Climate Change Caravan in Bangladesh, Nov-Dec 2011

From the 15th of November to the 4th of December 2011, a climate change caravan will journey across the length of Bangladesh. From Sonarhat in the north to Barisal in the south, the caravan will cover 18 different sub districts in the country to gather together people's stories of climate change, gender and food sovereignty. Organized by Bangladesh Krishok Federation and Bangladesh Kishani Sabha (see the Via Campesina report on BKS workshops in Climate Change and Bangladesh), the caravan is a unique opportunity for people across the world to get a view from below and learn from ordinary Bengalis.

Oct 2010 mass march: photo BKS

Workshops, education programs, and connecting with international solidarity groups are part of the movement across Bangladesh. The country and its people are already experiencing the impacts of climate change: more frequent cyclones, droughts, and rising sea levels.

BKF and BKS appeal to people from various parts of the world to join this caravan. The cost incurred by participants from the northern countries will also be used to support a Bangaldeshi or a South Asian to participate in the Caravan. The deadline for applying is the 24th of August --  info can be found here.

***

Thanks to 350.org for this advance notice.

Peace stupa in Nepal

Pilgrims in the middle of the monsoon rains -- photo Duncan Millar

This photo was taken by my cousin. See the whole series from Lake Fewa, Pokhara, on his Facebook page.

Pokhara is a major city in central Nepal. Until 1968 it was a sacred city for pilgrims to Annapurna, inaccessible by road. All that changed with the arrival of the Dalai Lama and 80,000  Tibetan refugees fleeing Chinese persecution.

The World Peace stupa (chorten) in Pokhara on a sunny day: Wikipedia

 Built 1996 by Japanese monks on pilgrimage, this stupa commemorates the Buddhist  devotion to non-violence. 80 other peace stupas have been built around the world.

The Dalai Lama says, "I speak simply as a human being, as an upholder of the humanitarian values that are the bedrock not only of Mahayana Buddhism but of all the great world religions. From this perspective I share with you my personal outlook - that:

1. Universal humanitarianism is essential to solve global problems;
2. Compassion is the pillar of world peace;
3. All world religions are already for world peace in this way, as are all humanitarians of whatever ideology;
4. Each individual has a universal responsibility to shape institutions to serve human needs.

...natural calamities must be accepted and faced with equanimity. Others, however, are of our own making, created by misunderstanding, and can be corrected. One such type arises from the conflict of ideologies, political or religious, when people fight each other for petty ends, losing sight of the basic humanity that binds us all together as a single human family....


Life is as dear to the mute animal as it is to any human being; even the simplest insect strives for protection from dangers that threaten its life. Just as each one of us wants to live and does not wish to die, so it is with all other creatures in the universe.... Every being wants happiness and does not want suffering. If we, as intelligent human beings, do not accept this fact, there will be more and more suffering on this planet....


Today we are so interdependent, so closely interconnected with each other, that without a sense of universal responsibility, a feeling of universal brotherhood and sisterhood, and an understanding and belief that we really are part of one big human family, we cannot hope to overcome the dangers to our very existence - let alone bring about peace and happiness." -- from the Dalai Lama, A Human Approach to Peace.

***

See also Wikipedia on Buddhism, Buddhist art.

Indigenous women's Walk for Water

Anishinaabe women are leading a Mother Earth Water Walk 2011, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior. Carrying a pail of water from the Gulf of Mexico, they will walk forty miles a day (see map with  their blog) for over six weeks to reach their destination. On June 12 in Wisconsin, they will meet other groups carrying water from the Atlantic, Hudson Bay and the Pacific—representing the four directions of Turtle Island.

Sharon Day director of the Indigenous People's Task Force in Minneapolis, explains:
“We want the walk to be a prayer. Every step we take we will be praying for and thinking of the water. We’ll carry the water and an eagle staff. We’ll start at sunrise and end at sun down each day. Every four days, we’ll have a ceremony. This will be our life until we get to Lake Superior. Water is essential to life. We live in the water of the womb of our mother before we come into the world. We are birthed from water, our bodies are primarily water and we can’t survive without clean water. At some time in your life you have to take a stand.” 

More details are given in a slideshow on the IPTF site:

Giganawendamin Nibi

Mahnomen

• We must all take care of the water and the food that grows on the water like Mahnomen [wild rice]
• Only 1 percent of the earth’s water is drinkable
• It has been foretold that soon, water will be more expensive than oil or gold. (Phillip Deere and Baudwaywidun)

What can we do?
We can talk to the water and tell the water “thank you, migwetch”
We can sing to the water and tell her we love her.

Nibi...................
Gizahgayigoo
Giimigwetch awayngimigoo
Gizhaywaygimigoo *

Plants need water.
The whales need clean water.
The Arctic ice caps are melting.
The White Bear, our relative, who sits in the north, needs our help!


Practice our Teachings. Women care for the water. Acknowledge the power of the water. Water is essential to life.






7 Anishinaabe Teachings
• Humility - Dabasendizowin - to take up the work for the water
• Truth - Debwewin - The truth is only 1% of the water on the earth is drinkable
• Courage - Zoongide’iwin - Courage to take a stand
• Honesty - Gwayakwaadiziwin - to share with the people about the water
• Respect - Manaji’idiwin - Respect for the water
• Love - Zaagi’idiwin - Love for the people
• Wisdom - Nibwaakaawin - Through this work you will gain knowledge and knowledge leads to wisdom.

How can I help?
• Be conservative in your use of water
• Drink tapwater / use a re-useable bottle for drinking water
• Wash laundry only when you have a complete load.
• Remember all the chemicals you use in your house, on your lawn or garden, go into the rivers and
streams.
• The next generations are counting on us! Send donations for food, shelter and fuel to Indigenous Peoples Task Force 3019 Minnehaha Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55406 Migwetch!
 
The Great Lakes hold 20 per cent of the fresh water in the world. But they face grave dangers: fracking (fracturing of bedrock for oil and gas exploration), toxic releases, transport of radioactive waste, invasive species, oil refineries, huge consumption by bottled water companies and other corporate users along with the increasing privatization of water services for the 44 million people who get their drinking water from the lakes.

Anishinaabe elder Josephine Mandamin began the Mother Earth Water Walk in 2003.  She had grown up eating the fish and drinking the water on Manitoulin  Island in Lake Superior and witnessed the collapse of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Today, most Anishinaabe communities have to boil their water before drinking it, and health agencies warn of the dangers of eating fish, once a staple of Great Lakes Indian Nations. “What will you do?” she asked herself. That spring, she picked up a copper pail and walked all around Lake Superior, to raise awareness of threats to the lake, and to teach people to love and care for the water. Since then, every spring she and a small band of Anishinaabe and supporters have walked around one of the Great Lakes. This year, the Walk is continent-wide.

