Two New School Permaculture Projects for Ethiopia

by Geraldine Quinlan, from Ireland, a new intern at the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge in Ethiopia

1. Gocha

In the morning we visited Gocha Primary School. Before starting work together Tichafa gathered everyone in the classroom. He spoke about the importance of growing food for independence from food aid and eventually to sell at the market for profit whilst also taking environmental action for the school, the immediate community and finally the country. This would create an income for the school.

Tichafa then drew a mandala design and keyhole beds and explained them to the group. The group then split into two groups of seven to start work on their designs so they could leave some work behind on this follow up visit — the main aim of the follow up visit.

The Gocha Primary group dug four keyhole beds in front of two classrooms for catching rain water from the roof, so as to nourish the growing plants. The Karat Primary group dug a mandala design for planting vegetables. Both groups worked collectively.

Tichafa also gave advice on the designs the teachers had made at the school. He advised the people to weed the areas where food is growing. He also advised them to include holes in the ground in their designs to catch rain water. Otherwise the rain runs off the land and doesn’t nourish the plants. He also advised Gocha Primary School to plant more crops including sweet potatoes. He encouraged them to do more work in the school to help it prosper.

The water tank built at the end of July is now functioning after its leaks were repaired by the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge builder (Feisa). We were informed that the water from the tank was used to mix the mud that plastered the inside of four classrooms. Even when we got there more than a week after the rain, the narrower bottom of the pond and the slit trap still contained some water which indicated it could not disappear through the cracks as it had three weeks earlier.

Progress can be noticed in Gocha though at a slower pace than Karat (below). They need to step up their pace and also learn to weed their garden which we seriously talked about during our follow up visit. It was a challenge for them to realise how much Karat had done despite Karat coming into the project after they had. Hopefully this will push them to speed up. They are also aware that we will revisit them on 25 September so the next four weeks should see them trying to use the time well. The follow up visit with half a day work was helpful in increasing the number of new designs in each of the school.

2. Karat Primary School

In the afternoon we visited Karat Primary School. The Karat school has done much work in the last three weeks since they did the permaculture course. Tichafa spent the first part of the afternoon looking at the designs and work they had accomplished. Where they had made mistakes he gave advice on the correct way to do things. For example they made the beds in the mandala too narrow. Tichafa showed them how wide to make the beds. Also they hadn’t dug the holes deep enough to catch the water on the primary school slope, though it is a good start for a new school in the community sustainability project.

Tichafa then gathered everyone together in the classroom as in Gocha in the morning. He talked about the potential in Karat Primary School. They have done so much work in 3 weeks; imagine what they can do in two years. He encouraged them to keep working hard to create a food forest. They removed more than half the eucalyptus trees that were in the school because they have a negative effect of draining too much water and also acidifying the soils. It is clear that Karat Primary will make a big impact in improving their food security, their environment and within a year they can build their income as well. Most areas which were showing heavy signs of erosion were given serious attention with more moon shaped pits for stronger erosion control. The new garden started on the second of August is doing very well and in another three weeks the school will be able to harvest some vegetables for their own use.

Tichafa then spoke about the different types of mandala designs. He gave some examples and encouraged them to be creative with their own designs and not to always stick to the same designs he has shown them.

The group then split in two again. Tichafa assigned them both an area in the school to create a design. Both groups made a triangular mandala that Tichafa had shown them. The site of the first group was more suitable for this type of design than the second which was on a slope. The second group did not take account of the direction that water would run down this slope or the best way to collect this water to benefit the crops planted. They also made a triangular mandala design. Tichafa told the group areas they had made mistakes and demonstrated the best way to make designs which would collect rain water and benefit the plants.

Karat Primary seems set to be a good model that can be relied on in the near future, with a highly motivated school headmaster who is leading the way. What came out after this follow-up visit was that the school needs some assistance in transporting tree seedlings from some distant nurseries, since they have already dug pits ready for tree planting of banana and paw paws and need the plants as soon as possible. Communication to that effect is being made with the school headmaster, so that they can continue to gain serious ground, as they have demonstrated they are well capable of doing much more.

At the end of the day Tichafa presented certificates to group members who had completed the 72-hour permaculture course on 3 August 2011 and there was much joy in the participants.

Note: Take a PDC at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge and you’ll not only get in on the action, but you’ll be supporting it too! At time of writing, the next PDC begins October 17, 2011.