A moving volunteer gathers no rust.

We are moving forward with a couple of new ideas within the space created for our sustain-ability project. One of which is extending the volunteers program into Forest Glade, a farm outside of Port St Johns with a mango orchard and people living in different stages of sustain-ability and self sufficiency.

On the small farm we are working with there are ample amounts of chilies, mangos, potatoes, onions, various herbs, mielies, tomatoes and passion fruit amongst other seasonal fruit. There are also coffee trees growing, some with berries but most will only produce in about two years time.

One evening this week the meal cooked for the volunteers living at the Jetty was a vegetable potjie that consisted of ingredients all picked and harvested from the Glade except for the cooking oil.

Sisonke school opened its doors for 2008 on January 16 and enrolled 60 pupils. This was a major event for all the teachers and Pippa who is the driving force behind the school is excited about the teachers desire to teach and the learners desire to learn.

We have also been sharing and discussing the ideas and philosophies expounded by Masanobu Fukuoka, author of ‘One Straw Revolution’ within the volunteers circle.

The ideas that he puts forward about farming and life in general have stimulated much thought and discussion. Theories about farming and how to blend in with nature and not struggle against it are important but most critcial are his observations about how people change and find time to write haikus despite running a successful farm.

Try find a commercial, "scientific" farmer with time for haikus.

The effect of working on a sustain-ability project and eating organically grown vegetables flavoured with organic herbs have had a noticeable impact on our volunteers, many of whom come from large cities and were initially intimidated by the rural and semi rural environment.

It has also left indelible memories with volunteers who spent time here and are now back ‘home’ and wrote to tell us of their feelings and how much the project has meant to them as well as how much they miss it.

Some are working at marketing the project back home and others are gearing up for a return to work and live the sustainability project that as a whole is fast becoming greater than the sum of its parts.

Our extended family unit now includes peoples in the UK, US and Australia.

Change is something that affects everybody from all different backgrounds.

We recently had communication from a volunteer who was with us October 2007. http://www.sicambeni.co.za/node/246 Kelly talks of being back in the heart of the First world in the UK but her experience at Sicambeni and with the school has opened her eyes to the way people live across the other side of the world.

Looking at her UK life and appreciating what she's got and maybe becoming a little less materialistic. This kind of change is bound to happen when a project like Sicambeni gets going. People travel long distances and sacrifice time with loved ones back home to spend time volunteering and learning about a different way of life and maybe more about themselves as well.

The impact that this crossing of boundaries and sharing has on all involved is one of the perks that volunteers gain. Seeing themselves through somebody else's eyes who has never seen their home country and couldn't possibly imagine the wealth and access to material goods.

We have a new group of volunteers, all with us for different lengths of time and all bringing their own experience into the search for sustainability. Sustain-ability is simply another way of saying keep on keeping on.

We hope to hear from more of our Sicambeni family once they arrive back home as their feelings looking back are a crucial learning curve for us here.

2008 is a year that we at Sicambeni are going to use to build further on the sustainable foundations laid in 2007.

2008 kicks off with more volunteers arriving, coffee seeds planted and areas demarcated in the village for the plantation as well as more work on the gardens, water management and the brick making.

2007 was an exciting year with lots of firsts including volunteers, vegetable harvests and pushing forward with the coffee plantation.

Sicambeni has a new website going live (we'll update you on this new development) with a forum for ongoing discussion and debate around the way forward with the project and how interested people around the world can fit in and contribute their unique skills.

Once again the emphasis on people is absolutely crucial to the ongoing building and development of the sustainability project.

We are also writing a history for Wikipedia and will keep you updated. The project has come a long way since its inception and more leaps forward are planned but these don't happen on their own, they are people driven and then sustained by people.