Saturday, May 17th 2014

From Louisburgh to Delphi Lodge, Co. Mayo.

Registration from 12.45pm; Walk beginning at 1.30pm

Walk Leaders: Paul Nicholson, Luis Jalandoni, Emanuela Russo

Music: Imogen Gunner & friends

Michael Wade (Delphi Lodge) opens the gates of Delphi Lodge to the 2013 Afri Famine Walk in a historically significant welcome. Photo: Derek Speirs

The 2013 Famine Walk will long remain in the memory of those who were there to experience it. The opening of the gates of Delphi Lodge and the welcome extended by proprietor Michael Wade to walkers carrying the names of those who died on the original walk in 1849 was particularly poignant. The planting of an oak tree and potatoes supplied by Willie and Mary Corduff were powerful symbols of new life while the hauntingly moving words of Declan O’Rourke’s Famine song echoed: ‘you Connacht orphans, bare of foot, who walked ten miles at 7 years/ you took your little sister’s hand and walked her to the poorhouse door/ and when they had but room for one/ you left your little sister there/ and feint with hunger all day long/ you walked the ten miles back again”. There was a profound sense of history being made, of those who had died being fittingly remembered, of at least some wounds being healed.

Earlier we heard moving words from Salome Mbugua recalling recent famines, including in Somalia where over 200,000 died virtually unnoticed by the outside world in the period 2010-2012, and we were inspired by Gary White Deer’s reflection that “as we retrace the steps of the people whose names we bear, we believe that they will be with us on our journey”. Continue reading “Famine Walk 2014: Opening the Gates – From Famine to Food Sovereignty” →

From Left: Joe Murray (Afri), Salome Mbugua (Akidwa), Fergal Anderson (Food Sovereignty Movement), Gary White Deer (Choctaw Artist), Declan O’Rourke (Musician) and Michael Wade (Delphi Lodge). Photo: Derek Speirs

2013 marked the 26th Afri Famine Walk – this walk having taken place every year since 1988. About 200 hundred people took part in the walk in atrocious weather conditions. The Walk leaders were Fergal Anderson of the Food Sovereignty Movement, Salome Mbugua from Northern Kenya and Choctaw Gary White Deer. We had music from Declan O’Rourke and Emer Mayock.

The Walk is an expression of respect, remembrance and solidarity with those who gathered in Louisburgh in search of food in March 1849. It is also a walk of solidarity with all who have died and continue to die as a result of poverty and hunger in Ireland and throughout the world today.

This year’s walk had added significance because for the first time it retraced the exact route taken by the people in whose memory it is organised – an estimated 600 people who gathered in Louisburgh in March 1849 in the hope of meeting ‘commissioners’ who would certify them as paupers, which would entitle them to a ration of food or admission to the workhouse. However, the commissioners failed to appear in Louisburgh and the message was conveyed that they would meet the people in Delphi Lodge instead. Continue reading “Impressions from Famine Walk 2013” →