On Our Journey So Far…
| By Evie Muir |
Earlier this summer, we celebrated our first birthday and my has the time flown! What began as an informal but intimate invite to join me on the walks I have come to know, love, and depend upon in the Peaks - an invite I had no idea if anyone would RSVP to - quickly rooted itself as a solid community of nature lovers and yearners. It has blossomed into the site of joy I, and so many other like me knew we needed but didn’t know we could curate for ourselves.
Our journey isn’t a linear one, and we like to do things differently here. Yet much like the view from a mountain top, I am in awe of the vision Peaks of Colour is inhabiting. If you’re new here, welcome! We’re a friendly bunch of ramblers and paddlers, dreamers and creators. As we continue along well trodden paths, bridleways paved by organisers of colour before us, we also embrace the forging of new and alternative routes to healing and justice in all it’s messiness and imperfections.
In this blog, we will see our ideas, inspirations, interests and imagination unfold, as told by members of our community. But for those who are new here, let us first recap on the last few years…
2020
The year 2020 needs no introduction, and the pain that still sits within us, unprocessed and buried, requires no explaining. Within a lockdown that disproportionately impacted racialised communities, we were also forced to carry the racial trauma and white fragility that erupted from the death of George Floyd. In a time and place where state-sanctioned walks were our one daily respite, we became acutely aware of our deep dependency on the nature around us.
For those of us in Sheffield, we’re fortunate enough to have the Peak District on our doorstep. However we were also reminded in many and varied ways that even the vast beauty of our neighbouring landscape isn’t safe, As a result of numerous barriers defined by rural racism, we are less likely to access the outdoors and therefore the countless mental health and wellbeing benefits that we so desperately needed.
2021
In the July, Peaks of Colour emerged at the intersections of these multiple sites of traumas. A joyous and restful protest that sought to remedy the ongoing harms through centring community care and radical self-love.
Peaks of Colour was however, also born from a place of burn out, and I’ll be the first to admit that, upon reflection, my resistance to change or growth was rooted in lack – lack of capacity, lack of energy, lack of time. Already over-extending myself and emotionally exhausted in a traumatising career, I quickly burnt out just months after our first walk.
This didn’t last long. By September we had co-hosted our first Walkshop with Women of Colour Azadi Collective and Dalbinder Kular, a nature writing workshop set along the Monsal Trail. Our walkshops were immediately rooted as the site of untold joy and excitement, and somewhat unconsciously became integral to Peaks of Colour.
2022
We started the year with an expansive ambition and recruited an eclectic team of volunteers whose passion, care and commitment I’m endlessly grateful for. Having people invested in a collective vision, no matter how messy and imperfect is an honour and together we are learning, unlearning, nurturing and growing. Our monthly walks continued, and our walkshops saw us collaborating with local facilitators of colour to offer nature writing, sound bathing, yoga and yoni healing sessions.
This coincided with the exciting addition of our fist major pot of funding. In February I joined the 2022 Multiplier programme, representing Peaks of Colour and being supported on a vital learning and unlearning journey. This funding has since enabled me to invest the time and energy I once lacked back into Peaks of Colour, and from October, I will caring for Peaks of Colour on a part-time basis.
The Future…
I am for the first time in what has often been a routinely anxiety riddled existence, excited about the unknown. The next few months promise to be a period of incubation and experimentation. We will be exploring:
Decolonial funding opportunities that allow us to continue our work in safety
Alternative routes to healing and justice for those with gendered and racialised trauma
Nature-based models of governance, funding and structure
Volunteer development and team cohesion
We don’t know who we’ll evolve into throughout the next few months, and that’s okay. What we do know is that our walks will continue, our walkshops will return in the summer and our community will not cease to be a space of nurture, care and love. Come join us on this journey!
