Walking With Spirit

Famine walk leader, Linda Ervine, right, holding the Afri banner crossing over the Peace Bridge in Derry with the Guildhall in the background. Nuala Crilly of St Columb's Park House is holding the banner on the left.  Photo: Rob Fairmichael
Famine walk leader, Linda Ervine, right, holding the Afri banner crossing over the Peace Bridge in Derry with the Guildhall in the background. Nuala Crilly of St Columb’s Park House is holding the banner on the left. Photo: Rob Fairmichael

A small but enthusiastic crowd gathered on the Guildhall steps in Derry on a wet weekday afternoon, 21st September 2016 (International Day of Peace), for a famine walk. They were welcomed by Mayor Hilary McClintock.  From the Guildhall the walk went to the former Poor House at Glendermott Road and then on to St Columb’s Park House for refreshments and chat. As a regional and transport hub, Derry would have received many starving incomers during the Great Famine, presenting themselves at the Poor House door where the famine walk stopped and remembered those who suffered and died.

Organised by Waylon Gary White Deer for Afri, with Concern backing, the walk leader was Linda Ervine of the Turas Irish language project at East Belfast Mission, some of whose members came on the walk. Linda Ervine drew attention to the fact that the Protestant community, and she is from a Presbyterian background, also suffered in An Gorta Mór, but that history had been hidden. Other speakers included Waylon Gary White Deer, Rob Fairmichael for Afri, and Helen Henderson of St Columb’s Park House, and sean nós singer Noeleen Ní Cholla performed a couple of songs including Éirigh suas a stóirín.

This Walk was part of Afri’s Famine Landscape Project and was organised in partnership with St. Columb’s Park House.

Pathways of Peace

Pupils from Scoil Eoghain in Moville, with their teacher Rose Kelly as she launches her book 'Pathways of Peace' at at tree planting ceremony, in St. Columb's Park House, Derry on 4th December 2015
Pupils from Scoil Eoghain in Moville, with their teacher Rose Kelly as she launches her book ‘Pathways of Peace’ and plants a tree (donated by the Woodland Trust), in St. Columb’s Park House, Derry on 4th December 2015. Photo: Nuala Crilly

Afri joined with St. Columb’s Park House in Derry for the launch of their ‘Campaigning Communities’ initiative on December 3rd 2015.  This project aims to support communities who are campaigning around a broad range of justice and peace issues.  As part of the launch, Donal O’Kelly performed his award winning play Fionnuala about the community resisting Shell in Erris, Co. Mayo, who are an inspiration to many communities throughout Ireland.

Director of St. Columb’s Park House, Helen Henderson, opened the proceedings with a profoundly insightful reflection entitled ‘Spaceship Earth’, which was followed by an introduction to the ‘Campaigning Communities’ initiative by its co-ordinator Nuala Crilly.  Joe Murray also spoke, referring to some of the significant campaigns in which Afri have been involved – such as the Dunnes Stores Strike, East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign and supporting the community resistance in Erris.  The evening concluded with a rousing medley of protest songs performed by Paddy Nash and Diane Greer.

The following day, Afri’s former Development Education Co-ordinator, Rose Kelly, travelled from Moville to St. Columb’s Park House with around 30 pupils from Rang a 4 to launch her book Pathways of Peace and to plant a tree, donated by the Woodland Trust, in honour of the occasion.   These were an exceptionally talented group of students who had written and performed their own song as well as sharing their own reflections and poetry on care for the planet.  They even drew inspiration from the haka – made famous by the New Zealand rugby team – to convey a message of hope and peace!

Pathways of Peace is an excellent development education resource, comprising stories of the lives of inspirational young people and the example of peace and justice that they have embodied.   The resource includes their stories as well as suggested activities for use in the classroom. This resource is now available to buy from Afri.

Derry’s First Famine Walk

Crossing Derry's Peace Bridge during the Famine Walk on the 31st July 2015
Crossing Derry’s Peace Bridge during the Famine Walk on the 31st July 2015

Around thirty people gathered at the Guild Hall on Friday, July 31st 2015 to take part in Derry’s first Famine walk.

Deputy Mayor of Derry city and Strabane District council, Thomas Kerrigan of the DUP officially launched the walk which was also addressed by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.  Helen Henderson, director of St. Columb’s Park House, spoke about the importance of the walk and the danger of history repeating itself.  She warned especially about the dangers of  TTIP  – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US.  TTIP is about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business, regarding things like food safety law, environmental legislation, banking regulations and the sovereign powers of individual nations and has been described as “an assault on European and US societies by transnational corporations.”

Following the opening speeches, walkers proceeded from Guildhall Square across the Peace Bridge to the Londonderry Poor Law Union Workhouse, located on Glendermott Road, the Waterside. First opened in 1840, Derry’s workhouse didn’t close its doors until 1948. The Walk had been called “The Longest Walk”, referring to the 13 steps to the workhouse master’s quarters that starving families once had to climb to ask for admittance. Continue reading “Derry’s First Famine Walk”

International Scientists Support Call For Island Of Ireland Fracking Ban

3769435_370Afri welcomes the decision by Northern Ireland Environment Minister Mark Durkan not to award a license to Australian mining company Tamboran Resources who sought to begin test drilling work on the Cavan-Fermanagh border as part of its ambitious fracking plans for the island of Ireland. The group say nothing short of an all-Ireland ban on fracking is needed and that leaders in Dublin and Belfast should follow the lead of the French and German governments in banning fracking while prioritising renewable energy sources. According to Afri Coordinator Joe Murray, fracking is a short-sighted solution to job creation and energy supply, which he says compromises water supplies, farming, wildlife and air quality.

Afri’s campaign is backed up by leading international scientists who are supporting Afri’s online campaign for an all-Ireland ban on fracking.

These include renowned scientist Dr. Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University who said:

“We know we need to be heading towards a near zero emission energy and transportation systems. Expansion of the dirtiest corners of the fossil fuel industry is a step in the wrong direction. We need to be developing and deploying the near zero emission clean energy technologies of the future, not expanding last century’s archaic energy system. We can no longer afford to be building energy and transportation systems that assume we can continue to use the sky as a waste dump.” Continue reading “International Scientists Support Call For Island Of Ireland Fracking Ban”

Ban Fracking On The Island Of Ireland

3769435_370The island of Ireland is one of the greenest places on the planet but global energy corporations want to put an end to this. The fracking industry have big plans for both sides of the border and we need to act fast to stop them.

We can’t sit back and let our land and water be destroyed by those who promise us the earth while destroying it in the process.

Despite huge opposition, fracking work has commenced in scenic County Fermanagh and plans are in place for nearby Leitrim. Other areas under threat include the Antrim, Down, Derry, Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon, Cavan, Monaghan, Clare, Cork and Kerry.

Demand a fracking ban on the island of Ireland by signing and sharing our petition now. Each time someone signs it, key politicians will get an email urging them to act. Sign here or read on: https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-fracking-on-the-island-of-ireland Continue reading “Ban Fracking On The Island Of Ireland”