ÉPICO: Pilgrimage to Belém, a fun(d)raiser
SUNDAY, 9 MARCH 2025 | FUN AND FUNDRAISING FROM 15:00 to 19:00
This is a BENEFIT.
Vancouver’s Emilie Teresa Smith — environmental activist, Anglican priest, and goodnik– will be making a very long trip to attend this year’s COP30 in Belém, Brasil, gateway to the critically imperilled Amazonia region. It will also be arduous: a three month flightless, carless pilgrimage to share the message of environmental responsibility and climate justice, and participate in climate activism at the conference. This fundraiser will help to get her there.
About the Fun(d)raiser
There will be…
… live music by Patti Powell, Sarita Galvez, and others… a dance party… a silent auction… snacks… stories… a reading by Emilie form her newly published chapbook… piles of fun…
About the ÉPICO
ÉPICO: Pilgrimage to Belém, A Journey and a Poem
In November of this year, people from all over the world will gather in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River, to attend COP30, the UN Conference on the Climate Crisis. Popular organizations will come together to raise the voice of those who are heard least, those who have the most to say.
SICSAL, the global Oscar Romero network, will be there.
Thus, Emilie will be on a pilgrimage by: bike, bus, train, burro, boat – lots of boats – from Vancouver on Coast Salish Territories will unfold, down Turtle Island, to Abya Yala. This will begin in August to arrive in Belém in early November. (The COP conference is November 10–21).
The SICSAL network has connections all along the route. Members will join the pilgrimage, even just for a day or two, and will host pilgrims and create events and activities in their own communities.
A Poetic Journey
The other element of ÉPICO is to gather and share this story, share the voices of community leaders, activists, children, elders, along the way. We will co-create an epic poem lifting up the stories of love, concern, commitment, and struggle in honour of Our Beloved Mother Earth.
These verses will be gathered and shared as the pilgrimage processes, posted online, and eventually printed. These will be in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and any other languages that are present on the route.