In this 3rd Unit I learned about some of the essential skills and concepts of written-journalism, specifically in the present century. I also learned about some of the values written-journalism has, and about how it has certain advantages that cannot be found in any other form of journalism.
I chose to report on the “Chakra of the Artisan”, a farmer’s market hosted once a month in Bellavista, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. I chose this event because it seemed to me like an interesting initiative; after all, there are only a handful of farmers markets on the Island. My brother and I were also asked to play music at the event, and that sounded fun!
This was my first time covering an event as a journalist, which made it all the more interesting. I was impressed about how much more I ended up discovering about an event when I looked at it from a journalistic point of
The Chakra of the Artisan, a monthly farmers market in Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, took place on November 26, 2017 in Buenaventura Restaurant in Bellavista, a small rural town a couple of miles north of Puerto Ayora, the main town on the island. The project, which started 4 months ago, was born from a common need for a healthy and eco-friendly food (& other goods) option that supported local producers; thanks to the support of various volunteers, sellers, buyers, and other collaborators, it is made possible.
The Chakra featured vegan food options (rarely spotted anywhere else on the island) such as vegan hamburgers, mousse & jellies, alternative beverages like almond milk (not sold anywhere else on the island), coconut milk, organic coffee, craft beer, as well as face painting services, handicrafts of all types from local artisans, and live music throughout the event.
At first, the Chakra of the Artisan was an initiative from a group of collaborators of Slow Food Galapagos, a citizen movement that promotes conscious food consumption as a way of conserving the Galapagos Islands, among other motives. Eventually, however, the Chakra of the Artisan evolved and became a venture of its own. Karina Bautista, President of Slow Food Galapagos, describes the project as “an evolution of the Slow Food Galapagos movement itself, now much more organized and independent.”
In order to get the complete picture as to how the Chakra of the Artisan began, getting to know more about Slow Food Galapagos and its foundation is essential.
“Slow Food Galapagos uses the power of food to unite”
-Karina Bautista
Slow Food Galapagos is also a movement that unites the community and supports the local economy by offering fun and healthy events that favor sustainable production and diets. These events also give space to meaningful conversations revolving around the principle of sustainability.
Consequently, in 2015 Karina and the Slow Food Galapagos team began hosting events, such as local fairs and contests that promoted these very same issues. In 2016 the team got together with WWF to organize the Galapagueño MasterChef with local products only, which was also hosted this year.
MAHMOODI, Nora. Face Paint Tent.
Karina and the team also began hosting farmers markets with local products. These fairs were supported by a group of organizations, but there was a one major issue: it took way too much work and time to gather this support, and to organize them. Because of this, the fairs weren’t always consistent.
Soon enough, Karina grew tired of organizing fairs and stopped hosting them; they just took way too much organization. But some of the friends from the collaborating group suggested that these fairs didn’t need to be so complicated, and that they could still exist supported by other volunteers willing to help, instead of big organizations who needed persuasion. Thus, the Chakra of the Artisan was born.
Jill Blythe and Javier Moreno proposed the Chakra of the Artisan, and before long the first event was hosted on September. According to many, the event was a success, and its repercussions in recent months have been ever better, continuing to evolve. Given that the Chakra of the Artisan is much smaller (aka self-sustainable) than the farmers’ markets organized beforehand, it has remained constant and in continuous progress. Karina described how she was “very involved in the first event in September, but became less and less involved in the events to come, permitting Jill and Javier to take the baton and take their venture forward.”
MAHMOODI, Nora. Raji couldn’t keep his hands off the instruments
It is a local tradition to go to Bellavista on Sundays, to have lunch and play Ecuavolley (an Ecuadorian variable of Volleyball), at the same time supporting the economy of the town. The very same Sunday the Chakra of the Artisan took place, a great percentage of the total population of the island was in the very same town. However, there was only a handful of people actually in the grounds of the restaurant, and everyone else was right outside. I asked myself why, and the answer was right in front of me: a price tag. I began realizing that none of the goods were actually affordable for an islander who earns a basic salary.
This begs the question, are events such as these bringing the community together as a whole or rather a segment of the community with certain qualities together?
In any case, the Chakra of the Artisan marked a milestone in Slow Food Galapagos. It paved the road for entrepreneurships led independently by different collaborators, for it was the first time an individual idea proposed by the team was developed and taken to action, instead of Slow Food Galapagos relying upon a single person’s initiative and the support of others.
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