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World Water and Earth Days’ celebrations.
World Water and Earth Days’ celebrations. By December Ndhlovu Why do we celebrate Earth Day? Global Earth Day has been celebrated on the 22nd April every year for over 50 years now. It is celebrated as a conscious reminder that the Earth or Planet Earth is badly damaged and that we care about it as…
Asset Based Community-driven Development (ABCD) is Zingela Ulwazi’s approach to community empowerment.
By December Ndhlovu Asset-based community-driven development (ABCD), or asset-based community-driven development (ACDD) as it is sometimes called, is a bottom-up way of working with communities that focuses on community strengths and assets rather than on deficits and problems. ABCD or ACDD is a form of development where a community uses what it has to achieve…
Action-packed November for Permaculture Explorers
November was a VERY busy month for Permaculture Explorers. We had a break from our usual permaculture and business development classes. December Ndhlovu, Community Gardener and Water Activist, delivered a class about the water crisis in the Bushbuckridge area which is severely affecting communities and putting the women’s food gardens and livelihoods, and thus the wellbeing…
Water crisis deepening in Bushbuckridge, Part 2: What could be happening?
Written by December JG Ndhlovu ndhlovuj@ymail.com 28 November 2019 Gone are the days to question if there is anything like Climate Change and Global warming because most countries have already experienced devastating, unusual weather patterns. The impacts of the changing weather has since 2016 intensified globally and we are now at a stage…
Water crisis deepening in Bushbuckridge: Part 1
Bushbuckridge’s water challenges seem to be escalating daily and the last two months have been a nightmare for some communities in this area. In the last ten years the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM) has dismally failed to render potable water supply to most villages in Bushbuckridge, which resulted in many protests and marches demanding better…
Field trips build bridges between villages
In the last month, the Permaculture Explorers went on two field trips for learning exchanges: one to Trygive’s Community Garden and one to Agnes’ home garden. At both sites, local women from the area were in attendance, working with our group of women to plant, learn, sing and dance together. At Trygive’s Community Garden we…
Permaculture Explorers are Back in Business!
Our business class took off again after the Easter holidays. The women all shared their drawings of their ideal Woman Ecopreneur after talking with their families and getting additional input. We started our Reward system where the women can earn points that can be redeemed for items for their gardens. Coming to class, doing homework,…
Permaculture Explorers Teach Back
One of the key elements of our Permaculture Explorers project, is to have the women teach back what they have learned or what they know, to their fellow Explorers. Whether in the garden or in the classroom, the women love to share with the group. We already feel the power building in the group and their…
Permaculture Explorers Start Business Training
Saturday was the first of our business development classes. We began by discussing what an entrepreneur is, what an ecopreneur is, and did an overview of entrepreneurship and what it takes to be a successful business owner. We had a discussion about working as as group, supporting each other’s learning, and putting to rest any…
Permaculture Explorers: Above the Line-Addressing Extreme Poverty
Our new project Permaculture Explorers: Above the Line launches today in the government housing project (the RDP) in Acornhoek. We will work with 20 women-headed households, teaching the women a combination of Permaculture gardening–so they can grow their own fresh, healthy food–and small business enterprise development–so they can learn how to run a small enterprise and…