The Seeds of Change Grant Scheme for 2023/2024 is now open for community groups in Donegal. Funding of up to €650 is available for a change/sustainability
ChangeMakers Donegal will run an accredited course in Intercultural Studies from Tuesday 3 October. Facilitated by Francine Blaché-Breen, a Community Worker with 25 years of experience in the field. Funded by Inishowen Development Partnership
Intercultural Studies explores intercultural issues such as diversity, racism, and equality. It also encourages self-reflection and active participation in a complex and diverse society.
Expect plenty of lively discussions to help you understand the world we live in, and your role in changing it.
Hybrid course, with four ‘in-person days’ in a central Letterkenny location. Course runs from Tuesday 3 October 2023 to Thursday 30 November 2023. Email Myra via changemakers@inishowen.ie to receive a copy of the schedule and a description of the course. Everyone is welcome to take part.
INISHOWEN’S community members who champion sustainability and environmental protection, will be gathering as part of special event during Heritage Week in Carndonagh in
Wednesday 9 August 2023 at 2:30pm – 3:30pm at the Clonmany Agricultural Show
Join Patsy Toland of ChangeMakers Donegal for a panel discussion facilitated by Inishowen Development Partnership (IDP)
Join us at the Disappear Here Film Club during the Clonmany Festival for a screening of the Rights of Nature documentary and a panel discussion on Friday 11 August 2023 at 5pm at the Clonmany Community Centre.
The Environmental Justice Network Ireland has produced a short film in collaboration with organisations and individuals from across the island of Ireland and beyond that explores the concept of rights of nature.
ChangeMakers Donegal in collaboration with ECO Carn, present: Environment & Economics – Striking a Balance, A Walk & Talk event at Trawbreaga Bay, a Special Conversation Area.
– A walk of the site by Karin Dubksy of Coastwatch and Trish Murphy of Inishowen Rivers Trust
-An overview of the opportunities presented by the LEADER programme by Andrew Ward of Inishowen Development Partnership
Register: https://tinyurl.com/2pce4ecf
SUSTAINABILITY and solidarity in the community will be at the fore of the annual ChangeMakers Donegal seminar early next month.
Taking place at the Station House Hotel in Letterkenny on Friday, June 9, the annual seminar is inviting everyone who is interested in coming together to share ideas to attend the free and public event.
Speakers on the day include Rebekah Shirley of World Resources Institute Africa and David O’Hare, Communications Officer with Trócaire, who are ChangeMakers partners, along with Inishowen Development Partnership, Self Help Africa, Donegal ETB, and Concern Worldwide.
As well as Rebekah and David being the main speakers at the annual seminar on June 9, there will also be a a panel discussion featuring Greencastle Community Centre, Muff District Heritage Group and the Donegal Gay Walking Group and others who signed up to the Seeds of Change Grant and Mentoring programme as well as music from the New Lands Choir.
Booking for the seminar is now open and while it is a free event people are asked to book their spot in advance to allow for lunch/dietary requirements for the venue.
Book your free spot now via Eventbrite and the link below:
Q1: Tell us about yourself, where in Donegal are you based and what things do like to do?
I live in Buncrana, Inishowen, Donegal. I like going for walks by the sea or anywhere else in nature, working in my garden, taking part in community activities, in particular creative ones like with Artlink, spending time with my grandchildren one afternoon a week, knit & crochet yarn bombs for change. Singing and reading.
I took part in the IMMA Eco Art Festival last October and I felt heartened by the many different creative approaches to ecological issues, how many people do care and do what they can, awareness raising, planting trees, rewilding, growing mushrooms, visioning the future, litter-picking etc. What is missing is urgent radical action by government and corporations and we need more truth telling by the mainstream media, whether that is highlighting the daily weather extremes in the wider context of rising CO2 or calling out Greenwashing etc.
Q2: What change making activities are you pursuing in your life at this time?
I grow some of my own food, I have a rainwater harvesting system (barrels) to water my garden, I use water in my house sparingly.
I compost my food waste.
I am learning about saving seeds and I give/share/swap them with folks in the area – seeds, seedlings and produce.
I am part of the Amach Anseo Community Garden at Dunree.
I use a bus whenever possible or walk to town, try use my car as little as possible, combine journeys & things to do when I do use the car. As I live up a hill, it’s about 25 minutes down, and 35 minutes up!
I pick up local litter regularly, sometimes as part of Buncrana Tidy Town Committee, sometimes on my own.
I sing in a local choir about climate change, biodiversity and social justice.
I co-set up Extinction Rebellion Donegal-Derry/Strabane and the Red Rebel XR Donegal group too.
I co-founded the Buncrana-Palestine solidarity group, regular stalls, info evenings & fundraisers and bulk buying Palestinian produce (olive oil, dates etc) yearly.
I am involved in the Inishowen against Goldmining campaign.
I am involved in the Action North Waste Campaign, about safe disposal of buried toxic waste dump at Bridgend and holding those responsible accountable.
I support the local organic farms (White Oaks and Bee Organic) buying their produce regularly when money permits.
I am involved with Derry Zero Waste as well as the Environmental Gathering in Derry.
I make yarn-bombs, (knit and crochet) to highlight ecological issues and raise awareness to hang in public spaces.
I am part of an informal group of people in the area that run occasional swap shops or passing on items of books, clothes and household items and ran a Repair café in the past etc. We are like a Transition Town collective.
Q3: How do you interact with ChangeMakers?
