funez and Christy Moore as leaders of the Famine Walk.
Two important events are taking place in Co Mayo in May which aim to remember the Irish Famine and to explore its links with some of today’s sustainability challenges in Ireland and globally. Both events, which are free of charge, will take place on May 18th before Afri’s annual Famine Walk (Saturday 19th May, Doolough Co. Mayo). A daytime event, ‘Conversations on Cultural Resilience – Famine, Food, Energy & Culture’ will take place from 10-5pm in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Castlebar, Co Mayo. Subsequently, an evening celebration of Cultural Resilience with further conversation, ceol and craic will take place in Blousers public house in Westport from 8-11 pm.
The events have been organised by a number of leading Irish NGOs and groups who have come together including FEASTA (the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability), the human rights NGO Afri, the community resilience NGO Cultivate, a recently formed Irish language group, Teacht Aniar, and Food Sovereignty Ireland.
The open format of the events will be based on conversation through culture, using the Great Famine as a backdrop, reflecting on the policies and politics of famines. The events are being held in solidarity with the global justice movement and will cover issues such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, climate action and food sovereignty.
One of the event organisers, Mark Garavan, FEASTA member and lecturer with GMIT Castlebar says:
“County Mayo was one of the counties which suffered most when the great famine hit between 1845 – 1848. The recent extreme weather events in Ireland, international instability and the refugee crisis have focussed many minds on the fragility of the global economy and the vulnerability of ecosystems worldwide. There is a need to build resilience on a grassroots local level whilst also reinforcing global solidarity and justice. Unfortunately there is often a lack of dialogue on how we should go about this. The upcoming events aim to stimulate such a discussion and Mayo is the place where it can begin.”
‘Food for Thought’ will also explore and celebrate the legacy of the radical economist and founder of Feasta, Richard Douthwaite, who is known internationally for his writing on different aspects of sustainability creative and his work with communities in Ireland and abroad.
All events are open to members of the public to attend.
To register for the free events or see the complete schedule visit: https://foodforthoughtmayo.eventbrite.ie/.
Remembering and Solidarity
Saturday 19th May, Doolough Co. Mayo
Registration from 12.45pm in Louisburgh Town hall
Beginning at 1.30pm
Walk Leaders: Richard Moore, Fatin al Tamimi
Music: Lisa Lambe
Famine Walk 1988-2018
Download the brochure or the sponsorship form
Saturday 19th May 2018 will see the 30th anniversary of the Doolough Famine Walk. Afri first organised the walk in 1988 to commemorate the Great Hunger of 1845-50. Regions such as Mayo illustrated how a natural setback such as potato blight can mutate to disaster in the context of unchecked market forces, lack of democratic structures and resources, and a pitiless, moralistic ideology. While some £9.5 million was eventually spent on late and poorly-designed ‘Relief’, £14 million went to sustain the military and police forces.
Our walk retraces a journey of horror which occurred on 30th/31st March 1849. Two poor-law commissioners were to assess people in Louisburgh, entitling them as ‘paupers’ to meagre relief rations. The inspection never happened, but the people were instructed to appear at Delphi Lodge at 7 the following morning. They walked the hilly road in wintry, even snowy, conditions. At Delphi Lodge they were refused food, or admission to the workhouse, and so began their weary return journey, on which many, even hundreds, died.
Afri, drawing on the local history of Louisburgh and Doolough, recalls the dead and displaced of the Great Hunger – and all those facing the same grotesque and avoidable cruelties in today’s world, from the so-called ‘War on Terror’ to the indignities of ‘Direct Provision’. We walk the famine road to remember the causes of hunger and poverty in our world – political, military, economic and environmental – and our failure to learn the lessons of our own history. Our Walk Leaders eloquently represent the spirit of resistance and transformation:
In the twentieth-anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement we welcome Richard Moore, who was blinded as a 10-year-old child by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He reacted by founding Children in Crossfire, declaring: “I learned to see life in a different way. I may have lost my sight, but I have my vision”.
2018 is also significant in that it marks the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, and in this context, we are honoured to welcome Fatin Al Tamimi, Chairperson of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
The extraordinary voice of Lisa Lambe will provide the music for this year’s walk. We are delighted to have Lisa as part of this year’s walk line up.
Register online here (alternatively you can raise sponsorship to help Afri continue our work – just bring this to the registration desk on the day) and see who’s going on Facebook
Read an article about the Famine Walk and BBC Radio 4 Ramblings Show.
Find out about our ‘Music From A Dark Lake’ CD, a compilation of songs from past Famine Walks.
Students and Lecturers from IT Carlow, páistí agus múinteoirí from Gaelscoil Eoghain as well as members of Carlow County Council and of the general public attended the 5th Carlow Famine Walk in February 2018. A moving ceremony, featuring music, reflections and a moment of silence took place in the Famine Graveyard where about 3000 people are buried .