Pilgrimage for Peace member Janet Minella-Didier looks on as organization founder Eric Swanfeldt describes this year's fifty-day, one thousand mile walk. Mikaela Tierney/The Mirror
The thought of walking 1000 miles on foot and trekking through all types of weather across state lines would intimidate most people. It takes a serious, dedicated set of individuals to undertake such a challenge — a set of individuals exactly like the members of Pilgrimage for Peace.
The group embarked on their thousand-mile walk on Sept. 6 from New London, Conn. With a core group of six walkers, the organization is small yet powerful. Over the course of their 50-day journey, the walkers will cover each of the six New England states. Last Wednesday, on the sixth day of their journey, the peace walkers stopped at Fairfield University for an afternoon of food and an exchange of ideas for peace. Students from the Just-Us Residential College and the Peace & Justice Studies Program, along with a handful of faculty members, met with the peace walkers in small groups to discuss their journey and group history.
“It started with walking just around Connecticut,” said veteran walker Glennys Ulschak. “We would have conversations with ordinary people to see what they were saying about peace and justice, and what their hopes for the future were. They inspire us, and we inspire them.”
From there, she noted, the program flourished into an even greater undertaking. Walking and eating with other people, the group believes, encourages an open exchange of ideas.
As a result, they incorporate a number of stops into their walk, including meals and interactions at schools, places of worship, and even private homes, in order to hear a wealth of opinions and ideas along their journey. This is the fourth year of the Pilgrimage for Peace, and their longest walk to date.
Anyone can join the walk, either for a few minutes, a few miles, or the entire journey – everyone is welcomed, following the idea that the more people the group meets, the more the message of peace is spread. Inspired by the idea that ‘Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something,’ the group does not endeavor to solve all of the problems of the world in their walks. The goal of the journey is to bring awareness to the problems plaguing the world, with each stride intended to symbolize the small steps that are necessary to bring about peace.
Each walker has their own motivations for participating in Pilgrimage for Peace. While some walkers do it for the children suffering in the far corners of the world, others do it in hopes of bringing about the end of violence in their homes, like one walker from Nicaragua, and others do it to benefit both present and future generations of citizens.
Janet Minella-Didier, the driver trailing the walkers with all of their gear, has her own important reasons for taking part in the walk. After years of writing letters, making calls and other attempts at change, Minella-Didier wanted to try a new effort for peace.
“This was different, engaging people in real conversation and finding commonalities with them.” Since joining the group, she has recognized the importance of her involvement even more than in the past.
“I look at my grandchildren … and [can’t imagine] the thought of seeing them in war,” Minella-Didier said. “I didn’t want them to come to me years from now and say ‘What were you doing? Why didn’t you stop this?'”
Joseph DeFeo, the director of Living and Learning at Fairfield, was also at the meeting.
“This was a fantastic opportunity for us at Fairfield to witness the incredible passion of a group of adults who are walking for peace and justice,” he said.
“Through the simple act of walking, engaging with those they meet along the way, and sharing personal stories with one another, these humble women and men generated transformative moments for many of us and deepened our own commitment to work for peace.”
The students were just as inspired by their stories as the faculty. Julie Whittaker ’12, a sophomore involved in the Just-Us Residential College, was appreciative of the chance to meet the walkers.
“I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear their stories. They’re such a diverse group of people from such different backgrounds, yet they are all interested in the same cause,” she said.
“It was great to see them joining together in something so huge and important.”
As a result of the meeting, plans are underway to have Fairfield become a part of Pilgrimage for Peace. Julia Grimm ’12, another resident in Just-Us, explains, “I was so inspired by seeing them this year that I talked to the organizer about possibly getting Fairfield students to walk a portion in the Fairfield area next year, maybe between Bridgeport and Trumbull.”
The visit from the Pilgrimage for Peace walkers may have only been a small detour for the group members, but it was a great opportunity for the Fairfield University community. The afternoon of dialogue between the two groups provided ideas of peace that will hopefully live on to inspire more change over the course of the new academic year.
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