permaculture

[Alex McCausland <alex1mcc@yahoo.com>]

Growing Resistence to Food Security in South Ethiopia
It was a moment of fulfilment for us at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge (SFEL). 
The head of the Konso Woreda Education Bureau stood in front of those 
gathered, his fumbling speech soon beginning to gather momentum. “We now want 
to see this program expanded to all the schools in Konso, making us an 
example to the whole society and the rest of Ethiopia! Permaculture shows us 
how to achieve food security and environmental preservation, how to improve 
our nutrition and benefit our ecology, all through direct community action!” 
We all clapped and cheered heartily.
Gathered around training room were teachers, parents and children from the 
three schools where the Permacutlure in Konso Schools Project (PKSP) pilot 
project had been underway since May 2009, when it began with training of 
teachers at SFEL, in a PDC that was part funded by a former volunteer (and a 
good friend of ours, Sarah Davis from Austin Texas) and part funded by Save 
the Children Finland (STCF). 
Tichafa Makovere, our lead trainer, who had lead the pilot project, now stood 
before that selection of people from around Konso, and repeated The Parable 
of the Sparrows, his own analogy for inspiring community empowerment and 
breaking the mentality of aid-dependence, which has become so deeply 
ingrained in southern Ethiopia that it seems as much of an obstacle to the 
development of food sovereignty as climate change or population growth. 
“God feeds the birds of the air! But he does not let them sit in their nests 
while he comes and puts food in their mouths. Unless they fly out of their 
nests to scratch the ground in search of their food, they will go hungry.” 
The analogy sums up Tichafa’s approach to the development of food security in 
Africa. As opposed to the (mostly) well-intentioned, but counter-productive, 
habit of most westerners, individuals and organisations alike, of splashing 
around hand-outs to “the poor starving Ethiopians”. Tichafa, a Zimbabwean of 
the Shona ethnic group, knows better about what will benefit Africans in the 
long-run. “Empowering communities is about getting them to provide for their 
own needs, not just giving them whatever they ask you for so they become 
dependent on you.”
It was when he had visited his first Konso school, in early 2009, with an 
Italian NGO Director, that he had first confronted the Konso community with 
The Parable of the Sparrows. The school principal had been complaining to the 
Italian that he had not delivered them the furniture that he had been 
promising (not delivering on promises was a habit of this particular 
Italian), but Tichafa stepped in to his rescue. “Don’t embarrass me! I am an 
African like you. We are not beggars! Look at all these Eucalyptus trees you 
have here, they are destroying your soils. You should cut these down and sell 
them, then use the money to buy your own furniture. And plant better trees at 
the same time!” At this the Italian pricked up his ears. “Oh, i need 
Eucalyptus for beelding my new conference hall!”
Such is the mentality of self reliance that SFEL’s Permaculture instils. 
While many NGOs are throwing around thousands and even millions of dollars 
into white-elephant projects (such as superfluous conference halls), there 
are often far simpler solutions to the chronic needs of communities on the 
ground that they could solve by themselves, if they were able to make more 
effective use of the resources. This is the key aim of the Permaculture in 
Konso Schools Project (PKSP) the pilot phase of which culminated with the 
head of The Education Bureau's speech last Saturday.
The format of the PKSP is similar to that of the ReSCOPE and SCOPE programs, 
which Tichafa lead in a number of countries around southern Africa over the 
past 15 years with great success; two key teachers from a school are given 
the full 72h PDC, during which they produce designs for “retro-fitting” their 
school grounds. The follow-up then brings in the kids and parents, to 
implement those designs (with input from Tichafa, where necessary) on the 
ground –the whole community gets involved; hauling in manure from their 
animals, mucking in together and singing in great spirits as they do – 
intensive gardens, tree nurseries, soil and water harvesting infrastructure 
are all laid out on the ground – channels dug to run rain-water from roofs 
into keyholes where banana suckers soon explode into lush thickets. Moringa, 
papaya and mango (the first 70 seedlings provided by SFEL) will soon close a 
canopy over the flourishing vegetable beds in the intensive
 gardens. Permaculture is included on the school curriculum, with resource 
materials designed for the purpose, so kids gain theoretical insight as well 
as being involved practically. Within a year the school can supplement its 
children’s diet with fresh fruit and greens and gaini income from sales of 
vegetables and tree seedlings to the community. The skills are also taken 
home by the kids, so penetrate into the community for the long-run. The bare 
school yard soon becomes a lush and fascinating jungle for the exploration of 
the young mind, and these people are taking control of their own destiny, no 
longer sitting by the roadside waiting for UN grain convoys to roll in with 
hybrid wheat over-produced on the other side of the planet – the solution 
lies right here, in their own back yard!
 A program of monitoring and evaluation continues over the following 24 
months, with exchange visits between the schools, bi-annual refresher courses 
for the teachers at SFEL, visits to our own model farm to promote new ideas 
and improve motivation. The culmination of phase 1 (the pilot) was the 
competition between the schools which came in February 2010 with SFEL’s most 
recent international PDC, the participants of which were asked to judge 
between the schools for the best implementation, as part of their own PDC 
training. 
The PDC had a multinational complexion with American Peace Corps sending two 
Ethiopian-American officers, an Ethiopian estate owner from Norway, two 
freelance American volunteers, a Swedish SFEL volunteer for five months, an 
Italian couple, a British volunteer on a mission to develop a windmill for 
SFEL, a Welsh lady working the Karrayou Tribe from the rift valley in East 
Shoa, and a veterinary surgeon, a Karrayou also working with the Welsh tribe. 
Criteria for the participants appraisal of the schools, included:
-          The presence of the design map on the wall
-          The presence of a tree nursery
-          Effective intercropping of species to reduce disease and promote 
companion relationships
-          Evidence of innovation in water harvesting 
-          Evidence of eating the vegetables produced in the gardens
-          Evidence of gaining an income for the school from sales of produce
Overall it was decided that Sawgume (the same school where Tichafa had first 
embarrassed the teachers with the parable of the sparrows a year ago) 
deserved to win the competition, but all 3 schools were given prizes as an 
encouragement. The prizes were donated by local business-men, such Mr Samuel, 
the owner of Bela Abyssinia Tours, a customer of SFEL, who agreed to 
contribute 3000Birr for exercise-books, pens, watering cans, spades and hoes, 
awarded to the teachers and most industrious parents and kids of the 3 
schools. 
And the PKSP pilot phase has been proclaimed a resounding success! The Konso 
Education Bureau are keen to see its expansion to all the schools in Kosno. 
STC Finland have agreed to include 2 more schools in their program in 2010, 
however we at SFEL are keen to go beyond that. If more NGOs, GOs or 
individuals will involve themselves, by adopting or sponsoring schools in 
various ways, we can keep Permaculture actively growing in Ethiopia in the 
coming years. We are ready to work with you.
You can also support our activities by joining our next international PDC in 
at SFEL in Konso:  Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – Oriented 
towards food security development for rural communities lead by Tichafa 
Makovere Shumba, at Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge: April 05 – 18, 2010. 
 For more information please contact info@permalodge.org also visit our 
website www.permalodge.org



