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Trócaire's 'Stolen Land' garden highlights our work in support of land rights in developing countries.
Maynooth-based Guatemalan folk musician Fernando López performs for President Higgins, his wife, Sabina, Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra and garden designer Barry Kavanagh at Trócaire’s ‘Stolen Land’ garden at Bloom. Photo : Garry Walsh
We were delighted to welcome President Michael D Higgins today to our award-winning garden at Bloom 2019. Our garden at this year’s festival highlights our work in support of land rights in developing countries.
Guatemalan folk musician Fernando López performed for President Higgins, his wife, Sabina, and the public today after Barry Kavanagh’s design was honoured with a silver medal at the festival.
Split into two areas, Trócaire’s ‘Stolen Land’ garden illustrates historical similarities between 19th-centruy Ireland and modern-day Guatemala, with a focus on land rights issues.
The garden highlights how land is stolen from vulnerable communities in countries such as Guatemala where indigenous peasant farmers and their families are violently evicted from their ancestral homelands by big businesses and large multi-national corporations.
Notice to quit : the Irish half of the garden tells the story of our own history of land issues, and evictions in the 19th century. Photo : Garry Walsh
The Guatemalan half of the garden highlights the struggle of indigenous people today to defend their land against powerful companies. Photo : Garry Walsh
Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra said: “We were absolutely delighted to have President Higgins and Sabina visit the Trócaire garden today. They have been great supporters of Trócaire’s work for a number of years”.
“Barry’s design highlights our work in defence of indigenous communities in Guatemala, where we directly supported 78,000 people last year thanks to the generous support of the Irish public. It’s wonderful to see the design acknowledged with a silver medal and I’m pleased to say that we’ve had great interest from people visiting the Bloom festival.”
‘Stolen Land’ aims to show how Irish people can support communities in some of the world’s poorest countries, who are often defenceless against corporate land grabs.
If you’re one of the expected 120,000 people coming to Bloom this weekend, please call by our garden and say hello.
