The publicity surrounding Water Week in South Africa and the focus on issues like access to water and the hazards of drinking dirty and polluted water is a positive event on our calendar.
Water is life and the search for a workable model of sustainable living that can be maintained indefinitely must revolve around the question of access to clean water and the uninterrupted access to this resource in the future.
At Sicambeni village we dug a small dam at Mama Pats place last year in time for the rains. This was done to prevent the loss of water due to runoff down the hill and also to alleviate the soil erosion.
The success of this dam in providing ample water for irrigating the garden at Mama Pats has focused attention on the need for proper water management in the rest of the community.
On the new land recently released by the community for further expansion by Amapondo Projects the question of how to store this precious resource and not allow the rains to simply flow into the river and out to sea is being debated.
Possibilities include another small dam or two, a channelling system whereby rain water can be redirected onto the crops as well as neighbouring land with their own small gardens as well as the location of these projects with an eye on future expansion.
We don’t have final plans as yet, the debate and discussion within the community is in itself a crucial part of the Amapondo Projects and the direction they are taking.
The current crop of volunteers are also involved in brainstorming and looking at possible solutions to making the new land self sufficient and not dependent on water from taps in the community.
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteers. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Volunteers are at the core of all volunteer programs but just who are these individuals that build these programs.
We have many people that have volunteered and moved through our projects so far and all have left something of themselves and their past experience behind.
Most come into a rural or semi-rural environment from a city back home in the 1st world and it would not be unusual if they struggled to find their feet.
The opposite however has been the rule as they jump straight in and start participating.
The word volunteer means, “a person who voluntarily takes part in an enterprise or offers to undertake a task”. The Concise Oxford offers us this very broad definition that does not focus enough on the individual.
Each volunteer has a background and a history complete with achievements and setbacks which they bring on board when they join the project.
These aspects are part of what goes to make a specific person tick and most relish the distance from home and certainty, within which they can work and contribute to a cause greater than themselves.
Our experience so far is that anything less than 3 weeks is not usually beneficial to either the individual or the project. It takes time for the individual to acclimatize to the dynamic and find a niche within which to live and sustain while contributing.
The overlap that occurs when volunteers arrive and depart at different times creates a wonderfully enforced change of personnel and the team dynamic is constantly switching.
This dynamic has a positive spin off and effect on those more permanently involved in Port St Johns and a constant inflow of energy and information. This dynamic would have to be created if it didn’t actually exist.
Most come into a rural or semi-rural environment from a city back home in the 1st world and it would not be unusual if they struggled to find their feet.
The opposite however has been the rule as they jump straight in and start participating.
The word volunteer means, “a person who voluntarily takes part in an enterprise or offers to undertake a task”. The Concise Oxford offers us this very broad definition that does not focus enough on the individual.
Each volunteer has a background and a history complete with achievements and setbacks which they bring on board when they join the project.
These aspects are part of what goes to make a specific person tick and most relish the distance from home and certainty, within which they can work and contribute to a cause greater than themselves.
Our experience so far is that anything less than 3 weeks is not usually beneficial to either the individual or the project. It takes time for the individual to acclimatize to the dynamic and find a niche within which to live and sustain while contributing.
The overlap that occurs when volunteers arrive and depart at different times creates a wonderfully enforced change of personnel and the team dynamic is constantly switching.
This dynamic has a positive spin off and effect on those more permanently involved in Port St Johns and a constant inflow of energy and information. This dynamic would have to be created if it didn’t actually exist.
Monday, January 14, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Sustainability depends on the entire community being involved.
In a recent development we met with the community in Sicambeni and discussed the way forward as a joint project and not something that we, as volunteers, could make a decision about unilaterally.
There was a consensus about the positive results of the joint project so far and there were also some crucial questions asked by community members that we were able to answer and build further ties between volunteers and community members.
One of these was the question of where the community centre will be built, to which I answered that the community must decide on the site and then we’ll build it together.
There were some other moments of community and volunteer bonding when we were granted the use of some of the natural resources including the dam.
The end result of a small meeting like this is a giant leap forward with everybody involved aware of what others are doing, what has been achieved so far and where the community as a whole is heading towards.
This crucial concept of including everyone concerned within community decision making is paramount and something we are going to keep building on.
There was a consensus about the positive results of the joint project so far and there were also some crucial questions asked by community members that we were able to answer and build further ties between volunteers and community members.
One of these was the question of where the community centre will be built, to which I answered that the community must decide on the site and then we’ll build it together.
There were some other moments of community and volunteer bonding when we were granted the use of some of the natural resources including the dam.
The end result of a small meeting like this is a giant leap forward with everybody involved aware of what others are doing, what has been achieved so far and where the community as a whole is heading towards.
This crucial concept of including everyone concerned within community decision making is paramount and something we are going to keep building on.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Shifting consciousness and convincing people that they can sustain themselves without outside interference.
The challenge in building a successful and sustainable community in a rural area is very simple. It means creating a paradigm change in people attitudes and perspectives. The shift in consciousness that kicks in once a person or persons realize that they can do it themselves is astounding.
Achieving this means not allowing the community to start to depend on the volunteers assisting them and teaching them the basics about permaculture and other life skills necessary to sustaining themselves alongside nature.
These volunteers will not remain indefinitely and should be able to reach a stage where they can move on having planted many seeds literally as well as figuratively in peoples’ minds that will germinate, grow and bear fruit in future discussion and interaction with other communities like themselves.