>From friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com  Tue Mar  2 13:42:30 2010
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Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 10:42:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Pilarski <friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com>
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Subject: Re: [permaculture] permaculture in prisons
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Hi Gavin,

Your project sounds great.� I will forward the info on to the person who 
requested info as well as to the Montana tribal project people.� Thanks so 
much for the response.

Michael


--- On Tue, 3/2/10, gavinraders@gmail.com <gavinraders@gmail.com> wrote:

From: gavinraders@gmail.com <gavinraders@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] permaculture in prisons
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 10:24 AM

One important thing I left out! We are also raising funds to start a 
post-release jobs placement program for the guys who graduate from Insight 
Garden Program and return to the outside. We plan on traning and hiring a few 
as nursery specialists, edible landscapers, in construction, and in value 
added processing. If you have any desire to collaborate, let me know!
Thanks,
Gavin
Sent from my BlackBerry� smartphone, powered by CREDO Mobile.

-----Original Message-----
From: gavinraders@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 18:10:41 
To: permaculture<permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] permaculture in prisons

Hi Michael,
���As part of our food justice/permaculture work at Planting Justice, we 
teach urban permaculture at San Quentin State Prison to 35 medium security 
inmates in collaboration with the Insight Garden Program. Currently we have a 
1000 sq foot native plant medicinal and flower garden that the guys have 
built and tend to, and we have submitted a proposal to build a permaculture 
inspired raised bed veggie/herb garden behind their dorms. Unfortunately, 
prison rules will prohibit the guys from eating any of the food they grow, so 
it will be donated to low-income families in Oakland, and we will attempt to 
donate it specifically to the families of the guys we work with who live in 
the area as a way to connect the guys inside with their loved ones on the 
outside. It has been a tremendous experience, transformative for ourselves, 
and especially transformative for the guys, who cultivate patience and 
nurturance for themselves and those around them through their
 work in the garden. Some of their reflections about their experience 
gardening in prison are on our website at www.plantingjustice.org

And we have another incredible prison permaculture project in the making! We 
are in conversation with the sherrifs office at Santa Rita jail in Dublin to 
embark upon a much larger permaculture garden/green jobs training program on 
multiple acres adjacent to the prison, and thus far the officials are very 
supportive. We are working with the sherrifs office to collaboratively raise 
funding to make it happen.� Everything happens VERY SLOWLY at prisons in our 
experience, so stick with it, don't accept no the first or fifth time, and 
find/build your allies on the inside!� We'll post on the Santa Rita project 
when we have movement.
All the best,
Gavin
Co-founder, Planting Justice
------Original Message------
From: Michael Pilarski
Sender: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
To: permaculture
ReplyTo: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] permaculture in prisons
Sent: Mar 2, 2010 9:48 AM



I just received a request from someone seeking leads on anyone doing work 
around applying
permaculture design to prison environments?

Can anyone send me info on this?

On a personal note, Yesterday I met with the police chief and
jailer at the Flathead Indian Reservation (Montana) along with some other 
tribal
staff and 2 other permaculturists to talk about setting up a food
garden which the inmates could work at.� I really liked the police chief, as 
well as the other folks.� It sounds
like they will go ahead with the project.� 

The project is being initiated by a tribal member who is a permaculturist.


Michael Pilarski

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Sent from my BlackBerry� smartphone, powered by CREDO Mobile.
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