Going less wild..

The question that I had at the start, "how wild can a human be in Europe today?", is still part of this journey, even though I've gone less wild the last week.

It's not easy I would say. Access to drinkable water is very difficult, never mind fresh spring water. Access to rivers is harder to find and I've been seeing more and more rivers totally dried out, even though the big monoculture farmed fields do seem to have irrigation water, even in the middle of very hot days which is a total inefficient way to use our precious water.

Let's be honest now, humans cannot really circulate freely and wild in Europe. First of all, we need papers to cross borders, and we need a passport. A "good" passport, a document from a Nation State that gives some humans more rights than others, depending which Nation you were born in.

In the French motto "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity", I wonder if it includes all human beings. For what I see, it doesn't.

If it does, then I just don't understand how some humans have the right to live and move freely, like the ones that have been here longer or the ones the Nation State approves of, and other don't .

Speaking of Passports, I totally forgot I needed to bring mine, because I will technically leave Europe to cross England and Wales which are part of the bigger Island and then I will be back to Europe in the south of the smaller Island and out again into the North part of it which is again not Europe.

I'm having my passport sent from home where Francisco posted it to an address I had to find in Calais, the cheapest Airbnb I found near the centre of Calais. It's almost 9 km away, and it's a nice bike ride of a chilled half an hour cycling almost flat all the time.

It's a flat coast. It's a "charged" coast. Many human atrocities have been committed on these coasts... Humans killing humans ... A place of conquests and defeats, depending which side you are looking from.

Today, in our generation, Calais is known for the place to cross to the bigger Island, as a last resort for those who have no papers to be considered equals with people like me, with a Portuguese passport, therefore European. I have more rights than other humans who are here from Sudan, or Eritrea, or Syria or Afghanistan. There is no equality among all human beings and we are not allowed to be wild as simple children of the Earth.

There are rules and laws made by people we don't even know. Only a few have the right to decide what is right and what is wrong, who is allowed in and who's not.

A lot of migrants who come here left their families and lands because of wars or economic instability in their countries. They try to get legalized as they come into Europe, but when they got refused in one country means they cannot apply in any other European country, so their last chance is crossing the sea and go to UK to apply for it there. In reality, "Brexit" raised the number of migrants wanting to cross to the British Island and not the other way.

We are not speaking about millions of people wanting to cross the sea, not even thousands, but a few hundreds who could be simply encouraged to go live in less populated areas in Europe or the UK, and instead they are made into a propaganda and calling it a "migration crisis" . There is no crisis at all, there is injustice and bad management of people and land.

On my travelling I see the country side almost empty of people, and Europe politicians want to say we have no space for people? What people hear on the news is definitely far from reality.

I had to apply to an E.T.A (electronic travel authorisation) last week. I did it all online where I had only to upload a picture of my passport and take a photo of myself during the application. It was funny when I was requested this photo with a plane background when I was only surrounded by trees. I quickly thought of a solution, thrown my tarp over the string above the hammock and thankfully it worked. Within a day I got an email giving me permission to enter the UK as many times as I want for 2 years.

Now I just need to wait and hope my passport comes on the post. It was sent on Friday, so it should be here today, Wednesday, or max on Thursday .

Other people are denied the same right or the same ease, just because they were born in a different country. Ok, we can argue that the intentions to come in are different, but I will just cross and participate very little in the country's economy while a migrant will want to settle, find a job and will have to pay taxes. So, migrants are technically good to any economic system, unlike me and people like me who desire to participate the least as possible in this system's economy.

The arguments we may hear is that too many workers will lower wages and living conditions, but that would be up to the Governments to monitor and make it fair. Others may argue that prices of resources rise because the demand rises, but also productive hands rise, or not? 

It's a "systemic crisis" and " administration crisis", not a "migration crisis"... The money spent on extra security and deportation could well be used to welcome those who want to fill the needs of labour in many areas where there is shortage like in farming or building for example.

Anyway, I quit economic and administration studies because the system didn't make any sense to me, and it still doesn't.

Because of this systemic injustice there are several NGOs ( Non governmental Organisations) and many volunteers in Calais who host these migrants and asylum seekers, give them shelter, clothes, medicines for those who need, while others take care of paperwork and integration strategies.

