Courses/Workshops

Permaculture Design Course on Gberefu Island, Nigeria (April 13 – 26, 2013)

The second Permaculture Design Course takes place in April 2013 in the homeland of the Yoruba people in Badagry and Osogbo, Nigeria.

In the mythology of the Yoruba, Osun is the goddess of fertility. She is a wife of Sango, the god of thunder and fire. Sangodare Ayala is an important priest of Sango and an internationally recognized herbalist. He is the adopted son of the late artist Susanne Wenger from Austria. Susanne Wenger, in Yoruba land better known as Mama Adunni Alorisha, was a fully initiated priestess who lived most of her life in Osogbo. Together with her colleges she created amazing sculptures and shrines in the sacred forest of Osun. Putting her life on the line she protected the sacred grove of Osun from destruction. Now the sacred grove is site of international heritage and protected by UNESCO. Sangodare will guide us to the sacred grove; introduce the functioning natural ecosystem of the forest with its huge amount of medical plants and show us the mystical sculptures and sacred shrines throughout.

When: 13 — 26 April, 2013
Organizer: Permakultur Akademie Germany in Cooperation with SONED e.V.
Place: Gberefu/Badagry, Lagos State and Osogbo, Osun State in Nigeria
Teachers: Paul Yeboah (Director of Ghana Permaculture Institute) and Jan Georg Fischer (Dip.Perm.Des.) from Germany

The 72-hour course enables you to start your training as a permaculture designer. After the course, you start your own permaculture project in your surroundings. Learning by practice!

Tell me, what will you do with your wild and precious life? — Mary Oliver (lyricist)

The only constant in life is change and we are in the thick of it — climate change caused by human activities, we’ve already finished half of our oil resources and a global financial crisis is shaking the world economy. We have lived with this news for a long time now and it is difficult not to react with fear, confusion and anger. How can we get a vision for our future which will lead us to a higher quality of life and give us greater independence from global economic structures?

How can we design a future for ourselves and further generations that is actually worth living in?

Permaculture is an integrative concept to design sustainable livelihoods. It was developed in the 80s in Australia by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren; first as a system to help the local ecological movement to create self-sufficient projects and communities.

Curriculum:

The course covers the classical aspects of permaculture; ethics and philosophy, ecological basics, plants and food, climate, water, energy, architecture and infrastructure, social and economic aspects and sets them in context with the traditional knowledge of the Yoruba.

Focal points will be subjects relevant to the conditions on the ground and the question of how to combine ethical engagement and successful project work to create sustainable ecosystems.

For this purpose we will visit farmers on the island and travel to the sacred grove of Osogbo. We will learn how to observe attentively, how to put information in meaningful interrelation.

Approved permacultural tools, techniques and methods help us to make ideas a reality.

The course is a full time (72h) Permaculture Design Course. More info here.

The place:

The course takes place at the Environmental Education Centre’s “Permaculture Forest Garden” on Gberefu Island in between the Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. Here, since 2011, permaculture students have been creating a forest garden, a tree nursery, infrastructure and are developing their school. We will also visit neighboring farmers and schools.

We will visit the ancient town of Osogbo and go to the sacred grove, an intact tropical ecosystem that has been protected by UNESCO as a world heritage site since 2004. Here the “new sacred art group” of Susanne Wenger created an amazing sculpture park and impressive shrines used by the Yoruba for their ceremonies.

The participants:

We are looking for participants who are open to the diversity of possibilities around them. We count on curiosity and impartiality, the commitment to engagement, and the will to test your boundaries. Also we expect the flexibility to interact creatively with different cultures and conditions.

Teachers:

All teachers are educated permaculture designers with lots of practical project experience.

Costs and enrolment:

Costs:

  • If you book before 25 Feb, 2013 the Course Fee in Nigeria is NGN 99.000 and for international participants 700 Euros.
  • Later bookings pay the full price of NGN 105.000 or 730 Euros.
  • Additional to the course fees we have to charge 280 Euros for food and accommodation.

Food will be local. For special needs please contact us.

We count the enrolment as fixed once your payment is in our bank account.

Not included in the price is the travel ticket to and from Badagry, Nigeria. A shuttle service to and from the airport can be arranged.

To arrange registration, please contact:

  • Andrea Joswig: andrea (at) soned.de

For further information please see:

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