permaculture

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network <lakinroe@silcom.com>]

JULIOUS PITI TOUR IN MA AND NY JULY 12 -17

Fri July 12-Sun July 15 - Northern Eastern PC Convegence at Soule 
Homestead Education Center, Middleborough, MA 
http://northeastconvergence.wordpress.com/

July 16 - Presentation @ Sirius Ecovillage, 72 Bakers Rd Shutesbury 
Massachusetts 01072 http://www.siriuscommunity.org/

July 16 - Tour of UMass Permaculture Amherst, MA
http://www.umasspermaculture.com/ Contact Ryan Harb: 
media@umasspermaculture.com

July 17 - "Permaculture in Zimbabwe" - Stone Ridge, NY (Evening 
Presentation Hudson Valley) 7/17 Ethan and Tama Contact Ethan Roland 
eroland@gmail.com

/P/ lease join * Julious Piti,* founding member of the *Chikukwa 
Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT)* in Zimbabwe, whose 
ecological design work in Tanzania has recently been featured in the 
award winning film */From the Mara Soil.

/*In the communal lands of Chimanimani on the borders of Zimbabwe and 
Mozambique---in the midst of civil wars, deforestation, drought, and 
severe land degradation---a wonderful story has been unfolding for the 
last twenty years, an example to the world.

Where once the people of the Chikukwa villages in this region suffered 
hunger, malnutrition and high rates of disease, communities have 
transformed themselves with permaculture land strategies and farming 
techniques, and along the way have become masters of conflict resolution.

Julious Piti experienced the violence of war first hand as a teenager 
fleeing Mozambique to Zimbabwe during times of conflict. These 
experiences led him with other Chikukwa community members to a lifetime 
of work committed to healing both the land and the people.

Many projects flourished through the years at Chikukwa, but the success 
of these projects also led to difficulties.  Conflict and suspicion 
arose around many issues within the community, but when examined 
carefully, it was found most were based on communication breakdowns.  
From these difficulties, the creation of an extraordinary handbook 
called */The Three Circles of Knowledge; How to Build Constructive 
Community Relations by Understanding Conflicts in Rural African 
Communities/ *occurred.  The approach of the book is based on *the three 
circles method,* which aims to work with the *areas where indigenous, 
spiritual and analytical knowledge overlap*.  This method was developed 
by a core Chikukwa community group and utilized deep indigenous 
understanding.

There is much for the world to learn from Chikukwa and CELUCT, for not 
only have they managed to stay food secure and peaceful during the 
conflict ridden years of Zimbabwe, but they have done this with 
solutions that came from within the community, not imposed from the 
outside, and with very little help or funding from international aid 
agencies or NGOs.

Some 20 years ago, most were trying to survive on cash crops that caused 
deforestation and erosion, now over *80% of the population of the 
Chikukwa villages practice permaculture*, growing food for themselves 
with a surplus to share, on lush and abundant mountainsides where 
springs honored by indigenous beliefs, have once again sprung to life.

Julious Piti is a permaculture teacher, designer and trainer, and 
conflict facilitator.  He is a *founding member of the Chikukwa 
Ecological Land Trust (CELUCT) and the Director of PORET*, an 
organization formed to support farmers in the low rainfall area of 
Chaseyama, Zimbabwe where he now lives, by replicating the strategies of 
CELUCT.  In 2009 Julious was hired by Global Resource Alliance, an NGO 
based in Ojai CA, to facilitate a permaculture design project for a 
village of 5000 on the shores of Lake Victoria, Tanzania, featured in 
the film, /From the Mara Soil/.  Film producer Gillian Leahy and Terry 
Leahy, author of /Permaculture Strategy for the South African Villages 
(/University of Newcastle, Australia), are currently making a 
documentary film about Chikukwa.  A presenter at the International 
Permaculture Convergences in Brazil, Africa, and Jordan, Julious Piti 
has been invited to teach at the upcoming Permaculture Design Course for 
International Development & Social Entrepreneurship at Quail Springs 
Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm in California, July 2012.

Additional Info:

*Websites:

*Permaculture Design Course for International Development and Social 
Entrepreneurship
Course Dates: June 18th -- July 1st, 2012
http://www.quailsprings.org/event/permaculture-design-course-for-international-development/ 


*GRA's film, /From the Mara Soil/:
*one of five films selected by a partnership between the Sundance 
Institute and Hilton Worldwide to receive the 2012 Hilton Worldwide 
LightStay Sustainability Fund & Award.
http://www.globalresourcealliance.org/

PORET -Participatory Organic Research Extension and Training
http://poret-zimbabwe.org <http://poret-zimbabwe.org/>
PORET Trust works with the community to address hunger, malnutrition, 
and poverty.

*Chikukwa  Ecological Land Use Community Trust (SlideShow)
* http://www.chikukwa.org/

Permaculture Successes in a Zimbabwean Community
http://permaculture.org.au/2011/10/01/permaculture-successes-in-a-zimbabwean-community/

*The Chikukwa Project (CELUCT) - short 6 minute film by Julian and Terry 
Leahy
* https://vimeo.com/36582870

*THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT 20 minute trailer for a longer 50 minute film called
* https://vimeo.com/33761246

Chikukwa-A Lesson in Self-Reliance (CELUCT)
Elin Lindhagen
http://barefooteducation.wordpress.com/permaculture/applied-permaculture-tr