I have to mention again our friend Filipa Batista in the "Centro de Migrações" in Fundão, our closest local town, and all the team that supports this work of hosting and integrating refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. When I share with people here who are doing similar work, they cannot believe that is a public service from the city hall as the local Mayor here is not so supportive of this work. I also said it's not the same in other parts of Portugal and that it does depend on who is the leadership in the city halls,and what are their main interests. Currently it seems that the new administration in Fundão is not so interested in this work either.

People are also amazed when I say that when the war started in Ukraine, there were 2 buses and 15 vans who drove from Fundão to Poland and brought 173 people, a lot of them evenwith their pets, straight into the old Seminary in Fundão, now "Centro de Migrações", where Filipa Baptista and her team, that included Emma at the moment, together with the rest of the workers from Fundão City Hall and many volunteer citizens . They not only received and gave them food and a comfortable place to stay, but also integrated them in the local community or help them find a more suitable place to live.

Fundão has been receiving several prizes for being among the most hospitable place for migrants in Europe, and this is only benefiting the region that needed more people, especially young families to re-populate the area with a new generation of locals.

The interior of Portugal is demographically ageing and needs labour and new families with children to settle. We need migrants to populate our farming villages and land and not only coming to be slaves in the urban consuming system... We need migrants from different countries and languages and not only from other northern European countries who come in search of better places to retire or cheaper land to live in as they cannot afford in their own countries... We need all, the more diverse, the better, that's what a resilient society should be like.

I met some young people on my last day in Taizé who were about to come to Calais as well, to volunteer at a house where they host refugees, where they give them a room, clothes and basic daily needs, including lots of love and making everyone feel as family.

I've been going to the house as a guest too, and it's incredible the way they are constantly hosting whoever shows at their doorstep. The house is full, daily tasks are shared and there's always room for one more at the table. I helped a bit too on the cleaning of the house that is needed daily. 

One couple with a small child is about to leave tomorrow for a longer period to recharge themselves as a family and rest for a while from this intense work of living close together in community and constantly surrounded by other people's needs... I guess the fact that there is no time or space to create deep relationships as people just pass by for a short period of time must be hard for those who stay more permanently.

Prayer sustains this work at this particular house and there is one dedicated room just for that where the volunteers gather everyday, once or twice or whenever they need a bit of silence and retreat from the almost constant busyness. They follow a similar structure to Taizé meetings a de even have a pile of song books, beautiful and inspiring icons and decoration.

I usually say  that our work with people at the Mount of Oaks is intense, but this is another level. I take my hat out with respect and admiration as this is not an easy task. There are many people working in these front lines where the systemic problems arise. Illegal migrants and refugees are only one "problem" among many that our capitalist unjust systems create unnecessarily.

It's a difficult subject for me, because I feel what I've been doing is actually encouraging and training people to live off the system instead of finding ways for people to get in. In a way I know that most of these people will only be led to be today's slaves in this capitalist system that has been only surviving for many generations based on slavery work. 

Whether it's at our door step or at the lands of production of the many things this system needs and wants to survive, slavery has always been required, from colonization times until today. We just need to look at the prices of things like sugar, coffee, chocolate, food and clothes and compare them with the real costs to produce all these things to realise that there has to be exploitation, of human labour and land resources. This is what I call a real crisis, not caused by migrants but by most Governments who take advantage of these human and natural resources in one hand and on the other hand refuse the entry of honest people in their Nation States.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but all this matters to me and I can't help but question all these things as they come my way.

Now, sharing a bit about my cycling journey after the last post... as I said, I went less wild and got a few trains as I felt my time was running out and I only wanted to stop at Taizé and Calais before continuing to cycle through England, Wales and Ireland.

The places I found to sleep have also been less exciting and even uncomfortable like this one where I couldn't find any access to the river I saw on the map, which was reduced to a little stream, and I couldn't also find a place with 2 accessible trees to hang my hammock. I ended in this kids' park, not far from the road at the entry of a village and the flattest place I saw to lay my tarp and make my bed a bit hidden from the road and the street lights. I was under this ping-pong table. Oh well, at least I didn't have to pedal much to reach the train station in Nimes, which was only 15km away.

