Day 16 - Break at Søristuen Forr
admin June 4th, 2007
On our way from Sør-Fron to Fåvang today, we stopped at the farm Søristuen Forr. There Inga, Anna and Jon Toverud served us buns and soft drinks, and wished us good luck with our journey.
Archive for the 'The march' Category
Story on evening news on NRK1
Day 15 - Kvam to Sør-Fron
admin June 3rd, 2007
After the break at Vinstra, we went to Rudi farm in Sør-Fron. After a while, we met Knut Kjorstad, who guided us further. He had brought with him a pilgrimage staff.
The pilgrimage road goes straight trough Rudi farm. There we were met by the famous artist Øystein Rudi and others. They served us limonade. At the farm, there were many people, due to some revue there later that day.
MP3 Hør Øystein Rudis fremføring av Fanitullen
Øystein Rudi demonstrated the instrument Hardingfele (some special violin), and played the tune Fanitullen. After Nabi Dilnewas played his Afghan instrument, the Dambura, while Øystein was studying the technique. After, Terje Hong played “Vår” (”Spring”), which he has composed himself, on an accordion, while Øystein played the violin.
After the visit at Rudi farm, we went towards Sør-Fron church, which was about 30 minutes away. There we were greeted by the priest Knut Kvidaland. After the photo session in front of the church we went into the church community house. There was lots of floor space, kitchen and showers.
Earlier that day, when we were about to leave Kvam, Babur from Rustom farm had called Afghans in Vinstra. These came later on the evening and served Afghan food.
Day 15 - Break at Vinstra
admin June 2nd, 2007
Today we went from Kirketeigen in Kvam at about 10am, and went on our way towards Sør-Fron. At 15pm, we took a break at Vinstra, and ate bread(nan), bananas(kela) and apples(seb).
Now Vidar, who works as a teacher in Vinstra, is guiding us.
Day 14 - Otta to Kvam
admin June 2nd, 2007
Today we left from Solvang youthhouse in Otta and went towards Kvam. We walked along the pilgrimage road, past Kringen, where a big encounter between Norwegian people and a Scottish army took place in the early 16th century, and further to Rustom farm. Some kilometers north of Rustom farm we got lost in the forest, but after some time spent on searching, we came down to the E6 (Europe road 6), and were greeted by Babur, who works at Rustom farm. We walked further to Rustom farm, and were served limonade by Anne Sagliend, Kristin and others. From Rustom farm we were guided by Gunnar Saglien, all the way to Kirketeigen in Kvam.
At Kirketeigen Babur made qabouli palow, which is an Afghan dish with rice and meatballs. After the dinner, we drank tea, Nabi played the Dambura and the keyboard, and Aziz also played the Dambura.
Dag 13 - Otta
admin June 2nd, 2007
On the trip towards Otta, we stopped at Nord-Sel church. There we were served te, waffles and biscuits We got a guide there from Nord-Sel to Otta. In Otta we was greeted warmly by the local people. We slept at Solvang youthhouse in Otta, and were served fish and rice for dinner, and homemade cakes.
During the evening, we had a cultural event. Dilnewas played his dambura, and played keyboard, song with some of the other march participants, and Jafari song Daido.
Day 13 - Dovre til Otta
admin May 31st, 2007
Today we ate breakfast at Hjerleid school. Now we are walking southwards, towards Otta. The trip today is closer to 36 kilometer.
Day 11 - Fokkstua
admin May 29th, 2007
Early this morning we went from the Eystein church at Dovre, along the pilgrimage road, which is almost parallel to E6 towards Fokkstua. About halfway, we met journalists from NRK Hedmark and Oppland, who interviewed Hashim. This was sent on local news at 6:40 pm, and on Norge i dag at about 9pm today. Both programs are avaliable at NRK Web-TV.
Here at Fokkstua we live at the farm of Lauritz Sønstebø. We put up our tents and made a fire on one of his pastures. Today we sat around the fire and played the Dambura, which is an Afghan string instrument.
Tomorrow we are going further to Dovre. We still haven’t decided wheter we are going over the mountain and down, or if we are going along E6 - we’ll have to see the weather and such tomorrow.
Day 10 - Resting day at Hjerkinn
admin May 29th, 2007
Today we had a resting day. We have now walked every day since the 19th of May, and since we decided not to go up in the mountains to Ryphusan, we were one day ahead of schedule. Therefore we decided to be in the Eystein church for one more day.
