More of the walk

The causeway

The first part of the walk!!!!

This is where we'll be walking: Holy Island (Lindisfarne)

Photos just taken last Sunday 4.10.09 (we just hope weather will be like this and the sea, the sheep and Bamburgh Castle!)

Plan for the Walk
The day of the walk the tide for Holy Island opens from 06.15 to 12.25 and then from 18.35 to 00.35 hrs. We will gather in The Barn at Beal cafe (http://barnatbeal.com/), just a curve before the beginning of the tidal causeway by 10.30 hrs and will start walking to Holy Island by 11.00 hrs in order to be sure we get there before the tide closes. This is approximately 4 miles (I will distribute walking maps at start). If you want to follow the Pilgrim's Path you will need to have some wellingtons or be ready to go barefoot, if not you can just follow the causeway. We will have a short lunch break in the village and then go for the 3/3.30 hour walk around the island. We will end at the Crown and Anchor Pub (http://www.holyislandcrown.co.uk/) with some drinks until the tides open again at 18.35 hrs.

Women making cisterns

Since 2006 the women's cooperative has managed to build 15 cisterns with the help of an NGO who facilitated their training and applied for them for government funds. This year they will build 5 more and 5 next year (but there is currently no funding for more). The cisterns are built with hand-woven wiremesh, sand and cement. The way it has operated is that the cooperative has a list and the families who want to invest in a cistern add themselves to the list. These families have to contribute sand and labour: the man has to clear the land and dig the hole; and the woman has to agree to weave mesh for her own and approximately 5 other cisterns. There are still over a 100 households without cisterns (and their own water supply).

Teyahuala's children taking pictures and addressing the water problem

This sequence was taken by one of the girls in Teyahuala. I lend her my camera and told her the basic instructions to make it work. She then went out with the mission of taking whatwever she thought was nice or interesting for her. When she came back with these images of a neighbour carrying water from the cave up to his house, I thought the girls and boys could do wonders if they could get the chance of having some tools and spaces to creatively express what is around them. The Communal House will also provide a space to develop future projects where technology could be put to use to support children's creativity.

How Teyahuala looks like?

Here are some photos of the village of Teyahuala. For more information on who are the nahuas, you can start with the basic wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahua_peoples

More to come....

What would be the communal house for?

A group of indigenous women in Teyahuala have been working together to develop strategies for dealing with the extreme poverty they face. Two main projects are running now. One is for the construction of cisterns for rain-water collection to solve the serious lack of water for domestic use. The other is making soap with local herbs to be commercialised within the fair trade market to generate alternative income for their households (especially for widows and single mothers).

One big concern is that the efficiency of the group has been limited due to a lack of a common space where they can have their meetings and training sessions, store the materials for cistern building, and more urgently, have a safe space to make and store soap (as it uses caustic soda which is highly dangerous and can produce severe burns). This is what the Communal House will be for.

Sponsored Walk invite

I am organising a sponsored walk to support the construction of a Communal House for a women’s cooperative in Teyahuala, Mexico (an indigenous ‘nahua’ village in the highlands of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico).

It would be great if you can join me in a walk across the causeway and around the Holy Island of Lindisfarne on Saturday 17th of October. If not, it would be wonderful if you can sponsor me.

The aim is to raise £4,000.

Whatever the weather, it will be a lovely opportunity to help by walking and spend a nice day out. If you have never been to Holy Island I am sure it will be an inspiring experience, with Lindisfarne ‘s medieval religious heritage, the Priory and 16th century Castle.

Plan for the walk
The day of the walk the tide for Holy Island opens from 06.15 to 12.25 and then from 18.35 to 00.35 hrs. We will gather in The Barn at Beal cafe (http://barnatbeal.com/), just a curve before the beginning of the tidal causeway by 10.30 hrs and will start walking to Holy Island by 11.00 hrs in order to be sure we get there before the tide closes. This is aproximately 4 miles (I will distribute walking maps at start). If you want to follow the Pilgrim's Path you will need to have some wellingtons or be ready to go barefoot, if not you can just follow the causeway. We will have a short lunch break in the village and then go for the 3/3.30 hour walk around the island. We will end at the Crown and Anchor Pub (http://www.holyislandcrown.co.uk/) with some drinks until the tides open again at 18.35 hrs.

Where is Teyahuala?

View Larger Map

If you zoom in into the 'A' you will find the mark of where Teyahuala is (you can also just move the map a bit downwards with the arrows to get rid of the white sign). Unfortunately Teyahuala is so small, only 600 inhabitants aproximately, there is not even a sign. That is why the picture of the road sign at the beginning of the blog: if there's a sign, there's a place. Try the other views (satelite and terrain) so you can have a sense of the highlands in that area. And if you fancy visiting, just let me know.