Reflection from WhyHunger’s Saulo Araujo

Early today, March 3rd, armed men killed Berta Cárceres. They swarmed her home and assassinated her. One more woman activist killed, among too many others in Central America. They took the life of a Lenca indigenous woman, a leader and a comrade. Berta was a brilliant person, capable to articulate complex issues and to inspire millions. She was a daughter, a sister and a comrade. She founded and served as the general coordinator of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). Taking away the physical presence of Berta from us will not stop her from giving us strengthen to free all rivers from dams and free ourselves from greed, patriarchy and violence.

THE RIVER LESSON by Thiago de Mello



Able, like a river
that takes alone

the canoe that tires

of being a route
 to hope.
From the clear cleanse

the heartbreak stain

as a river that carries
 and cleanses.



Grow to deliver

in the silent distance

a power of song,

a river deciphering

the soil’s secret. 



If it’s time to descend,

keep the gift of strength

stop not to advance.

And vanish even

underground,

learn to return

in the course to accomplish

the craft of Love.



Accept like a river

these sudden swells

of impure Waters that bring up

hidden

the truth of the deeps.



As a river, born

from others, learn to follow,

with others staying
in others stretching

to build the meeting

with the great Waters

of the boundless ocean.



To change in moving

not stopping to be

the same changing being.

Like a river. 

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Berta Cáceres was awarded the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for defending the environment at great personal cost. Hear about her work in the video below.