Indigenous Nations, inner-city organizations, environmental groups and social justice advocates have launched a Great Lakes Commons Initiative with the goal of declaring the Great Lakes a commons, public trust and protected bioregion.

* Click here for an MP3, history and translation of the water song. Videos of elder Josephine Mandawin, of Garden River ON, describing the first Water Walks in 2003-2005.

The Journey Begins -- by Ruah Swennerfelt

This is  Ruah's first posting on her research and visits to  Transition Towns in North America, the Middle East, and Europe. To read more of her writing, click on Vision Transitions.

***

I am about to embark on a search for how our civilization will survive the current “perfect storm” of peak oil, climate disruption, and economic instability. We live in a time where our world economic system requires perpetual growth to survive. This is not sustainable since there is a limited supply of Earth’s resources available. My search will take me to Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Europe, Scandinavia, and North America. I want to help articulate the world vision that exists as a result of the wonderful efforts of Transition Town Initiatives, Sustainable Cities, and other municipal “green initiatives”.

Like a quilt, each piece is unique and beautiful on its own, but the finished quilt is something greater than the parts. I hope that my research will reflect this whole as a blueprint for our necessary transition. I hope that you who follow my blog, will comment, suggest, argue, and support what I write. I’m depending on that interaction to enrich my research and the results of it.

How will the human race live as we enter the post-carbon world? What if people in towns or section of cities got together regularly for local foods potlucks, discussions about sharing resources and building resilience, listening to speakers and watching films, making music, and having fun? What if the place we each call home had really prepared for the end of cheap, abundant fossil fuels? What might that look like? Can one imagine bringing people together who are from different political viewpoints, different incomes, and different educational backgrounds? How can the obstacles to that vision be overcome?

These are the goals of the Transition Towns, Sustainable Cities, and other “green” movements. There are many fine grassroots movements around the globe that are individually working on community efforts to prepare for the impacts of climate change and peak oil. It will be a difficult transition—with fewer resources to help that happen. I have learned from previous journeys about the difficulties of improving the lives of people in developing countries and the hopes and fears of people in our own country.

In November 2001 my husband Louis Cox and I embarked on a six-month journey through Central America and Cuba. We chose to travel by bus (and once in Cuba, traveled by train and bus), the way that the majority of the world travels, to experience people in an intimate and real way. Also, from November 2007 to April 2008 (see blog) Louis and I walked from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Diego, California, bringing 18th century Quaker John Woolman’s message of living with integrity to West Coast Quakers and others. We shared Woolman’s concern for the root cause of slavery, greed, among slave holders. We see the striving after ease and luxury as the cause of current poverty, war, and destruction of the earth’s resources.

Louis and I learned so much from our past experiences and continue to travel by bus and train in the United States, by which we also encounter this country’s poor and disempowered. We search for humbling and enriching experiences that will enable us to be present to the Spirit in forgotten or difficult places. We continue to walk, when given the chance, in the places we visit, again having rich experiences with the people we meet. We then share those experiences through presentations, informal gatherings, and articles.

We attempt to live simply and search for ways to reduce our footprint on this planet. We live in a hand-built, off-grid, solar-electric home. We have found much joy in our journey through life together, reading aloud, playing music, and learning skills of earlier times like canning food, mowing with a scythe, maple sugaring, quilting, and generally being resourceful. We share that joy with others, hoping that they can see from our example that simpler living is neither drudgery nor dull. (For some understanding of our choices, go to www.peaceforearth.org) But I have this growing concern that there is no vision to help most people make the transition into what will be a very difficult world when world oil production peaks and begins its irreversible decline (the U.S. Department of Defense predicts the peak will occur in 2012) and climate change. How will we all learn to live joyful lives without the same resources, primarily cheap, abundant oil, or with the changing climate? How will we change in a way that isn’t frightening, degrading, or depressing?

Since returning from our 1,400-mile walk we have thrown ourselves into the Transition Town Initiative (helping to co-found it in our town), recognizing that the way we can prepare for a climate-change and post-petroleum era is to build resilient communities. Only through community can we help each other find the joys of simpler living and provide mutual support when times are tough. We know this well as Quakers, but how do we share this with a broader constituency?

The Transition Town movement began in England, using permaculture principles to equip communities for the dual challenges of climate change and peak oil. The methodology they’ve developed has a lot to do with tapping into the inherent wisdom of a community and the belief that ordinary people have tremendous creative problem-solving capacity. The movement currently has member communities in many countries worldwide. (See www.transitionnetwork.org for more information.) We have had some successes in our town, and I want to learn from successful examples and the challenges of sustainable initiatives elsewhere in order to give others hope and tools.

Although there is a website which reports various activities of the different initiatives, there still isn’t an overall, global vision emerging. I understand that the work needs to be done locally, but how do all those local efforts relate to one another? I hope to reflect these varied successes, struggles, actions, and joys into that vision. I hope to reflect a vision that includes rural, suburban, and urban living in developed countries and what their relationship to developing nations will be.

At the end of December 2010 I retired from my 16 years of work with Quaker Earthcare Witness and begin my visits in February, 2011 in North America. In May, I head for the Middle East by plane and then travel by land transportation for the next 3 months.

I will be asking each group a set of questions. For example, I will ask about their work to assure quality employment for all, how to make sure that the disenfranchised are included in the new, joyful life, and how they are engaging their local governments in the process. I am still developing the questions and would love some suggestions.

I hope to compile what I have learned into a book to help others in the “Great Turning” (as Joanna Macy and David Korten call this time in human history.) How can we learn from the hundreds of initiatives instead of always trying to start our own from scratch? How do we live into a new world if we don’t have the vision of what that world might be? I hope my blog and book will share such a vision, with practical tools for action.

I probably would not be undertaking this effort if it were not for my belief that we are living in a time of planetary crisis at many levels, all of which are reflections of a spiritual crisis. While we must understand the spiritual basis of the crisis and act from the heart, we must also learn the practical tools to try to avoid the potentially great suffering when cheap fossil fuels are no longer available for agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing. I hear a call to awaken to my complicity in this crisis and to undertake the necessary radical changes to leave a healthy, peaceful, and just planet for future generations.

Although I do not make a regular practice of flying, due to the environmental impacts, I believe that the potential outcome of my research is worthy enough to justify the plane travel. I hope we can partner on this project.

I will write periodically as I prepare for my journey and write more frequently when I am engaged in the process. I look forward to your comments.

