permaculture

["keller" <ak.and.ak@on-line.de>]

Hi everybody,

some time ago I asked here for possibilities for my cameroonian friend, Mr.
Alain-Didier Essama, to complete his permaculture education. As a result, he
has been offered a scholarship to spend six months in Djambung Gardens,
Australia, and during this stay take part in a course  "Permaculture for
Third World and Indigenous Peoples" and a course "Eco-Village and
Sustainable Community Design", which are both of high relevance to the work
he is doing in Cameroon. The plan is for him to get his qualification as a
pc designer and pc teacher during his stay in Australia.

Alain-Didier has attended a pc design course in 1998 in Crystal Waters. He
has since then done some design work in Cameroon and started a small NGO
(http://www.permacultureactivist.net/pcresources/Africa.htm#Cameroon).
Getting a qualification as a pc designer and especially as a pc teacher
would enable him to spread pc in Cameroon and in other parts of west and
central Africa. At present, there is neither a pc designer nor a pc teacher
in this country. If Alain-Didier can attend this training, this could really
get things going in the country and even the whole region.

However, money to sponsor the trip to Australia is needed. He would need
about US$ 3000 to travel to Australia. Moreover, he would have to travel to
Lagos, Nigeria, in order to obtain a visa from the Australian Embassy there,
since Australia does not run an embassy or consulate in Cameroon. This would
cost an additional US$ 612. The courses start in July and the visa would
have to be obtained in mid May. So it is a bit urgent.

I would appreciate any information about organisations or individuals who
could be approached about grants or loans for this purpose. Also, any
financial contribution would be highly appreciated.

Why is this important? Raising this money would mean that cameroon would get
its own pc teacher. The country is a biodiversity hot spot and has a large
range of different climates, from sahel to wet tropics, from mountain to
coast. Being situated at the border between west and central Africa, and
with both English and French being official languages there, Cameroonian
would be ideal as a starting point to spread permaculture further in both
regions. Raising this money would not just help one student or one local
permaculture project, but it would put an amplifier of permaculture in a
prime position with the potential not only to establish pc in Cameroon but
to get it going in the whole region. This could not only help the many
smallholders and subsistence farmers living in the area but could have a
large impact in the long term and really make a difference for the
environment and the people of west and central Africa.

Can anybody help?

Thanks
Andreas