permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:28:13 -0400
From: JANICE SMART <smartjuanita@earthlink.net>

Two Permaculture Design Courses are to be given in Ethiopia in May and June
2008 by Dr Rosemary Morrow, Australian author of ³The Earth Users Guide to
Permaculture²

Dr Rosemary Morrow will visit Ethiopia¹s Southern Region in May-June 2008 to
teach 2 certified PDCs hosted by organisations working in local community
development and aiming to introduce knowledge and practice of permaculture
to their areas.

Ethiopia should be the breadbasket of Africa, but has suffered repeated
famines and food crises, even in the last ten years. This has been due to
bad agricultural practices, poor administration and erratic climactic
trends. It is not a desert country, but a land of awesome natural beauty,
boasting over half of Africa¹s highlands, a great range of ecological wealth
(including five distinct agro-climactic zones ranging from alpine to desert)
and is one of the nine Vavilov centers of origin for genetic diversity of
crop species; the mother-land of coffee, Enset, the sun-flower, t¹eff and
numerous strains and varieties of crops. Ethiopia is home to over seventy
ethnic and cultural groups, ranging from the fair-skinned Semites of the
north, to the nomadic tribes of South Omo. The Southern Nations¹ Region is
the most ethnically diverse of Ethiopia¹s nine regions and is home to over
50 ethnic groups, including Semitic, Kushitic and Omitic peoples who¹s
lifestyles range through hunter-gatherer, pastoralist nomad, settled farmer
(the majority) and urbanite.

Rosemary comes to Ethiopia as part of a wider journey teaching Permaculture
around Asia and Africa. The two courses will be given to guest participants,
including foreigners, alongside local community members and agricultural
extension workers. The course fees paid by guests will fund the running of
the courses. Participants are directly contributing to the promotion of
permaculture in Ethiopia, as-well as learning valuable skills themselves.
Participants will meet and interact with the local people taking the courses
alongside them, so there is much scope for rewarding experiences and making
new and interesting friends. However, the primary aim of the courses is to
train trainers, who will go on to be active in community development through
permaculture training in the future, so participating in these courses is
about far more than getting PD certified!

The Courses
1) KAMBATTA
Kambatta Tembaro Malmat Mahber (KTMM), or ŒKambatta Development
Through Education¹ shall host a 72h PDC over 13 days in Kembatta Tembaro
from Wed 7 May 2008 to Wed 21 May 2008

Kambatta Zone, in the southwestern highlands, has a montane climate (dega),
with major crops including t¹eff, coffee and Enset (all of Ethiopian
origin).The area has seen heavy land degradation due to enormous population
pressure, deforestation, over-grazing and widespread propagation of
commercial Eucalyptus (a heavy consumer of soil water and nutrients,
detrimental to other plants and the water table). The course here will be
given to guest participants alongside agricultural extension workers, who
shall continue working in the area as permaculture trainers to local
community members. KTDA is an indigenous NGO involved in a range of
community development activities in Kambatto Zone as well as other parts of
Ethiopia.
MORE INFO ON KTMM: zionbytheabbay.blogspot.com
.
Guest Participant Places :
4
Booking fee : £UK 100/ $US 200/ 1000 Birr
Course fee : £UK 400/ $US 800/
8000 Birr
Total* £UK 500/ $US1000/9000 Birr
*Includes food and accommodation but transport costs are not included.
Contact: Tadewos Tranchi tadyy2005@yahoo.com

2) KONSO
The Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge (SFEL) shall host a 72h PDC over 13
days at Karat Konso from Mon 2 June 2008 to Fri 15 June 2008
Konso Special Wareda (district), sitting in the bowl of the southern Rift
Valley, has a semi-arid (k¹olla) ecology, with sorghum, maize and sunflower
as major crops. Konso¹s unique people are well known for their hard work,
complex social organisation and their sophisticated agricultural system.
They make extensive use of stone walled terracing, for soil and water
conservation, as well as tree crops including Moringa (the cabbage tree) and
Terminalia (timber species), which are integrated into an indigenous
agro-forestry system by which they produce yields that cater to their needs
from the poor soils and steep slopes of the basalt hills that are their
homeland. Konso¹s unique agricultural system has been recognised by UNESCO
as a valuable example to others in the region. Konso is now applying for
World Heritage status to protect its cultural heritage and to promote their
agricultural techniques. Despite this Konso has faced repeated food crises
due to a growing population and changing climate, with droughts striking
every ten years on average. The SFEL project is being set up in Konso with
the aim of channelling revenue from the tourism industry into benefiting the
local community through training in permaculture and resource management
techniques, as well as investing in infrastructure to benefit the local
community. The PDC will be given to community members from Konso alongside
representatives of the Konso Agricultural Bureau and guest participants.
MORE INFO ON SFEL: zionbytheabbay.blogspot.com
.
Guest Participant Places : 6
Booking fee : £UK 100/ $US 200/ 1000
Birr
Course fee : £UK 400/ $US 800/ 8000 Birr
Total* £UK 500/ $US1000/9000
Birr
*Includes food and accommodation but transport costs are not included.
Contacts:
Mr Alex McCausland: +251 (0) 912 21 46 87 (alex1mcc@yahoo.com)
Mr
Dawit Belay +251 (0) 914 70 31 11
Mr Bojok Beltran +251 (0) 913 05 82 96
Mr
Peri Nirupan +251 (0) 916 85 52 69 (mysticalmouse@hotmail.com)

Free Cultural Immersion Program Included
Guest Participants from either
course will be offered the chance to attend a free 5 day cultural immersion
program in Konso, hosted by the SFEL, including a lecture series on the
culture and language of the Konso people sampling local foods, trekking to
villages, visiting local projects and places of interest whilst staying with
community members.

Attend Both Courses! (20% discount)
Guest participants are welcome to attend
both courses. We see this as preferable from the point of view of carbon
emissions and for your own experience. In order to truly appreciate the
cultural and environmental diversity of this remarkable country, you should
see more than just one part of it, as well as observing the application of
Permaculture to diverse ecological and cultural situations. Thus we are
offering a 20% discount on the second course to those who take both courses.

Jan

www.permacultureacrossborders.org
The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that
makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of
its life and activity; it affords protection to all beings. (Buddhist Sutra)