Sacred Land, Poisoned Peoples - IPPNW

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War medical students and doctors demonstrate at nuclear base Büchel, Germany.

Pre-Congress Meeting to the 19th World Congress of IPPNW, 26 August 2010, Basel Switzerland:

Indigenous People and their representatives attending the Pre-Congress "Sacred Lands, Poisoned Peoples" at this critical time of intensifying destruction to Mother Earth and human health by nuclear resource development have gathered and shared stories of resistance to uranium mining across the globe. From Canada and USA to Niger, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania and Malawi, from Russia, Germany, Australia, Brazil and India, communities facing dramatic impacts from this toxic industry have come together in unity.

Past, present and future generation of Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately impacted by uranium mining, nuclear weapons and the nuclear power industry. The nuclear fuel chain radioactively contaminates our people's health, land, air, and waters and threatens our very existence and our future generations. Uranium mining, nuclear energy development and international agreements that foster the nuclear fuel chain violate our basic human rights and fundamental laws of Mother Earth, endangering our survival and spiritual wellbeing.

The dangerous health impacts of radioactive exposure begin with uranium mining. We reaffirm the Declaration of the World Uranium Hearing in Salzburg, Austria, in 1992 that uranium and its radioactive decay products must remain in the ground. We stand in solidarity with those working for an end to uranium mining and processing, irresponsible radioactive waste management, nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

We dedicate ourselves to a nuclear free future for all peoples.

See also its congress blog and its international youth tour

BAN: Biking Against Nuclear Weapons (still positioned in Europe).






"Voices like ours are needed now more than ever for peace, for civil rights, for children, for a life on this planet, for our grandchildren. War is stupid. To bring about the changes we need in society, all of us must speak out and act." -- Muriel Duckworth

Walk With Earth pilgrimage ends in Santiago, Chile

This article, translated from El Mercurio of Santiago, Chile, appeared in Rolene Walker's blog Walk With Earth | Caminata Por La Tierra on 4 Dec 2009.

It was 10 years ago that Rolene Walker, a sociologist from California, began to devise a plan for when she began her retirement: traveling across Latin America from Mexico to Chile. “At first I did not like the idea at all, it was too much work,” she says, over coffee here in Santiago, with the goal accomplished and 20 months of walking behind her.

The idea was not just sightseeing, but to raise awareness about excessive consumption. “I realized we will not survive unless we have a spiritual change.” So before leaving with the help of the Quaker church, in which she participates, she created the foundation Walk With Earth, made the blog (where you can review her journey), got a support truck and 8 March [2008] in San Diego, started out.

That first day, Rolene walked several miles in the company of children. The enthusiasm was enormous. It was not always so. There were many sections that she did alone, along highways, in temperatures of 105 degrees and feeling too close to the passing trucks.

She quickly lost 12 kilos and befriended unconditional sunblock. She also faced accidents (her own truck ran over her) and the medical sdoctor who suggested she not walk more than four hours a day, then developed asthma. And to put the icing on the cake: the motor burned out in Arica and she decided to leave it there.

But she’s happy. “After this trip, I’m more optimistic. This is a pilgrimage and the idea is to see the Earth as sacred space. I have a better sense of humanity after this walk,” she reflects. “People are nicer than I thought: I have been fed, I have been hosted. With only a phone call, people welcomed me into their homes,” she adds.

The accounts are lively: “We have spoken with 340 classes of students, from primary to university, engineers and doctors. Also to churches and environmental groups.

During her tour, Rolene turned 60 and, while acknowledging that “it is very hard to walk every day”, she feels much better than when she started the journey. “The human body is made for walking. And we’re much healthier if we walk regularly,” she says.

But not everything was on foot. She only walks 16 kilometers a day. And if the distance separating one town from another exceeded 30 miles, if the road was too dangerous or if there was any other problem, then she climbed into her truck. There was a sink and bed and solar panels for all electrical requirements.

Throughout her ordeal, about 300 people walked with her in various stages of the journey. They walked with her one day, a week or more. “I ask all to plant trees and I suggest they reduce gasoline consumption." In fact, at the end of this conversation, she hands me seeds to plant a redwood tree, the oldest and tallest tree in the world.

Hungering for climate justice -- Sara Svensson

She is one of a number of young people all over the world engaged in a Climate Justice Fast. See other stories and videos on that website. Also read about her climate pilgrimage from Korea to Barcelona.

They aim to send a non-violent but powerful message -- "to members of the public who are as yet unaware of the urgency of climate action -- to our leaders, reminding them of the importance and moral consequences of their decisions -- and to inspire those who are already aware of climate change to become more politically active."

*****

My name is Sara Svensson, and I'm from Sweden. Tomorrow is my 25th birthday, but I won't be eating birthday cake this year.

I’ve been involved in different kinds of climate activism for most of my life. I studied International Project Management for Social Movements and NGOs, combined with environmental science. I have committed to participate in Climate Justice Fast, an international hunger strike for climate justice. From today and until we meet again in Copenhagen, I will be eating nothing and drinking only water.

The end date of the fast is still open. When I break the fast depends on what happens in the climate negotiations and in the world. The only thing I can guarantee is that I will end the fast if our demands are met.

Climate change is the defining issue for my generation. Previous generations did not understand the problem, and for future generations it will be too late to do something about it. It is up to us.

I'm undertaking this fast out of love. Love for life, for our beautiful planet with all its species and future generations. There's nothing more important I can do in my life than to contribute in the strongest possible way, with full devotion, to set an end to climate change and injustice and be part of the movement that will lead us to a sustainable future.

I'm showing how much I care. How much I'm willing to risk, how much I'm prepared to offer. How deeply devoted I am to this cause. I hope that it will inspire others and help the necessary shift to happen.

I love life and health, but I'm willing to risk it to secure the survival of others. Food is good, chewing is fun and I will miss jumping around full of energy. It will not be easy to abstain from something as essential as food.

Still, my personal sacrifice is nothing compared to the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of people who already die from climate change each year, and the many millions of people who would be suffering in the years to come if we would fail to solve climate change. Voluntarily abstaining from food is not easy, but it's possible. Solving climate change is also not an easy task, but it's possible, and we will.

This is the right thing to do at the right time. Turn to essentials, turn to emotions. The pure, the true, the real. Touch hearts. Push the limits, move on to the next level.

I will enjoy this peaceful time to reflect while others are busy. We will focus on the big picture while COP15 gets lost and stuck in a thousand details.

Now is the time to mobilise the movement for change.

