Mayo Famine Walk veteran marks one year of retirement with 100km charity cycle
Mayo Famine Walk veteran Joe Murray has marked his first year of retirement with a remarkable achievement: completing a 100km fundraising cycle along the historic route of the Famine Walk.
Held annually in Louisburgh, County Mayo, since 1988, the walk commemorates the dispossessed of An Gorta Mór.
Mr Murray retraced the route five times over five days, cycling in memory of those who died on the Doolough route in 1849 and during An Gorta Mór, and also in solidarity with people facing hunger and war today, especially those in Gaza.
The annual Famine Walk is organised by Action from Ireland (Afri), the non-governmental organisation where Mr Murray worked for four decades before retiring last year.
His challenge also aimed to honour Afri’s work and support its future initiatives.
Mr Murray, aged 69, undertook this challenge despite recently undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and living with the long-term effects of transverse myelitis.
For the past decade, health challenges had kept him from participating in the annual Famine Walk, an event he had helped to organise for many years.
Mr Murray said that completing the cycle allowed him to reclaim that tradition, celebrate his first year of retirement, and honour famine victims, people facing injustice today, as well as friends and fellow campaigners who have passed away
When I was cycling that road, my memory, my mind, and my being were filled with the memory of the people who had walked there, and also with the realisation that people are making similar journeys today,
“I didn’t know if I would be able to complete the 100km cycle of remembrance and solidarity,” Mr Murray said afterwards, “Though I found it challenging at times, I am relieved and happy to have done so.”
Describing it as a sobering yet cathartic experience, Mr Murray said that during the challenge, he became increasingly aware of all the people traveling on roads all over the world in search of food and to escape war.
“When I was cycling that road, my memory, my mind, and my being were filled with the memory of the people who had walked there, and also with the realisation that people are making similar journeys today,
“What made it more significant and relevant is that similar situations are occurring today. We can never forget that, we can never deny that. It would be wrong to only reflect on our own history and turn our back on what is happening today,
“It's horrific now, what we see in Gaza. It is a forced and unnecessary starvation that is part of a genocide. That is cruel and obscene; it is horrific.”
Throughout his four decades with Afri, Mr Murray consistently championed humanitarian causes.
In 1980, he stood with the Dunnes Stores strikers when young shop workers refused to handle South African goods in protest against apartheid. Fourteen years later, he was present at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela.
He supported the Rossport Five, the Shell to Sea campaign in Mayo, and worked closely with Tom Hyland to highlight the brutal occupation of East Timor between 1975 and 1999.
Mr Murray has also challenged the use of Shannon Airport by the US military and strongly defended Ireland’s neutrality through advocacy of the Triple Lock mechanism.
His work has gained international recognition. He has been awarded the Archbishop Desmond and Leah Tutu Human Rights Award, the Order of Timor-Leste medal, and received an award from the Dalai Lama.
President Michael D. Higgins described him as “an essential voice on so many critical matters” who has walked the path of activism with “courage, conviction and integrity.”. Adi Roche of Chernobyl Children International said Mr Murray was “one of the most genuine and courageous human rights defenders I have ever known.”
A form of remembrance and a stand of solidarity
I find it a profoundly significant place, a unique place in Ireland, in the sense that somehow that valley seems to contain the memory of those people, their stories are inscribed in the landscape.
Mr Murray said he also wanted to honour the lives of special friends and extraordinary people who have sadly passed on during his cycle.
“I was remembering extraordinary and exceptional people who I was lucky enough to know and be friends with. Brendan was one of those people, he was a humble hero who quietly did extraordinary things,” he said.
Brendan Forde was a humanitarian and close friend of Mr Murray’s. He worked closely with small, marginalised communities in South America, particularly in remote towns in countries such as Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Colombia.
“He lived in the midst of them and walked with them,” said Mr Murray, “That again is why the walk in Doolough is significant, because people who are poor and have nothing often spend their lives walking. Whether it is for water, for food, or to escape war,
“The idea of walking is very significant, and that’s what Brendan did, his life was about walking with the marginalised and the poor,” he explained.
It is about the past, the present, and also it’s about the future.
Mr Forde led the Famine Walk on two occasions, in 1995 and 2004. During his leadership in 1995, the Maya people from Guatemala took part in the walk in Mayo.
Mr Murray explained that the Maya said they felt as though they were walking with the spirits of those who had walked the route in 1849, and he said he understood that feeling.
“I find it a profoundly significant place, a unique place in Ireland, in the sense that somehow that valley seems to contain the memory of those people, their stories are inscribed in the landscape.
“In 1995, among the leaders of the walk were Brendan and the Maya people from Guatemala,” he said.
“I remember the Maya people speaking in their language, and their voices were echoing back off the mountains. Brendan was translating for them; he was their friend.
“They appreciated the significance of the place where they were, and they said that when they were walking this road, they were walking with the spirits of our ancestors. There is something very profound about that,
“It’s appropriate to remember the experience of the people who walked here in 1849, of all the people who walked on roads throughout that period of An Gorta Mór,
“Also, it is really important to walk in remembrance, in solidarity, and as a sign of resistance to the oppression that so many people live in. I walked the famine walk for thirty years until my health prevented me from doing it. It was an expression of solidarity,” he explained.
“It is about the past, the present, and also it’s about the future.”
Other friends Mr Murray honoured included Mr Hyland, with whom he campaigned with to highlight the occupation of East Timor; Sunny Jacobs, a human rights defender who became an advocate for the wrongfully convicted after spending nearly 17 years in a US prison, including five on death row; and the late patron of Afri, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Life after retirement and the legacy of Afri
Mr Murray retired from Afri last year with his successor, Katie Martin, now stepping into the role. He described her as an “extraordinary and brilliant young woman,” adding, “Afri is in safe hands.”
Ms Martin joined him for the final day of the cycle, saying it was both a joy and an honour to take part in the last stage of his challenge.
“One year on from his retirement, Joe continues to inspire all of us with his courage, determination, and deep belief in Afri’s work,” she said, “His cycle of remembrance and solidarity is not only a powerful tribute to those we remember, but also a gift to Afri’s future.”
Mr Murray with his successor Katie Martin on the last day of his cycle challenge.
Mr Murray lives in Dublin with his wife, Mary Lou, but often returns to his home county of Longford. Following his retirement, he bought a half-acre of land there, where he has been planting native trees and bushes to support biodiversity.
“We have four children, and each of them planted an Oak in each corner of the field. When I retired, Katie gave me a present of 20 native species trees, so we planted them,
“This year we made hay. It’s a lovely hobby and it is something to help promote biodiversity,” he said.
Marking the completion of his 100km challenge, Mr Murray said it was both an act of remembrance and a commitment to the future.
It’s appropriate to remember the experience of the people who walked here in 1849, of all the people who walked on roads throughout that period of An Gorta Mór.
“I cycled in memory of those who died in the famine, for those facing hunger today, and for the friends and campaigners who inspired me.
“Brigid’s light is still needed in the world, and Afri’s campaigns are about keeping that light burning - a light of peace, justice, and solidarity.”
To donate to Mr Murray’s fundraiser click the link here.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.