Stream of Consciousness

Like the invincible teenager Cu Chullin I want to pound up and down the land raising awareness grapple with the armies of indifference, shout at the night sky and rage at the moon, grab Transition by the neck and hurl it in to every city, town, village and community of Ireland. My impatience, anger and impotence seethes like pus and makes me restless. I strong-arm my energy in fruitless attempt as to cover a suppurating sore with sticking plaster, to dam the strength and passion that oozes, pulsates and bursts from my skin, for fear of irreparable damage in careless word or action.

We are David versus Goliath in an extraordinary sea of apathy. From the bunkers of Transition let us use our simple slings, and for those weapons to be possessed by demon words, rousing everyone from temporary indifference, exploding bedrock beliefs, opening minds and igniting souls with audacity and skill to radically change and transform the very essence of humanity. I refuse to believe that we are like the Marie Celeste blithely sailing rudderless, on an on into an unknowable, unworkable, questionable future. Daily I imagine Transition powerfully steering, holding and shaping the course of this social epidemic, implacable in the face of indifference, persevering against all odds, reaffirming our potential for change and safe in the knowledge of our power of positive action.

Thats a window into my subconscious, the right brain part of me, that bit that defies logic, the bit that stands up and says“no you are not beat” (pronounced bate in Northern Ireland speak) That bit of me that doesn’t know when its bate! That part of me that has an unshakeable belief, that there are many solutions, that collectively we have the intellect, the power and the wherewithal to influence, engage, activate and inspire those around us. That we all are transformative leaders, from the smallest to the greatest of us creating something new that answers our concerns, something that wasn’t necessarily going to happen anyways.  

So where now for Transition Omagh?

Applying that stream of consciousness thinking (and considering our recent setback in Omagh around the community cafe that didn’t happen read here). We are back at the drawing board re-inventing, re-igniting, re-inspiring, implacably moving on in the face of adversity. Inhaling deeply, focussing inwardly and drawing on the right side of the brain, we return to basics; as someone said earlier on this week “ we start from where we are, with what we have, to do the best we can.” Below is a (now) snapshot of Transition Omagh and what we have to work with.

On the credit side we have a hardcore group of about six to seven people, and a larger more amorphous group of about fifty plus, we are constituted as Community Interest Company (CIC). We have full charitable status and about £1500 in the bank.  We have four members of the group who are permaculture trained. Currently we have five projects on the go. An energy project, a time banking project, a schools gardens project, a re-economy project, and a fruit tree project. Finally a heart and soul group that meets once a month. The group atmosphere is good if a little dull and serious, there is no conflict. A small number of quiet supporters in the background who do not participate but who open doors for us. A voluntary student who started this week to do some of the admin needed with the energy project. We have the support of the local press. Two hundred apple rootstocks and 50 euros worth of scion wood! Not bad looking on paper one would have to agree.

On the debit side we have a website that has collapsed because we lost the domain, an over sight due to lack of time.

An energy project that is proving extremely difficult to engage people, again due to lack of time. 

An re-economy project that needs an injection of energy and time.

Plans for a community cafe that didn’t come to fruition.

The withdrawal of one or two key people, more to do with disappointment around the collapse of the community cafe rather than group politics. 

Core group lacking in energy, would like to hand it over but bodies not there to hand it over to.

Lack of transition network in Northern Ireland.

Small population base.

A general disinterest in what we are doing, no-one hammering the door down to get things moving!   

Immediate future plans

On February1st we are having our first meeting since the September cafe debacle.This is in a local pub and we have a school teacher chatting about her experience of the Transition school garden project, and another participant from the energy project describing her experiences. After that we will show the Gasland fracking film followed by a few drinks and a discussion. Not a formal meeting just in invitation to come and contribute thoughts around how we move forward from that spot where we stopped.

Sometime in March we will be having an apple grafting day working towards completing  the production of 350 apple trees that started with our fundraising, climate change awareness concert in November 2010. UTube here

Gardening in the schools programme recommences with gardeners going into eight primary schools, building new beds and teaching organic gardening.

Training for teachers day there is a small amount of money available to pilot a few  teacher training days to enable teachers to set up school gardens. Transition Omagh will be rollling this out across Northern Ireland for as long as the funding lasts.  

Energy Day. The BIG Energy Saving Challenge.  Transition Omagh is one of six community groups participating in the Power NI’s BIG Energy Saving Challenge to get ‘switched on’ to energy saving as we try to win £20,000 for our community.

With all the above happening it appears that we are vibrant and thriving and in one respect we are, implementing projects and building resilience. Folk just driving particular projects that interest them. As for the world according to what we are up to in Omagh well that  remains to be seen.  Heres to the hope that we can cross our own Rubicon and harness just some of that stream of consciousness creating our own contagious trend, enrolling others in the possibility that is Transition Omagh.