We call on all people to get involved in the climate movement. We know the science. Educate yourself. Think about what's most important? Change your mindset. Your goal in life can't be a comfortable life where you consume everything you want. Widen your perspective. Think of the invisible consequences behind your actions. Challenge yourself.

No specific person is to blame. There's no single enemy responsible for causing the problem. Yet climate change is happening, and it’s deeply unjust and immoral. With knowledge comes responsibility. We ask every single person on this planet to seek for solutions within themselves, and find the courage to act with global consciousness.

Hunger striking is a positive act of humble nonviolence that we are undertaking as extremely concerned citizens. Judging from the support we are getting, a lot of people feel the same way. We're not only in a climate crisis, but also a democracy crisis. We must highlight the failure of our democracies to reflect the best interests and opinions of their population.

Many species throughout history have polluted, consumed or overpopulated themselves into extinction. But if we as humanity fail to solve the climate crisis, we may well become the first species who has done so in full knowledge and awareness of its own actions. I believe in humanity, we can't be that stupid.

Climate change is an opportunity to redefine our common values, and to create the just and sustainable world that most people everywhere want. The world is ready for change. This is the start of the sustainability era.

To move into that era, we have to do all what we can, right now, when there's still the smallest amount of time left. We must be able to look back and know that we did all what we could do. Maybe I’ll have children one day, and I must be able to look them in the eye.

*****

CJF partners include

• Tck Tck Tck
• Australian Youth Climate Coalition
• Ethecon Germany
• Indian Youth Climate Network
• Codepink
• Bangladesh Environment Network (BEN)

"Excuse me. I'm going to need this to run my car."
by Michael Ramirez © IBDeditorials.com/cartoons
(click on picture to view it more clearly)

Civilian Peace Service: the German experience - by Gisela Duerselen

Our vision is the development of a world wide, nonviolent peace corps with several thousand peace specialists. This is what the 90 member organizations of the Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) do:

In its Civilian Peace Service, the Federal Republic of Germany is the first and only country to have created an institutionalized service for regions in crisis in which not the military but civil society sets the tone. The CPS is a dispatch service for experienced women and men, who have undergone four months training for nonviolent conflict management. The CPS is a civil society project financed by the state: the implementation rests with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Church and non-church sponsors work together in a consortium for the Civilian Peace Service (ZFD). They include:

Action Committee Service for Peace (AGDF), Association of Development Service (AGEH), Christian Services International (CFI), German Development Service (DED), Eirene- International Christian Service for Peace, Church Development Service (EED), Community Services (WFD), and since 2007, the Civil Peace Service Forum (forum ZFD).

In 1999, the first peace specialists went abroad. What has the CPS achieved in ten years?

At the start of 2009, ten German peace specialists are working in Afghanistan. More are taking care of projects in Africa and Asia, in Latin America, the Kosovo and in Israel/Palestine. In order to be really effective they would have to number at least 500. What all have in common is depending on dialogue instead of soldiers, on nonviolent communication instead of armed power.

They work with partners in the crisis regions on projects of reconciliation and are present also where there is no shooting, but imminent danger of a violent confrontation. About 200 civilian peace specialists a year begin their service in many of the world’s crisis areas.

The success of German CPS is also evident in the constant growth of its budget, from five million marks in 1999 to 14 million Euros in 2006, 19 million in 2008, and 30 million Euros (about $50 million Canadian) in 2009.

Difficult Beginnings

In 1994 the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg and political scientist Theodor Ebert proposed a corps of as many as 80,000 peace professionals, both men and women, on the same basis as military service. This proposal caused divisions. Some peace organizations feared both government influence, and reduction of existing peace and development services. Others objected to new taxes. Thereupon the Federation for Social Defense developed its own concept of a voluntary corps of 100,000 volunteers, with financing to come from progressive reductions of the national defense budget. In 1995 government approved only an emergency peace service: a rapid deployment of much smaller numbers of experienced professionals. In 1997 the first 70 took part in a 4-months pilot training program by the Rheinland-Westfalen state government. Then in 1998 the Social Democrat / Green federal government coalition promised the establishment of a Civilian Peace Service in its platform.

It took some time for the CPS was able to define responsibilities and cooperate effectively with the established federal Development ministry. Today CPS specialists work directly in conflicts, while the development experts in cooperative deal with structural improvements. The transition is flowing smoothly. Anti-poverty work limits the potential for conflict. Post-conflict work prevents renewed violence and, in turn enables development. Experience has shown that the special strength of the CPS lies in prevention, which is long-term and unspectacular; public donations for catastrophes are much larger. This makes the CPS dependent on government funding. Many peace activists fear that their independence will be compromised by current government policy of "civilian-military cooperation" in Afghanistan.

To strengthen their profile, all EU activists have united in the European Network for Civil Peace Services (EN CPS). In this network, quite different approaches to peace work are brought into contact and coordinated.

Translated from the original German by Hans Sinn.
*****
See also: Canadian Department of Peace movement and CitoyenNEs pour un Ministère de paix, a table comparing military cadets and proposed peace service; PASC in Colombia; Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and Peace Brigades International in many countries; Trail of Dreams World Peace Walk; publications of CCSG.

Parcours le Monde - l'Afrique en vélo

Près des sources du Nil, à Jinja, Ouganda
Parcours le Monde est une collaboration du gouvernement de Québec avec TV5, Environnement Jeunesse et plusieurs autres partenaires de la francophonie mondiale. Depuis 2003, ce réseau de collaboration éducatif les professeurs des écoles, collèges et lycées à travailler avec des classes à l’étranger et à mettre en place avec elles une démarche de collaboration en ligne. Ces programmes touchent déjà 6 continents.

Par exemple, citons le journal d'un voyage en vélo d'Alexandra et Florence, depuis France en sep 2008 à travers l'Afrique jusqu'en Ouganda ce février 2009, trajet truffé de rencontres, réflexions et questions, et bien illustré. Un petit exemple tiré de leur journal:

Le Nil prend sa source huit kilometres en amont dans le lac Victoria, le plus grand lac d'Afrique. Ici le fleuve s'élargit sur plusieurs centaines de mètres et forme îles et îlots au milieu des cataractes d'écume blanche et vert pâle. À l'est, la rivière forme une grande boucle depuis la ville de Jinja qui jouxte sa source et le lac... Guère de répit donc avant les deux niveaux suivants où l'eau est si malmenée qu'elle s'échappe en volutes vaporeuses, poussant force cris et sifflements. L'inlassable grondement se propage sur les rives qui en tremblent d'effroi. Au pied de ces rapides, la force de l'eau paraît incommensurable. Les fragments végétaux charriés par la rivière disparaissent, se désagrègent dans le combat titanesque du fluide, de la roche et de la pesanteur.

