chaseinafrica: all´s good in the hood (no juice necessary)

a serene sunrise in inhamússua

we´ve been busy over the past couple of weeks here in inhamússua. we hosted a seminar for volunteers and their counterparts on permaculture - a hip, yuppy sub-culture in arizona, yet a lifesaving set of techniques in an underdeveloped, equatorial country. the course went well and we received a beautiful garden out of it. after the show was done it was time to try and implement it within our communities and that is usually where the difficulties begin. how do you show a group of people that the methods they have used for centuries have been perverted into something ineffective and damaging? repetition and exemplary success.

so, Elias and I started with our eleventh grade students that study agriculture every day and told them that all of those responses they gave us on their exams were wrong, everything that they have studied since eighth grade is now in question. we told them that maize is planted at a distance of 40 centimeters instead of 100, and that pesticides are only necessary when you don´t rejuvenate the soil. we tried to convince them that watering everyday can be avoided with a little foresight. the largest obstacle is that half of what we have to say is taught exactly opposite within the classroom by 40 other teachers, the tests are written with aged techniques in mind and the teachers teaching them...HATE change.

so what do you do? you dig a hole, fertilize the soil with natural resources and build a compost pile. what else is there?

here is the sub-soil of our soon-to-be-bed with four added ingredients all found locally. compost, ash, charcoal and a high-in-nitrogen leaf.

here is our group finishing their first compost pile.

of course, I have managed to find a little work to do around the house. fortunately, I finished what I have because that dreaded feeling of the near-end is here. that is to say that at some point the volunteer gives up on improvements because their service becomes a simple endurance race to the end. everyday I find myself getting lazier and choosing to play the guitar over fixing something in my house. arguably not a bad choice, but my mentality is certainly changing. here is the most recent improvement that snuck through the lethargy.

my roommate and i added a little pizazz to our front water spicket. we used some beautiful bricks made in a local low-lying area of Inhambane Bay known for its clay type mud.

some of you may remember the Future Business Leaders of Mozambique project that we worked on last year. here is the latest photo of the products soon to be butchered. we are on schedule and still have ten beautiful pigs, two of which are pregnant with an average offspring of ten. the pen should be a little crowded shortly.

out with the old in with the new. our second FBLM contest has finished and at least half of the students learned something and proved it, making your tax dollars that much more likely to go to me and my next whim of a project (thank you PEPFAR). below are some photos of the contest which ended this saturday after eight weeks of procrastination on all parts. we were up until the wee hours of the night on wednesday, thursday and friday. fortunately, we´ll have something to show for it.

here is Elias teaching the principles of budget projections, a skill lost somewhere between him and the students. students were reluctant to find it despite the 600 dollar reward for who did.

the students observe lessons one night a week on eight various topics and prepare a proposal for a panel of judges. on the final day they present and defend their project.

the day finally arrived and the students were put to the test. some students relied on wit rather than a decent project and others lacked style when elaborating well designed piece. for a little harmony is all we ask.

the panel of judges was a red-penned fury when it came down to the final decision.

two judges reviewed the written work of the students.

here are two students asked to clear up some doubts about their numbers.

here are the two girls, Xaina and Mariana, that made the day possible. without them we would have died of hunger and looked bad. I don´t know which is worse, nor does Elias. needless to say, we erred on the side of food.

and finally, the winning group. while last year I was proud to be what can only be assumed as the only vegetarian with a pig-slaughtering club, this year I am happy to say that we have produced some new and creative thinking. the winning group will begin this week creating a produce conservation project. they will use locally produced fruits and vegetables to make jams and dried goods, which can then be sold in seasons when those products are out of season. manufactured, as opposed to raw, products is a large part of economic success in the world and this group is helping to implement a large task at a grassroots level, something that we focus on quite a bit in FBLM. here are some photos of their victory.