Today I am leaving to Return to the Camino,
To go on something I’m calling
Humility Walk
Why?
Because bombs are falling in Syria again.
Because people of color are being disproportionately killed in the US.
Because poor people are sitting in prison even though they are innocent, just because they can’t afford bail.
Because refugees are camped out at our border, unable to go back home or be granted asylum.
Because people who are working hard to send money back home to their families and doing jobs I am unwilling to do, are living in fear of being rounded up and sent away from the lives they have worked so hard to build.
Regardless of where you stand on any of these issues,
I feel sure that you would agree with Kandace and I when we say that
so many things are NOT AS THEY SHOULD BE in our world.
It’s overwhelming.
It’s depressing.
And so many nights we just feel sad.
We wonder what we could possibly do to make it better,
And then we turn off the news and watch Netflix. (which is also ok BTW…no judgment)
But not today.
Even though we feel somewhat helpless in the face of so much injustice in the world,
We are (attempting) to humble ourselves to do something that at this moment in time,
we feel is the best we know how to do.
Today, we are dropping our small teaspoon of hope into a bucket of despair.
(Side note: We believe God does amazing things with small gifts!)
Here is our humble offering:
Humility Walk
We are going to walk 122 kilometers for justice.
We’re going to walk a portion of the Camino. (If you have been following me for a while, you know that I have walked part of it before and have wanted to go back ever since.)
We have a section picked out that should be doable even with winter approaching and that my slightly out-of-shape body can hopefully handle. (We will see!)
It’s going to be an adventure.
It’s going to be funny.
And it’s going to be humbling.
But even though it will be hard, I know from past experience that it will be rest for our souls.
And we want to invite you to come along with us.
Really.
Here’s how…
We will be walking for seven days from Logrono to Burgos,
122 kilometers of the Spanish road to Santiago,
also called the Camino. (As in the movie THE WAY…go watch it)
Each day we will be walking for a different organization that we love.
We have carefully chosen organizations that we believe are working for a more beautiful, more just world. They are serving meals to refugees. They are freeing prisoners. They are standing with those who are seeking asylum. They are waiting for women who are getting off buses from prison with nowhere to go. They are creating jobs for people who just want to support their families. They are being the hands and feet of Jesus in our world.
And as we walk, we want to shine a light on them (and also help them financially).
So here they are:
Preemptive Love
Equal Justice Initiative
American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers)
The Happy Givers
Families Belong Together
The Poor Peoples’ Campaign
A New Way of Life
Go read about what these folks are doing. Follow them on their social media profiles. Subscribe to their newsletters. And then…
Consider giving any amount to one of these organizations in honor of our Humility Walk. Give $122 for 122 kilometers. Give $76 for 76 miles. Or give $10 to each. Or give whatever you can. And if you don’t like these organizations, find one that you like that is working for a more just, more beautiful world and give to them.
After you give (THANK YOU!), email me (alison@alisonchino.com) your giving receipt so that I know YOU ARE IN for joining our Humility Walk!
Of course we could just throw a donate sticker up somewhere and ask you to donate and then head out on our walk, but we thought it would be way more fun to have you actually come with us. So once you send us your giving receipt, we will invite you to join our private Humility Walk Facebook Group where we will be updating you from the road. We will also include a link to a private Instagram account if that’s more your thing.
We promise to post pictures of the Camino, silly videos of us when we are really tired, and maybe even a blistered foot (gross!).
Who knows what we’ll do? But we promise to show up and let you know how things are going on our walk! And to say thank you so much for your commitment to join us!
And BONUS! If you are hoping to walk the Camino one day, we will happily answer any questions you have about the portion of the Camino we are walking! So you can plan your own trip to one of the most special long distance walks in the world. We would love to welcome you as a fellow pilgrim on the Camino!
If you don’t feel like joining right now, you don’t like FB groups (or FB at all) and you don’t want to donate, that’s ok, you can still follow Kandace on Instagram to get fun glimpses of our Humility Walk.
Either way, I hope you feel a tiny glimmer of hope knowing that we are out here walking and praying for a more beautiful, more just world!
BIG LOVE AND GRACE TO YOU,
Alison (+ Kandace)
PPS. FYI: The name Humility Walk is inspired by both our desire to make a humble offering of our days of walking towards the hope of a better world and a favorite verse:
He has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what the Lord requires of you?
But to do justice and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