On touche au sublime que n'hésitent pourtant pas à braver nombre de touristes dans des raftings ou en kayak pour les plus courageux. Ces derniers restent cependant l'apanage des guides locaux qui excellent à exécuter des figures acrobatiques dans leurs embarcations courtes et visiblement très maniables. Certains locaux défient la raison en se faisant payer cinq mille Uganda Shillings (~2€) pour descendre les chutes armés d'un seul bidon en plastiques faisant office de bouée.

Car les eaux ne sont pas seules à combattre. Sur la rive où nous nous trouvons se livre une autre lutte, pour la survie cette fois-ci. Lutte qui concerne sans réellement les opposer, touristes et guides. Pour un sociologue, je ne doute pas que la scène présente quelque intérêt. La survie est bien évidemment le sujet des seconds, dont la majeure partie de la journée s'écoule à l'ombre des quelques arbres préservés sur le campement à attendre les clients potentiels, tandis que les premiers, qui arrivent par vagues de 4x4 ou de mini-bus, sont là pour vivre un moment de frisson et d'exaltation....

In Chiapas - by Rolene Walker

Rolene is now visiting Friends in Chiquimula, Guatemala, and raising funds for international scholarships. See her web journal Walk With Earth | Caminata Por La Tierra from which this is an excerpt:

Dec 2: Here I am in southern Mexico, walking through pine forests near San Cristobal de las Casas. It’s cold! I wear long underwear, turtle necks, fleece and have a fleece blanket over me just to sit and read at night. It gets down to about 50 degrees F. In San Cristobal I visited the Museum of Mayan Medicine, and went to a workshop on green building, including making one of the famous dry toilets, the ones that separate urine from excrement, and use them as fertilizer and compost, eliminating the need for sewers.
When I left Zanatepec, I had my spare tire firmly attached on a great triangle to my bumper. I went to the high school to talk to three classrooms,
and drove a small distance to Tepanatepec, the last town in Oaxaca. When I got there, the tire was gone. So I drove back and forth and couldn´t see it anywhere. The next three days in Tuxtla Gutierrez I went to the Toyota dealer, four tire places, and had two people scouring the deshuesaderos (junk yards). Nothing. The truck has dual wheels in the back, but they are very small, and there are no rims anywhere in Chiapas. So I guess I`ll have to have one sent from the US.

Walking from Tuxtla to Chiapas de Corso, my tooth starthing aching, so I caught a bus back to Tuxtla, and the driver wouldn´t charge me after I told him about the Walk. I got the name of a dentist from Antonio Lopez, and went to her just before she closed for lunch. She checked out the tooth (it`s fine) but said we would have to wait to see what was up underneath (meaning a root canal if the pain doesn’t go away). So I´m staying close to San Cristobal instead of taking off into the mountains. I will l still get to the border, but by the coast instead of inland. I told my son I could have had a toothache or lost my spare tire in San Francisco, but here I am, having an adventure too. So I´m not complaining, just kvetching a little bit.

This last month I have been given such wonderful hospitality in Oaxaca and Chiapas. I stayed with the Reyes Vera family in Juchitan, after their son in law referred me to them. I stayed at a roadside restaurant in Zanatepec with Adelma, who used to be the mayor of the town. I had left my harp in Juchitan but really didn´t want to drive back there since the winds across that isthmus are so strong I already lost one sky light. So the mayor of town who was going there for a meeting, brought me my harp!

5-minute preview of a video whose final title is No Son Invisibles: Maya Women and Microfinance, by Melissa Eidson. See also Mariano Estrada's Mujer indígena: la vida olvidada | Indigenous Woman: The Forgotten Life (2003); Chiapas Media Project; the Canadian NGO Inter Pares.

Oaxaca Mexico - environmental conference 19-23 Feb 2009

Oaxacan traditional costumes: photo by Teyacapan
Rolene Walker of Walk With Earth announces a conference for grass roots environmentalists in southern Mexico, in collaboration with the Universidad de la Tierra. She writes,

"It will be February 19 to 23rd in Oaxaca. On Thursday we will have a couple of speakers, On Friday will be site visits to permaculture, water treatment, waste management, and reforestation sites. There will also be presentations by the enviromentalists on Mayan medicine, women´s cooperatives, reforestation projects, preservation of corn seed varieties. Saturday and Sunday there will be workshops and booths by the different organizations, including demonstrations on building dry toilets, alternative energy supplies (solar, biodigesters), rain cachement systems, etc. It will be in a local park, and open to the public. We are inviting groups from 50 organizations outside Oaxaca and all the groups in Oaxaca City. Most of these groups can´t pay for this kind of conference, so Walk With Earth has agreed to pay $5,000.00 US for ground transportation and food for people coming from out of town. Universidad de la Tierra is providing lodging in a local church and with families. WWE has decided it is so valuable to do this conference, that even if it means we have to cut the walk short by a couple of months, it is worth it. It is so exciting to be part of this conference, to let them see how much is going on in southern Mexico, and that they have much to teach the rest of the world.

"Oaxaca is the most advanced area in ecological terms I have seen in Mexico or the United States. There is an indigenous community that has planted 475,000 trees, and aims for a million. There are 20,000 "dry" toilets that separate urine from excrement, use them for fertilizer and compost, and eliminate the need for new sewers. They have a great public transportation system that uses big buses, small buses, vans and collective taxis. There are solar panels and windmills. A trash company in Morelos handles 1000 tons of trash a day and recycles 79%, selling the inorganic stuff to different vendors, the PET plastic they make into thread that can be used to manufacturer things, and uses bacteria from Colombia to make compost of the organic stuff (including disposable baby diapers) in one months time. Most importantly, there are eighteen indigenous cultures that still treat the earth as sacred space."

If you are interested in more information, email Rolene. If you can help with the expenses of the conference, you can make a contribution via Paypal on the website www.walkwithearth.org. See also Wikipedia article, LABD, LANIC on Oaxaca.

Quaker Youth Pilgrimage Aug 2008 - by Jessica Finch

This article originally appeared on the Baltimore MM website.Listen, listen, listen to my heart’s song. Listen, listen, listen to my heart’s song. I will never forget you. I will never forsake you. I will never forget you. I will always love you.

Twenty-five pilgrims selected from fifteen Yearly Meetings came together for the spiritual experience of a lifetime: Quaker Youth Pilgrimage (QYP) 2008. This almost month long adventure was made possible by the Friends World Committee for Consultation, and is an ongoing effort to encourage friendship among all branches of the Religious Society of Friends, which is held biennially. The itinerary for this trip included traveling through “1652 Country”, the birthplace of Quakerism, as well as trips throughout other portions of the United Kingdom.