I did the original course at the start, then later did part of the facilitators course, I go to the seminars yearly and when possible, to workshops. I organised a zero waste training workshop, given by Rachel Dempsey, whom Changemakers had used.
They are ‘my tribe’, people who care about social and ecological justice, about human rights, global and local etc. I have learned a lot, been challenged, stimulated and encouraged.
Q4: What conversations would you like to pursue with the wider ChangeMakers community?
- Political economy: We need to name and understand the ideological economic model of neoliberalism – that harms planet and people- and increases inequality, in order to effectively challenge it. I know Trademark in Belfast run courses on it. Further info: http://trademarkbelfast.com/.
- Doughnut Economics. I took part in a workshop at IMMA on this alternative economic model, staying within ecological and social limits. The Irish Doughnut Economics Network offer training/workshops, I spoke to a woman, Mary from Transition Kerry, and Roisin from Wexford Environmental Network. Further info: https://doughnuteconomics.org/groups-and-networks/6
- We need to talk about local turf cutting! How it is a tradition and ‘free’, which matters to a largely poor population in rural Donegal, but how it’s costing the future in reality. How folk need to be fully supported to insulate their houses better (government aid) and use more sustainable alternative sources of fuel & value the bogs for the vital carbon sink it is!
- Wind-power/water power: Not the corporate profit-driven huge models, but smaller scale community owned and managed, not on the bogs (Meenabog landslide) etc.
- Tree-planting – yes, but native and varied. Not Sitka spruce monoculture plantations, laden with pesticides, as they are ecological dead zones.
The Disappear Here Film Club is going on the road for one week only from its usual location, Clonmany, to feature in the Inishowen Pride weekend in Buncrana for the first time on Friday 2 June.
The Disappear Here Film Club is designed to bring people together once a month to see a societal or global theme played out on screen and to give people the opportunity to discuss these issues as a community.
Everyone is welcome to join our Club which is a partnership between Disappear Here Film Festival, ChangeMakers Donegal and Concern.
To reserve your seat visit Eventbrite and enter the words: Disappear Here Film Club at Inishowen Pride.
Further Information
As part of the Inishowen Pride Weekend, Michael McLaughlin of Disappear Here Film Festival has chosen five short films to reflect LGBTQ+ stories. The short films will be followed by a post-film discussion featuring Orla Walsh, the Director of the film Bent out of Shape about a gay punk working in a video shop.
A panel discussion will follow the Film screenings and it will feature Karl Hayden, LGBTQ+ and HIV activist for more than 30 years, Orla Walsh, Film-maker and Anne-Marie Mc Laughlin, Healthy Club Officer at Buncrana GAA, chaired by Ruth Garvey Williams of Exchange Inishowen.
“We’re very much looking forward to hosting the Film Club in Buncrana as part of Inishowen Pride weekend,” said Myra McAuliffe, Project Coordinator, ChangeMakers Donegal.
“And we expect the panel discussion after to be very lively and informative. As well as being an activist, Karl has been working on a scheme to disregard historic convictions of men prosecuted under Victorian Law, which criminalised consensual sex between men up to 1993.
“Karl was also one of the organisers of the Dublin Pride so we’re looking forward to having him in Buncrana,” added Myra.
“Also on the evening, an exhibition Where Love is Illegal, will be unveiled. Witness Change has partnered with Inishowen Pride to bring this exhibition to Ireland for the first time. The exhibition documents and shares LGBTI+ stories of discrimination and survival from around the world. The exhibition will be on display throughout the weekend at The Exchange Inishowen.“
The Disappear Here Film Club will take place in the Exchange on Friday June 2 at 7.30pm. It is free and open to everyone over 18. However advance booking is required to be able to accommodate everyone.
Programme
The programme of short films is as follows:
Film Title 1: Bent out of Shape
Director: Orla Walsh (IRL)
Description: Danny, a gay punk working in a video shop, befriends a young bullied boy Stephen but their friendship has consequences…
Running Time: 26 minutes
Film Title 2: Dream Kitchen
Director: Barry Dignam (IRL)
Description: A young man arrives home to find his Dad repairing the car again and his Mum busy cooking, as usual. In these depressingly dreary surroundings the son imagines a luxurious dream kitchen, in which he plucks up the courage to tell his astonished parents the good news: “I’m gay”. But, all too soon, his fairy-tale comes to an end…
Running Time: 9 minutes
Film Title 3: Different
Director: John Farrelly (IRL)
Description: Summer 1980’s, The West of Ireland. A time and place where homosexuality is frowned upon, a promising young gaelic footballer, Patrick, falls in love with another young man from his local village.
Running Time: 20 mins
Film Title 4: In Orbit
Director: Katie McNiece (IRL)
Description: There was once an invisible optician, trapped in a strange and lonely world. Her story starts with a broken lens and the woman who taught her to see things differently.
Running Time: 17 mins
Film Title 5: PINK
Director: KY Baldwin – (USA)
Description: Elody is realizing that finding love is a gift not to be ignored. Being happy and living without fear is what matters and will make you the person you are destined to be.
Running Time: 7 mins
Panel discussion to follow the event, details to be announced soon.
A story exchange to share stories about home for women living in Direct Provision in Donegal.
What makes a home?
What are your hopes for the future?
You are all welcome to join us for a story exchange and discussion workshop facilitated by Francine Blaché-Breen and Eve Li.
Here, we will look at the topic of home as a local, national and global issue to raise understanding, awareness and empathy as global citizens.
Exact location in Ballybofey to be announced, places limited to 6 to 8 people.
Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/2y39vtsz