2 Permaculture Design Courses With Dr Rosemary Morrow in Ethiopia
Two Permaculture Design Courses are to be given in Ethiopia in May and June 2008 by Dr Rosemary Morrow, author of “The Earth Users Guide to Permaculture”
Appropriate solutions to the challenge of Tanzania
When we arrived in Tanzania, just as when we arrive in most third world countries to do this kind of work, the most serious issues to deal with initially are firstly sanitation, toilet systems, then drinking water, then fire wood systems or sustainable fuel systems, then diverse interactive food production designs.
Tanzania was the same. We stayed in the same town of Musoma where we taught the course regularly visiting the main proposed project site in a village called Kinesi which is 45 minutes by taxi boat across Lake Victoria. This is where the NGO Global Resource Alliance main work focus is situated.
The PDC course was conducted in Swahili which has a lot of Arabic in it and so I could understand some of the Arabic words that were spoken. 40% of the Tanzanian population is Muslim and having worked in a lot of Muslim countries, understanding the culture was therefore easy for me. This helped me relate to the students and the local people in the area.
The challenge of Tanzania
Westerners don’t realise how big the problems are in most third world countries. To a large extent they are created by the promise of modernism. Greatest of these problems however in third world countries include
- a need for good diversity of food production of an eco systemic style
- good waste system design for grey water
- appropriate toilets
- garbage disposal methods
- good drinking water systems
- a sustainable fuel system.
To first world countries these things are important not just because of the momentary guilt we feel when we see those pretty little starving children on tv commercials asking us for donations, but because the most important promises of “modernism” can provide solutions that will save millions of lives (mostly chilren) and millions of dollars in aid.
Third world people need to fully understand their own problems and the problems of their own lands, and then how they can deal with it themselves without any outside help.
It comes down to a few basic but important things and when these are understood, Third World Populations can actually design their own solutions to their own problems.
Permaculture Design Course, Kinesi Village, Tanzania, October, 2007
This Permaculture design course is sponsored by Global Resource Alliance, a small US non-profit helping impoverished communities create a path to an abundant and fulfilling future using natural, holistic and sustainable means. At present, they are working with residents of Kinesi Village, a rural community of about 5,000 on the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania.
Like many East African villages, Kinesi is rich in beauty and natural resources, yet average per capita income is less than 50 cents US per day. There is no indoor plumbing or electricity and inhabitants depend upon the polluted waters of Lake Victoria for personal and agricultural needs. Most villagers are too poor to afford charcoal to boil drinking water, so cholera, typhoid and various parasitic infections are common.
The course will be held at Afrilux Hotel, a clean, safe and simple establishment in the quiet town of Musoma, just across Mara Bay from Kinesi. A delicious breakfast and lunch will be served at the hotel for class participants. At least once each week, course participants will travel 45 minutes by boat to Kinesi to explore how permaculture principles can be applied to conditions there to improve the quality of village life.