For me, it all began at Abington Friends Meeting House (outside of Philadelphia) on July 16. As more Young Friends from Canada, Mexico, and the United States began to trickle in over the course of the afternoon we amused ourselves by exploring the connected Friends school, making semi- awkward conversation, and eagerly awaiting the next arrival. Looking back on the strangers I met that first day, it is hard to believe that they are the same people I now consider part of my extended family! That first night was a quite important one. For us it was the first night of “the pilgrimage” and the beginning of something huge and unknown. We were all beyond excited!

The next day we explored Philadelphia before driving to the airport to catch our 6:30 PM flight to Glasgow. The highlight was visiting the grave of Lucretia Mott, an incredibly important Quaker female abolitionist, at the Fair Hill Quaker Burial Ground. As the casual semi-awkward conversation died down, we began intense spiritual discussions and comparisons of Yearly Meetings! The school bus buzzed with the talk of Evangelical Friends views on homosexuals, the question of “Are Quakers Christian?”, and of course “Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?” We didn’t know it then, but these topics of conversation, and others like them, were to play a vital role in our spiritual growth and understanding throughout the rest of the pilgrimage.

The seven-hour flight quickly accustomed us to the Pilgrims we were sitting next to and before we knew it we were at the Glasgow airport. We exited the building into the weather that would soon become the norm on this British Isles excursion, a cold wet drizzle. We then proceeded to Glasgow Friends Meeting House, where the European pilgrims were to meet us. We played some name games and participated in general introductions (Monthly Meeting, Yearly Meeting, Size of Monthly Meeting, Programmed/Semi-programmed/Unprogrammed). It was quite interesting to find how vastly Meetings ranged in size, from a worship group that simply consisted of the members of one pilgrim’s family, to 75 or so people on any given Sunday. After this brief time together we broke off into small groups and left with our home-stay families.

I was placed with a group of six Pilgrims about thirty minutes outside of Glasgow in Lochwinnoch, Scotland. It was the perfect little village! They had a river in the backyard and chickens too! I quickly accustomed to the endless pots of tea as I compared cultures with our host family and other pilgrims, YouTube also played an important role as I was exposed to modern British television (and some of the old classics too: Faulty Towers!). This group gave me a spring board into the community, so I wasn’t so overwhelmed by having to socialize with everyone at once, which served as a fantastic aid in the first few days of the trip.

All Pilgrims were very taken by the beauty and serenity of Yealand Conyers, the meeting house, and the surrounding fields and hills. We had our first business meeting, approved our first two clerks, and settled into a rhythm that we would maintain for the rest of our 10-day stay there. Typically, we would rise early, somewhat reluctantly due to our habit of talking into the early hours of the morning, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, and load the buses. These daily excursions would take us anywhere from the Quaker Tapestry in Kendal to Pendle Hill, and every significant historical Quaker site in between. In our free time we would have committee meetings, leisurely walks, trips to the phone box, spiritual discussions, and rowdy games of wink and Frisbee! But although it seemed a paradise to us, we eventually had to move on.

Our trip to Dublin was complicated, but we managed the three trains and the ferry combo quite well (and without losing any Pilgrims or luggage!). Once we had arrived in the Republic of Ireland we took up residence at Churchtown Meeting House outside of Dublin. The scenery here was different, suburbs versus the sheep fields we had come to know, and so were the accents! By this time the group had gotten quite comfortable within itself. We would break out into song during almost any activity, and there was always a surplus of hugs! Our first full day in Ireland we participated in a fund-raising event for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland in which we sold pens and took donations at several local shopping malls. It was great fun, even for the less socially inclined among us, and we raised a considerable amount of money for a great cause. The next day was our excursion into the buzzing metropolitan hub that is Dublin. The highlight of this adventure was the trip to the ancient Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library. The intricacies and dedication that went into its creation is simply incredible to behold! After what seemed like a very short stay, we again loaded on the buses with the Moyallon Retreat Center as our destination.

Northern Ireland seemed very much like England had been, except with more rain. We began our stay there with a three day retreat focusing on kindness and love. We had many interesting activities and workshops ranging from “chatrooms”, which center on many different issues and their place in Quakerism (Quakerism and God, Quakerism and the Bible, Quakerism and the Environment, etc.); to a fishbowl type discussion on all aspects of sexuality. These organized discussions also provoked less formal spontaneous ones as Pilgrims continued to explore their peer’s spiritual beliefs, as well as coming into their own. A very important part of the retreat for me was also the “Silent Afternoon” planned by Ministry and Worship Committee. Starting at the close of lunch and ending with the start of Business Meeting at 7:30 p.m. we participated in silent games, a silent walk, and times for individual reflection and meditation. It proved to be a very intense yet enjoyable spiritual experience and I am quite grateful for the opportunity. After the retreat we made trips into Belfast to explore the political system and parties of Northern Ireland, as well as taking a closer look at the tension still existing between the Catholic and Protestant communities there. The latter was most evident in the “peace walls” which served as protection between the denominations neighborhoods. We also visited Quaker Service, a visitors center with a daycare and a café at one of Northern Ireland’s prisons, as well as Quaker Cottage, a group that brought together Protestant and Catholic Mothers from highly challenged families (either due to physical/ sexual/drug abuse, etc.) in an effort to help them heal from those wounds and make steps in a positive direction. Both of these organizations were highly inspirational and prime examples of how Friends have been and can work to make this world a better place for all of us. Our time at Moyallon came to end with a pleasant but hot service day, during which we battled weeds and moved gravel in a small attempt to repay Moyallon Friends for their bottomless generosity.

Once again we travel by ferry, but this time to Scotland, where we took up residence in a simply enchanting Y.M.C.A. owned and operated castle. It is here that we celebrated our last days together as a community. Our activities ranged from dance parties to epistle writing as we slowly came to terms with the fact that this unbelievable trip was coming to an end. Although a month seemed like an eternity when I first left my home in mid-July, in reality it was barely enough time, and I was left hungry for more. I know I can’t speak for all the Pilgrims when I say this, but I have come home a more confident, knowledgeable, and open-minded Quaker than I ever could have become without this trip. I quite frequently find my thoughts traveling back our last worship in the airport terminal in Philadelphia. Although we may have looked like a dirty group of strange singing teenagers to some, we knew what this trip had meant to us and what we were walking away from it with (besides a pack full of dirty laundry).