I got 3 trains as I'm only allowed on slow trains with my bike and it works perfectly for me. From Nimes to Avignon, from there to Lyon and then to Macon.

This is generally how the bike goes on the train. I remove my back frame and turn it into a backpack I can easily carry and once in the train I remove the 2 side bags. On the train to Lyon I had to hang it from the front wheel and it was packed with other 5 more bikes which was a challenge, but still doable with my DIY setting unlike the very fancy ones I have been seeing. 

From Macon to Taizé I only had to cycle 32km and because it was the end of the day and it was better to arrive in Taizé earlier, I was praying for a nice place to sleep and recover from the previously not so good night.

I was almost giving up as I couldn't find, not only the river I saw on the map, but also access out of the "green trail" that has drainage ditches on both sides. I sat on a bench, already tired from the day and soon  getting dark. I was going to just leave the bike against the bench and make a way into the trees on either side of the track, but the TGV track was just there and very noisy. Suddenly I got some extra energy to go a bit further along and I'm glad as I found a way into the woods.

I still had to cross the ditch but it was narrow enough for me to pull the bike through. It was not only a forest, it was a chestnut forest with a few massive Oaks, 2 of my favourite trees. I was very thankful and had a very good night sleep. I stayed until 10.30am and took it slowly in the morning, sleeping in and enjoying a nice plate with oats, fruits, nuts and honey for breakfast.

Oh, I forgot to mention a lovely encounter I had in the middle of a very steep hill between Macon and this sleeping place. I knew it was coming, so I was preparing myself mentally to walk and drag my bike uphill for a few kilometres. My water was nearly at the end too as I couldn't find anywhere to refill it on the way. At the bottom of the hill I came out of my bike to prepare myself and immediately I saw an eagle taking off from a telegraph post on my left side... It always makes me feel assured that the Great Spirit is with me and it will all be fine. A few steps further and another eagle takes off, now from the fields where it must have been eating some hunt. I was already very grateful, until a few more steps further and I found this beautiful gift, just there on my side of the road... "This will definitely be blessed", I thought.

I immediately put the feather on my dad's hat and continued with a very positive attitude. It was tough indeed... In the middle of the way I run out of water but I knew I would reach some houses where I saw cars so I was hoping to see some gentle soul who would give me water.

It was so much better than what I was expecting. First I saw a cute little kid on a window and then his father came too. I asked for water and he invited me to go up and come in. I noticed his nice wood working table and asked if he was a carpenter. Well, he makes guitars, how cool is that. He not only filled my bottles but also gave me an extra one, which came to be very handy next day, and he kept opening drawers and cabinets to see what else could he give me. I said I couldn't carry much weight, so I came out with an apple and a box of almond cookies. What's blessing! I definitely got energy to continue uphill and it was all fine. I was extremely grateful for that encounter that filled also my heart.

Around 11ish I was booking in my stay in Taizé until Sunday. Even though the lovely volunteer said there were no places for hammocks, I did found one place on the adult camp site that was just perfect to hang my hammock and lean my bike.

At 12.20pm I was ready for the midday prayer followed by lunch. This happens everyday. There is also the morning one at 8am followed by breakfast and the evening one is after dinner at 8.20pm.

There were possibly more than 500 people that week and this is a low season. In high season they host more than a thousand people, week in, week out . Their focus today is mainly in groups of young people from different Christian churches as it is an ecumenical place to pray for peace and reconciliation and also some adults who are looking for a less conservative expression of Christianity ( even though for me it's still a bit conservative in some aspects).

There must be more than 50 monks living permanently and some nuns who stay mainly in an area called "El Abiodh" where we can also get medical assistance if needed.

There is also this nice forested area with a meditative walking path with different stations. I just went to be on my own at a "more close to nature" site, as I prefer. I enjoyed sitting under a massive oak appreciating the swans and ducks who passed back and forth and one of the swans even joined me in the grass on the shade of the Oak. I was obviously in their spot, but they didn't mind sharing it with me. There were signs asking people not to get close to the swans ( and having geese I do know why), but that one came to me instead.

 

There was also a small vegetable garden on the way out which I was pleased to see, but providing food for these amount of people each week is obviously not from this garden or any local garden. I wouldn't say I ate the most healthy or sustainable food there, but I understood the challenges of having such open place run mainly by volunteers and provided by donations and the sells from their shop. 