This fitted actually pretty good, since it snowed here last night, and today it has een raining a lot.
In the afternoon, we got a visit from Finn Wagle, the bishop of Nidaros, and one of his friends. They had walked along the pilgrimage road from Oslo, and the meeting between pilgrims in this church was very nice. We discussed politics and humanitary cases. He also learned us a couple of hymns from the book of hymns (416 and 733), and we drank tea togheter, and wished them good luck on their trip towards Trondheim.
416. Alltid freidig når du går veier
Gud tør kjenne, selv om du til målet
når først ved verdens ende!Aldri redd for mørkets makt!
Stjernene vil lyse;
med et Fadervår i pakt
skal du aldri gyse.Kjemp for alt hva du har kjært,
dø om så detgjelder!
Da er livet ei så svært,
døden ikke heller.
The bishop of Nidaros also wrote a letter that he gave to us before he left. Here is a translation from Norwegian to English:
Eystein church, 28.05.07
Dear Afghan pilgrims and fellow walkers,
Thank you for sharing your life and destiny with us all in such a public and challenging way as it is done through this pilgrimage wandering from Trondheim to Oslo.
May you meet much kindness, understanding and hospitality on your journey, like every pilgrim need. May the journey give you much joy, you who live in a situation characterized by lots of hopelessness. And may you meet lot of both generousity, humanity and commitment from human dignity from the rich Norway, in a time when the situation in Afghanistan is getting harder.
Here in the Eystein church we met eachothers as pilgrims - you on our way southwards and me on my way northwards. It made a big impression on me to meet you. I wish you good luck with your journy southwards, and I am greeting you with the old greeting: God’s peace and all that is good!
Finn Wagle
Bishop of Nidaros
After this meeting, we ate dinner, relaxed, massaged sore muscles, played cards, song, played music and gathered new energy for the next day. We had a deficied in the economy, but then we put some of our private money in the common account which is used for covering expenses connected to the march, like food and other necessitys.
Several of us has gotten a cold now.
Tomorrow we are going to walk from the Eystein church towards Fokkstua.
Day 9 - From Driva to the Eystein church
admin May 29th, 2007
Today we sat around the fire and barbequed food, and dansed in a circle around the fire. Several of us sayed up to 00:30am. The day after we went further to the Eystein church. Most of the day we walked along the E6, but the last part we walked the pilgrimage route over the mountain and downwards to the church. The Eystein church was built in 1969, and is located about 1000 m.o.h.
In the Eystein church at Hjerkinn we were greeted by Hans Jakob Dahl, which is a priest at Dovre. He had brought with him a greeting from Solveig Fiske, which is a bishop in Hamar.
Here is a translation of the letter she had written in Norwegian:
The bishop is greeting the Afghans 25.05.2007
Dear fellow wanderes
Your are welcomed into Hamar bishopric, which is including the county of Oppland and Hedmark.
You are walking along a pilgrimage road where people have been wandering in several centuries, on their journey towards Nidaros (Trondheim), to the place where Olav the Holy is burried. He was the one who brought the Christianity to Norway for about 1000 years ago. Since he was considered as a martyr for the Christian faith, people has though several centuries walked the pilgrimage road towards Nidaros/Trondheim, either as penance for illagal actions, seeking aid for sickness or other distress, and to achieve mental and spiritual piece and rest.
You are walking in the oppsite direction of what many other pilgrimes did, on your way to Oslo to protest against Norwegian governments deportations of Afghans. Like many other pilgrims earlier were dependent on help and suppord along their journey, we now have a wish to show hospitality and solidarity with you along your journey through the county of Oppland and Hedmark.
I hope that you will be greeted warmly, and I wish you God’s piece further on your journey towards Oslo - and on your wandering through life.
Kind regards,
Solveig Fiske
bishop
In addition to H. J. Dahl, we got a visit from a journalist from Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen and Journalists from Ariana Televiosn. Ariana Television is an Afghan TV-station that is avaliable through sattelite TV.
The church is not very big, but we are allowed to use every room. Today we made dinner on a cooking stove outside the church. For dinner we ate chicken soup. After the dinner, we had to clean a few sores, and then people went to sleep. Both between the bench, in the middle, the gallery and the sacristys were people sleeping. It was a little cramped but it was ok.