Furthermore, as I head off for College, I am beyond grateful to have a 29-member family supporting me in the next steps and entirety of my spiritual journey, and although I realize our belief systems vary quite a bit, it doesn’t matter, for these differences don’t separate us from one another, they just require an open mind and a loving heart, and with these two features, they can in fact develop deeper and more meaningful relationships than we have ever known.

My Walk for Earth - by Marshall Massey

Marshall Massey is a Conservative Quaker in Nebraska.
Early Friends traditionally greeted one another with "How has the Lord dealt with thee since last we met?" and "What is the teaching given thee for us?" -- as Marshall reminds us, these are queries worth renewing.

From Saturday, May 13 to Monday, July 31, 2006, I walked (and drove, when my ankles gave out and I couldn't bear walking any more) from Omaha, Nebraska to Harrisonburg, Virginia: a distance of 1150 miles. The journey occupied 80 days, during which I did a lot of worship as I walked, and during which, also, I met and consulted with Friends (Quakers) in many communities along my route.

My destination was Baltimore Yearly Meeting, an annual gathering of Friends from Maryland, Virginia, parts of Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

There, on August 5, I was a keynote speaker, addressing the yearly meeting on the difficult and divisive topic of how we human beings, as children of God, can live in harmony with all of God's Creation.

What I said to Baltimore Yearly Meeting was what had been given to me along the way [never written or recorded, but see my later reflection on the same theme]. One might say this was a spiritual experiment. Did it succeed? It's still too soon to say.

You can see how my journey unfolded, and what came out of it, and talk with me about it, by visiting my blog site at http://journal.earthwitness.org. Its comments page links to blogs by many other Friends. Similarly, non-Quakers may find the Evangelical Environmental Network at http://www.creationcare.org/.

Tikkun olam: woman swims up Costa Rica coast to promote marine sanctuaries

As my Tikkun Olam, Hebrew for "offering to the world", I am using my disability as my greatest asset to help our ailing planet. I hope to inspire with my swims the creation of marine sanctuaries worldwide. Swimming has become a necessity besides it having always been a passion, after a massive thrombosis permanently shut off circulation to 2 of the big veins in my left leg. Being buoyancy neutral, when I swim in the ocean, I enter a state of well being and bliss , especially since now life on land, under the influence of gravity, is often painful. I am already planning the next big swim on Jan. 6 2009 all the way to Nicaragua for my beloved finned friends, especially sharks who need all the support they can get, since they have such a poor public image due to the movie Jaws. 12 species are on the endangered list, due to the ignoble practice of shark finning -- Renate Herberger in costaricamermaid.net (with more photos and slideshow). See also tikkun olam in an earlier posting in this blog.

Swimming Activist Nears End of Her Journey

by Ellen Zoe Golden, reprinted from Tico Times (Costa Rica) April 18, 2008.

Christi Bettinsoli, owner of Lola’s Restaurant in Avellanas, handed me a mask, snorkel and fins, while Blue Dolphin Sailing’s Jeff Herman told me tomeet him at the rubber dinghy that would take me out 300 yards to meet Renate Herberger.That day, the 52-year-old from the Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia, planned to take a short, casual swim instead of the usual 20 kilometers shehas been doing in segments up the Pacific coast for more than two months. By the time she reached Avellanas, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, Herbergerhad swum 700 kilometers.

Bettinsoli read about Herberger’s goal to swim the Costa Rican Pacific coast to promote marine sanctuaries and raise awareness of threatened marine life in The Tico Times(TT, Jan. 25) and offered to sponsor the Guanacaste leg of her swim. She said, laughing, that the only way to getthe story of this extraordinary woman who has been swimming eight hours a day since entering the water Feb. 1 near the southern border with Panama is to get in the ocean and paddle alongside her. And so it was last Saturday, four days before the anticipated completion of Herberger’s journey in Playas del Coco, farther north.

Though she had yet to find a boat to accompany her in Coco, the upbeat athlete didn’tseem too bothered, focusing instead on the day’s event: two exhibition swims, a talk about her experience so far, and a storytellingsession for children. All proceeds from Lola’s Restaurant, which came to about $1,000,went to Herberger for her journey and her cause.

Herberger took to swimming in the ocean for therapy two years ago, after suffering a massive thrombosis while waiting for surgeryfor a torn ligament in her knee. Swimming in the ocean helped alleviate her pain. The idea of combining a coastal CostaRican swim and raising ocean awareness was natural, Herberger explained, saying, “I was always an activist, and to be in theocean is my calling in life.” Since she began her journey, a typical swim day has found the athlete rising between 4 and 4:30 a.m. to head to the boatto the swim entry point. The accompanying boat might be a fishing boat, a simple panga or a fabulous yacht, depending on who volunteers to help.

Between 5:30 and 7 a.m. she is in the water and swimming, fully clothed because of the jellyfish. Her uniform includes multiple turtleneck sweaters and dancing tights, snorkeling gear and, depending on knee pain, fins.very half-hour, she replenishes with water and drinking yogurt. At noon, she breaks in the boat for lunch, usually a sandwich,before heading immediately back into the water for more swimming, until she completes her daily eight hours in the water. While swimming,Herberger often collects trash and debris that cross her path, depositing them into the attendant boat. As Herman said in Avellanas, “This takes beach cleanup to a new level.”

Not every day has been a water day. Herberger has spent many days administrating since her original sponsor and organizer, Dominical Social Programs Association, backed out March 9 because of economic factors, she said. “There were days I was chewing my fingernailsoff metaphorically, wondering where I was going to stay next,” she said. “And then it would just happen.”

In Dominicalito, on the southern coast, she chatted with a woman on the bus and ended up with the woman’s nephew, David Allen Montoya, as her boat driver for five days. Though she brought camping gear, Herberger said she used it only one night. The rest of the time she “had the phenomenal good fortune to stay in private homes and hotels through sponsors’ accommodations that came about 70% from those reading the Tico Times article.”Life in the Pacific has been great."

“In Punto Banco (near Pavones on the southern coast) a pilot whale came right up to me and swam under me. It felt like a great blessing... quite often I hear the humpback whales, and they sing for around hours and hours.” As to her worst experiences in the water: “I have had a lot of hot kisses on the lips,” she lamented, referring to the jellyfish stings that managed to find the only unprotected area on her body besides her hands. Two times she had to get into her chaperone boat and move to a position farther offshore, because“there were just millions, a broth or thick stew of jellyfish. It was pretty terrifying. They are the only things in the ocean that scare me. I had a bad reaction to a man o’ war sting once, and I won’t ever forget that.”

