 |
| Jeannie Kirkhope |
by Beth Dotson Brown
In the mountains of Appalachia, people cling to the land where their families have lived for generations. It might be too hilly to farm. Jobs might be far away. Yet the land is a part of them.
“It’s their soul and it’s being destroyed for profit. It’s devastating,” says Jeannie Kirkhope, who operates the Appalachian Catholic Worker Farm in Spencer, West Virginia.
She is referring to the mining practice of mountaintop removal, in which a coal company blasts the top off a mountain to reach the coal inside.
The removed “waste” is typically pushed over the hills, filling in streams and valleys. Kirkhope explains that 2,000 miles of streams have been polluted or filled; more than 500 mountains have been lost.
That’s the same coal that, for many of us, provides the power for our hot pot of morning coffee and the light we read by in the evening.
Kirkhope is from Toledo, Ohio, but began learning about Appalachia and the Catholic Worker movement as a college student in 1991. She fell in love with both, and established a new Catholic Worker community where she’s lived for nine years.
“I live pretty much on the edge of the earth on the back of a holler,” she says. She describes the area as being dominated by the same families for generations. People check on and include one another in their lives. “We’re all family whether we’re related or not.”
When she works on the farm, she’s surrounded by mountains that she describes as lush and gorgeous. Being so close to the earth, she affirms, “It’s the face of God that I see the clearest.”
She wants those whom she hosts, primarily area college students, to feel that connection. Kirkhope sees the education she does with service groups as a vital part of their experience. She emphasizes truly being servants to the people. Thus, housing is very simple and has little running water. That helps the groups establish solidarity with the local people and respect their dignity.
It’s also the dignity of the land Kirkhope talks about, sharing information about mountaintop removal and its consequences. “It’s our planet that’s being destroyed,” she says.
The impact on families is oftentimes violent and irreversible. Explosions crack wells and foundations of homes. Family land, including cemeteries, is buried. Land values decrease. Water becomes unhealthy. The people remain economically impoverished.
“The poverty that’s here isn’t really looked upon by the rest of the country. We just kind of dump anything in these hills,” Kirkhope explains.
Source:
For more information:
Jeannie Kirkhope
Appalachian Catholic Worker
885 Orchard Run Spencer, WV 25276
304.927.5798
No comments:
Post a Comment