There must be a lot of artistic monks as most of the things are made by them, like the pottery and the paintings, and the Temple Hall is quite artistic in its aesthetics comparing to most churches. 

The structure of the services is what makes it more attractive to young people and less conservative Christians.

At the end of the huge hall, with a gentle slope down to help with the "sitting on the floor" setting, is mainly a small step into an empty table that is only used for the Eucharist on Sunday morning. There are lots of candles that are spread all over the walls with their creative candelabra and a simple metal cross with an interesting design where each end of the cross ends with a heart.

In front of this simple altar and mainly at the centre of the hall the monks come in and sit, the older brothers in chairs and most in their praying stools that are made to help kneel for long periods of time. Their robes are simple and white. The bells ring for 10 minutes at least to call everyone to prayer and I really like it...it's like the bells are singing with a continuous "ah" or "eh"... their resonance is amazing... Each person takes a song book at the entry and there are different places where the number of the song comes up so everyone can see and follow. The structure varies every so slightly depending on the time of the day and also Friday, Saturday and Sunday when there are special rituals. But generally we sing a few songs followed by a long silence, maybe 20 minutes, then we sing again, and some with specific prayers that are sang in between the chorus. At the evening prayer some monks stand from the centre and go to different places in the Hall where anyone can approach to speak and receive counsel or prayer. On Fridays they bring the painted wooden cross to the middle of the hall and people can gather around it if they feel like it. On Saturday evening everyone gets a candle at the entry. Starting with one person at the main candle at the altar, each passes on the light to the person next to us until all candles are lit to symbolise the light of Easter. It's quite beautiful. On Sunday morning, as I said, there is the Eucharist as there are some catholic monks and Catholic practitioners for whom that is very important.

There are not many monastic communities in Europe that are this open to invite anyone who wants to participate in this rhythms of prayer as Taizé does. The environment in the whole camp is very peaceful and friendly, a d also joyful and a bit louder among young people or this other area, the "Oyak" where we can get snacks and even beer. It's the only place in the whole site where one can smoke in designated areas or drink alcohol at the bar or tables around it.

On the adult area where I stayed there is also a monk coming every morning to share a brief teaching that than is followed by small groups of discussion that participants form themselves. They usually already come in groups from their own local communities. I didn't join any group as I feel I had enough human contact for my introverted self to deal with, and based on the comments after the teachings I could see it would not get much deep as I like to. I did raise a question on my first day, and then I felt that was enough. The monk did mention in his sharing that the cross became a Christian symbol but it was actually a horrible symbol of the highest torture within the Roman empire. My question then was : "As the cross at that time was only for those who confronted the Roman empire, and not only for simple thieves, what can we do as Christians  to confront today's empires?" ... There was some nervous laughs throughout the space, but the monk was well and after thinking a bit he said "we could be closer to the poor, the ones in need and the most fragile in our societies for example." We all carry "the cross" we are given to carry in this life.

For me, the message of Jesus, John the Baptist and the early followers, including the writers of the gospels were highly political and not only spiritual, and the political part is often not spoken of as much.

I have to say that many times during these days I was very grateful for our local community and the beautiful people we have the privilege to journey with.

 It was nice to be in a Christian environment as I haven't been for so many years, where I was familiar with the cosmology and didn't need to translate concepts from this cosmology into another to have a conversation about God and Spirit. But I have to say that I was thankful for the diversity of our cosmologies and different spiritual languages in our local community as I see that as richness, the same way a diverse ecosystem is much richer than a monoculture. 

I was ready to move on on Sunday, but not before I met the lovely couple who are now volunteering in Calais and we all felt this was not just a coincidence. Let's see how this connection and relationship will unfold.

I had another not so nice night of sleep just outside the train station at Chalon-sur-Saone, as that was closed for the night. I just saw the old bus stop that was closed under construction with a massive roof that could shelter me from the storm and heavy rain that started that night, and it was ok. Not the best I would say, but hey.

This is already way too long. Well done for hanging on there 

Many blessings your way.

I'm now sitting outside the caravan I rented, in the yard of a house waiting for the postman that should arrive between now and 2pm.