Many programs that start off with good intentions lapse and end up leaving 4x4 vehicles, empty school rooms and other evidence that they were indeed once there and yet these items are of no future use on their own to the rural community.
We are intent, at Sicambeni just outside Port St Johns, on teaching and nurturing the absolute basics for sustainable living and then letting the community evolve slowly, increasing their knowledge of permaculture and teaching others around them these basic fundamental life supporting skills.
Achieving this means not allowing the community to start to depend on the volunteers assisting them and teaching them the basics about permaculture and other life skills necessary to sustaining themselves alongside nature.
These volunteers will not remain indefinitely and should be able to reach a stage where they can move on having planted many seeds literally as well as figuratively in peoples’ minds that will germinate, grow and bear fruit in future discussion and interaction with other communities like themselves.
Many programs that start off with good intentions lapse and end up leaving 4x4 vehicles, empty school rooms and other evidence that they were indeed once there and yet these items are of no future use on their own to the rural community.
We are intent, at Sicambeni just outside Port St Johns, on teaching and nurturing the absolute basics for sustainable living and then letting the community evolve slowly, increasing their knowledge of permaculture and teaching others around them these basic fundamental life supporting skills.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sustainable opportunities open to volunteers.
The Opportunities open to volunteers at the sustainability project are big and the potential for building still more opportunities is even bigger.
The opportunities that abound here for volunteers with ideas and paths forward to improve and enrich the ongoing community development towards the goal of sustainability will provide self starters with a context within which they can build content that is beneficial to themselves as well as the community.
Along with the opportunity to meet and work with rural people that are striving to improve their position on this planet and not relying on government and big business handouts, volunteers will have the chance to find themselves and be able to contribute time and ideas to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Life changing is a phrase that gets used far too often and yet we have people that have passed through our part of the planet and expressed thanks for the opportunity and used that phrase as well as others just like it.
There is no specific daily schedule simply a need to do things that have to get done in the day to day running of a community that sustains itself without hand out contributions from the outside.
Volunteer time, effort and patience in getting to understand the dynamics here is of more benefit to the community than cash and advice from people that have never been here but sit behind computers and just throw stats around.
The chance to set down a footprint and watch one of your own ideas take wings and fly, contributing yet another brick to the foundation that supports the journey towards sustainability may just be intoxicating enough that you want to stay longer and contribute more ideas.
The opportunities that abound here for volunteers with ideas and paths forward to improve and enrich the ongoing community development towards the goal of sustainability will provide self starters with a context within which they can build content that is beneficial to themselves as well as the community.
Along with the opportunity to meet and work with rural people that are striving to improve their position on this planet and not relying on government and big business handouts, volunteers will have the chance to find themselves and be able to contribute time and ideas to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Life changing is a phrase that gets used far too often and yet we have people that have passed through our part of the planet and expressed thanks for the opportunity and used that phrase as well as others just like it.
There is no specific daily schedule simply a need to do things that have to get done in the day to day running of a community that sustains itself without hand out contributions from the outside.
Volunteer time, effort and patience in getting to understand the dynamics here is of more benefit to the community than cash and advice from people that have never been here but sit behind computers and just throw stats around.
The chance to set down a footprint and watch one of your own ideas take wings and fly, contributing yet another brick to the foundation that supports the journey towards sustainability may just be intoxicating enough that you want to stay longer and contribute more ideas.
Sustainable opportunities open to volunteers.
The Opportunities open to volunteers at the sustainability project are big and the potential for building still more opportunities is even bigger.
The opportunities that abound here for volunteers with ideas and paths forward to improve and enrich the ongoing community development towards the goal of sustainability will provide self starters with a context within which they can build content that is beneficial to themselves as well as the community.
Along with the opportunity to meet and work with rural people that are striving to improve their position on this planet and not relying on government and big business handouts, volunteers will have the chance to find themselves and be able to contribute time and ideas to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Life changing is a phrase that gets used far too often and yet we have people that have passed through our part of the planet and expressed thanks for the opportunity and used that phrase as well as others just like it.
There is no specific daily schedule simply a need to do things that have to get done in the day to day running of a community that sustains itself without hand out contributions from the outside.
Volunteer time, effort and patience in getting to understand the dynamics here is of more benefit to the community than cash and advice from people that have never been here but sit behind computers and just throw stats around.
The chance to set down a footprint and watch one of your own ideas take wings and fly, contributing yet another brick to the foundation that supports the journey towards sustainability may just be invigorating and stimulating enough that you want to stay longer and contribute more ideas.
The opportunities that abound here for volunteers with ideas and paths forward to improve and enrich the ongoing community development towards the goal of sustainability will provide self starters with a context within which they can build content that is beneficial to themselves as well as the community.
Along with the opportunity to meet and work with rural people that are striving to improve their position on this planet and not relying on government and big business handouts, volunteers will have the chance to find themselves and be able to contribute time and ideas to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Life changing is a phrase that gets used far too often and yet we have people that have passed through our part of the planet and expressed thanks for the opportunity and used that phrase as well as others just like it.
There is no specific daily schedule simply a need to do things that have to get done in the day to day running of a community that sustains itself without hand out contributions from the outside.
Volunteer time, effort and patience in getting to understand the dynamics here is of more benefit to the community than cash and advice from people that have never been here but sit behind computers and just throw stats around.
The chance to set down a footprint and watch one of your own ideas take wings and fly, contributing yet another brick to the foundation that supports the journey towards sustainability may just be invigorating and stimulating enough that you want to stay longer and contribute more ideas.
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