On the whole, however, the expedition up the coast has been positive. Herberger said her favorite experience was near Quepos on the central coast, between the mainland and Isla Damas. “In between, the ocean compresses in this channel with very confused currents and huge waves of about five meters,” she explained. “I told the boat driver to stick really close to me. Then, I let myself breathe and let go of the fear, and I entered this place of absolute bliss, a sensation of free falling and flying at the same time. I felt like a child in the bosom of the big mama.”

She feels she’s accomplished her goal of “swimming the world’s warm oceans to raise awareness for the urgent necessity to protect our seas, because we are not separate from them.” “It’s about the journey,” she said. “This is just the beginning.”

--

¡Mujer discapacitada de 51 años atravesó el Golfo Dulce nadando!

Roberto Fernandéz, corresponsal, PUERTO JIMÉNEZ.

El recibimiento fue emotivo, la alemana cumplió su objetivo. Este martes vecinos de Puerto Jiménez y Golfito fueron testigos de lo que en un principio llamaron una locura: una mujer de 51 años de edad atravesó el Golfo Dulce nadando. La alemana Renata Herberger, residente en Canadá, vino a Costa Rica para apreciar la belleza de nuestros mares, en especial del Golfo Dulce, en la Zona Sur.

En menos de dos días se programó una aventura que para Herberger no es más que un volver a casa. Atravesar a nado el Golfo Dulce es para esta mujer estar en su hogar. El martes a las 6 a.m. se decidió a cruzar el Golfo, un trayecto de 15 kilómetros desde Puerto Jiménez hasta el Refugio de Vida Silvestre de Caña Blanca. Fueron 9 horas y 5 minutos de nado, a un ritmo constante y haciendo ligeras paradas para hidratarse y comer algo. La extranjera salió del muelle de Puerto Jiménez acompañada por unos amigos de Osa Discoveries, quienes le proporcionaron el bote custodio y la alimentación.

A pocos kilómetros para llegar a su meta, sus amigos debieron protegerla de un tiburón que al parecer no tenía buenas intenciones. Además los refuerzos llegaron cuando varios delfines comenzaron a seguirla y rodearla, como queriendo protegerla.

Para Herberger, el objetivo de esta travesía es dar a conocer a la comunidad y a la población del planeta las bellezas del mundo, que poco a poco hemos ido destruyendo. Esta mujer tras un accidente sufre una discapacidad en las piernas que le produce coágulos en las venas y las arterias, por eso caminar se le hace muy difícil. En Canadá se encuentra en una larga lista de espera para una cirugía que le corrija el daño, sin embargo debe esperar.

A su llegada al Refugio de Vida Silvestre de Caña Blanca, Herberger se mostró muy feliz y dijo que de no ser por la hora se habría devuelto nadando.

.

See also / ver tambien

Wikipedia Marine Protected Area, Parques nacionales de Costa Rica, Reservas de la biosfera

Delivering a message from Mother Earth: native Americans' Sacred Runs & Longest Walk 2008

photo: Sacred Run: The Lotus and the Feather, Japan 1995
The first modern run in 1991 crossed the continent from Vancouver BC to the Mohawk community of Kahnawake near Montreal.

As Dennis Banks explained in an interview at the time: Runners follow the ancient Native American tradition of bringing a message of "Land, Life and Peace" from village to village. In relays, they cover about 100 miles a day. Each runner wears a medicine pouch and carries a sacred staff. Every morning at sunrise we gather in a circle to offer prayers of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit. A song is sung to the Four Directions asking for a safe journey, then a message is cited. This message is recited daily, once in the morning and once at the end of the day's run, when all gather in a circle and burn cedar and tobacco in the act of prayer. One by one the runners are "smudged" and fanned by feathers from an eagle. The runners do not compete for medals. They take home only the memories of who they met and why they ran.

Who are these runners? What is the message they carry? In the "Unity Caravans" of the1950s up to 1967, youth and elders visited Indian reservations across North America to revive ancient teachings of the Great Spirit, ceremonies, prophecies and prayers, the sacredness of earth, air and water, the right relation of humans to all life -- Twolegged, Fourlegged, Winged, Finned, or GreenLeaved peoples, our relatives. In 1978, the tradition of running from village to village with a message was reborn, and Spiritual Runs have continued ever since. The 30th anniversary of The Longest Walk of 1978 from Alcatraz in San Francisco, to Washington D.C. will be repeated this year; a website reports on its history, photos and voices of the runners, and their current location. Their motto is All Life is Sacred -- Save Mother Earth.

An extraordinary film (now on DVD) exists of the 4000-km long 1995 Sacred Run: The Lotus and the Feather in Japan. It is edited like a tapestry, interweaving sights, songs, ceremonies and concerns of all the participants. Banks says, For many of the Native runners, this is the first time they have spent so much time with so many non-tribal people. With so many different languages being spoken--Ojibwa, Cree, French, German, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Sami, English [and Japanese] --one might think that communication barriers would materialize. But it is just that condition which draws the runners together. More effort is put forth by each person. In the beginning they are strangers. Then a strong bond develops as they ride together, pray together, eat meals together, and gather in the evening remembering the day's run. In that friendship, the understanding of each other's ways and heritage blossoms. As we exchange songs, dances, poetry, and stories learning from each other... our dreams become clear... distant lands are not that distant... Each one sees the spiritual path he or she must follow. The film reports that process, that awakening of the dreamer in each one. The filmmaker Andrea Sadler has dedicated her life since to widening the circle.

Other films/videos: Rebecca MacNiece video for the 2008 run, Tierra y Vida blog of the 2002 Hopi run to Mexico City and its video on Youtube (tambien en español), , Velcrow Ripper's documentary Fierce Light (90 Min, 2008), which includes a Shoshone sacred run; see also his Scared Sacred (105 min. 2004). See also 2006 concert CD, NFB/ONF collections: Aboriginal Perspectives, Wabenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, Visions autochtones and Wapikoni mobile.

Additional sources: Northern Route 2008, Banks' Nowa Cumig Institute, Virtual Museum.ca on the Wabenaki tradition of the sacred run, an Apache run of 2004, a multitribal run 2004 from the Bighorn to Edmonton, in Navaho territory 2005, multitribal 2008 runs in Los Angeles, Raramuri, Mississippi, and Australia. This list is incomplete. Cherokee Orrin Lewis has a helpful webpage on native spirituality, with a warning about hoaxes and pretenders. Sacred traditions are best learned face-to-face from real elders, not crammed from websites or books. Non-natives may benefit from Pachamama Alliance workshops on Awakening the Dreamer. See also blogs of Roberto Mendoza aguilahombre, Hopi Tierra y Vida

See our previous post about Quaker walks.