BARKA Berkshires
Press Release: Announcement of Berkshire initiative of the BARKA Burkina Consortium
Local Berkshire County-based Consortium Partners:
Center for Peace Through Culture
Healing Winds
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY; ACT GLOBALLY, THINK LOCALLY
A key strategy for accomplishing the ambitious task of achieving MDGs in Burkina Faso is to work both locally and internationally simultaneously. The obvious strategy here is that it is to our mutual benefit. The BARKA Foundation has begun this bridge-building work in the two areas in which it is based: La Petite Village, the small bush village in the Fada region, and the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. This aspect of the project is entitled BARKA Berkshires.
RECIPROCITY
The indigenous and post-industrial civilizations have important and vital gifts for each other. There is a growing understanding that indigenous populations which are in such dire need of preservation, protection and the basic necessities for an ability to thrive, possess ancient wisdom that the post-modern western world needs to bring greater balance and awareness to address the crises facing our survival on this planet.
BARKA believes this is the most important work we can be doing at this time- working to achieve MDGs in what UNESCO cites as the 3rd poorest country in the world, bring back the gifts of the indigenous African world to the West, and plug our local communities into one another in order to truly function as a global village. This work is ultimately about healing and building a culture of peace.
BARKA Berkshires is about more than MDGs– it's also about creating a dialogue between the modern and indigenous worlds in order to create common understanding, overcome racial and cultural difference and to use technology, art and business to join ancient wisdom with present wisdom in order to co-create a sustainable, peaceful future that integrates both.
BARKA will facilitate this through connecting schools, artisans, women, and local businesses to create a mutually beneficial relationship of education, cultural value, empowerment and commerce.
THE FIRST "BARKA BURKINA" WELL
The Walk for Water that took place on Pangea Day was literally the first step of this process. Ina & Esu were invited to teach Global Village classes in Monument Mountain Regional High School and to share videos and stories in order to educate children about indigenous life and issues of water scarcity. The high school students motivated themselves to raise money to drill a well in Africa. Together on Pangea Day, a global event about world peace, in a community-wide Walk for Water we raised $4000.
To make a donation to BARKA's well-drilling efforts, please send a check or money order made out to The BARKA Foundation and mail it to P.O. Box 69, Housatonic, MA 01236. Donations are tax-deductible. We will email or send you a receipt.
BARKA will film the well drilling process and show it to the high school students so they can see the fruits of their labor. Concurrently, BARKA will work with schools in Fada, Burkina Faso to create a connection with the students in the Berkshires. Eventually we anticipate exchanges of letters, artwork, and even students.
BARKA will videotape a running discourse to literally put community members in conversation with each other to jumpstart a kind of 21st Century oral history between these two cultures on either side of the Atlantic.
BARKA BANGOR?
BARKA is working with Women with Wings, a spiritually-oriented a capalla singing group based in Bangor, Maine that provided the funds to jumpstart BARKA's first micro-loan initiative and to send a Burkina-based BARKA affiliate to school to learn English. The UU Church Network of Bangor is currently working toward raising funds and awareness to drill the 2nd well in Burkina Faso. The Consortium looks forward to working in closer connection with WWW, the UU Church and the Bangor community as its work unfolds.
In addition, BARKA is the fiscal sponsor of Future Now, a Moscow-based organization focused on youth. When time and resources allow, the Consortium plans to involve these youngsters into its work. We are in discussion about bringing them to Burkina Faso to work with indigenous African youth to begin building a more sustainable future together.
