By Julia

HOW CAN I HELP? This question has been alive in me since I first heard about fracking in South Africa. As an ordinary citizen, what could I do to help? I asked, and there were suggestions, but none felt like my way.

Then recently, while on a pilgrimage route, the idea came to walk. And so a group of twelve of us have come together, and on 1 July we will set out to walk from Graaff Reinet to Nieu Bethesda. It is not a protest walk, but a walk of love and hope for this land. Our route will take us through the Camdeboo National Park and over Ouberg Pass, and we will be accommodated overnight by local people along the way. We will put up prayer flags in both towns, inscribed with prayers for the Karoo.

If you would like to sponsor our walk, all donations will go directly to the Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) to support them in their campaign to stop shale gas mining in South Africa.

TKAG TRUST ACCOUNT, STANDARD BANK, FISHHOEK, Account Number: 072072849, Branch Code: 051001. Please use the reference ‘TKAG Walk’ and email details to funds@treasurethekaroo.co.za to be thanked appropriately.

“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stone, and good in everything.” (Shakespeare)

Photo: Meelberg (Karoo), by Jonathan Deal