Walking for Water and Life
Post date: May 27, 2018 1:14:59 PM
The crystal clear headwaters of the Eerste River in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve near the town of Stellenbosch in the heart of South Africa's winelands
‘Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence’
Henry David Thoreau, poet, philosopher and naturalist
It is to the womb of wilderness and the healing balm of Mother Nature that I constantly return for renewal, trusting the whispers in the wind and the laughter of the waters to guide and inspire my next steps.
After much walking and questioning, clarity is again emerging and I’m in Scotland co-facilitating Experience Week programmes within the Findhorn Foundation community and holding retreats on the sacred Isle of Iona.
It is both a joy and a privilege to serve in this way and will help prepare me for a pilgrimage walk in the land of my birth – South Africa.
After at least two years of envisioning, members of the Eerste River Crystalline Water Tribe are agreed on a broad outline for a source-to-sea walk in September that is both an action and a prayer. It recognises that Water is Life and is our common ground worldwide.
Water connects us – humans, animals, plants and all life – and this pilgrimage is intended to be a celebration, an exploration and an opportunity to listen in humility to the waters and the many voices of our watershed and ask: How might we serve? What is ours to do?
‘Eerste’ means first in Afrikaans, a language spoken by many South Africans.
The Eerste River near its source in the Jonkershoek Mountains
We see the Eerste River Water Walk as a local acupuncture point to help support an awakening and heightened awareness in the larger water body of our world, believing in the power of story, prayer and action to inspire change, contribute to the healing needed, and to restore old relations and create new ones.
Inevitably it will be a journey through Inner and Outer Landscapes that draws inspiration from the love affair of many with the waters that sustain them and all life. It is inclusive and welcomes the involvement of many communities and individuals linked to the Eerste River and its tributaries in the picturesque Stellenbosch region of South Africa’s Western Cape.
It supports the vision of water protectors that include the First Peoples of many lands, the international California-based Walking Water initiative of which I’ve been part in recent years, and dynamic local groups like the Stellenbosch River Collaborative and Eerste River Crystalline Water Tribe.
During September we’ll walk from the source of the waters in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve, following the waters to and through the historic town of Stellenbosch to the ocean.
We’ll walk in the footsteps of our ancestors and at their time-honoured pace, walking waterways that were well known to the First People of the land as well as the colonists and slaves who followed later.
Source-to-sea walkers will be able to follow well-maintained paths along the headwaters
Our intention is to practice deep listening, to suspend judgements and to harvest stories of the ancient and modern history of the region and those profoundly connected to the Eerste River. It is a chance to observe the contrasts of pristine headwaters and polluted waters downstream, as well as the impacts of agriculture, farming, industry and residential communities, both wealthy and disadvantaged.
Along the way we’ll visit ancient sacred sites and conduct ceremonies that honour the waters, the ancestors, the custodians, the authorities and the organisations tasked with stewardship of the Eerste River. Those that do not respect the waters will also be gently held in our awareness and prayers.
On Monday, September 24, Heritage Day, we hope to have completed the walk and our band of pilgrims will come together to share stories, hopes and dreams.
While publicity and big numbers are not a priority during the initial exploratory walk, any who’d be keen to join will be welcomed. It is also possible that with a greater understanding of the challenges and inspirations of the waters and life alongside, a bigger event could be co-created in 2019 or beyond.
Many passionate water protectors from various sectors of local society know the river more intimately than I do, although some of the challenges and learnings appear to be universal.
Water protectors Lydia van Rooyen and Charl Pienaar at a sacred site along the source-to-sea route
I draw much of my inspiration from the global Walking Water initiative (www.walking-water.org) which was an epic 880km journey walked in three parts over three years.
It was a pilgrimage of spectacular contrasts as we followed the waterways – natural and manmade - from the source high in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to the City of Los Angeles and ultimately the place where the polluted and channelised LA River spills into the ocean at Long Beach.
The early weeks felt like a loveletter to the Earth and particularly to the waters as the walkers delighted in traversing areas of astonishing natural beauty. There were also times of intense challenge inside and out in the extremes of the desert as temperatures soared and sandstorms battered the travel-weary pilgrims.
Perhaps most challenging of all was the final fortnight walking through the city to the sea. Sleep often eluded us as we slept in city and state parks under bright lights, ceaseless traffic noise and the unrelenting busyness of the second largest city in the United States.
And yet there were so many highlights, not least of which was the warmth and enthusiasm with which many Angelenos welcomed us. It is indeed a City of Angels.
The river meets the ocean at a beach appreciated by nature lovers, fishers and local residents
Appropriately the walk started and finished as a prayer and a blessing, and always the intention was to build bridges, especially between the needs of the people of Los Angeles and those of Payahuunadu, the Paiute tribe’s name for the Owens Valley where a significant portion of the water flows from.
Much of the walk was undertaken against the backdrop of California’s most devastating drought and a worldwide water crisis of epic proportions. Many parallels can be drawn with the situation in South Africa and especially Cape Town and other neighbouring areas.
I give thanks for the camaraderie, friendship, hospitality and commitment of those I walked with, among them leaders and elders of the indigenous tribes who inspired me with their spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness, and long-range vision.
I’m inspired by the wisdom of many, including cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, who said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has”. And primatologist and UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall, who noted: “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something that you don’t believe is right.”
Geoff Dalglish
A moment of pure joy for water protectors Natasha Rightford and Bernie Cohen James at the river mouth
