The Go-Aide Foundation visit to DiHokoHoko
(See photos at the bottom)
1) Introduction
The Go-Aide Foundation (Go-Aide), based in Germany,
partnered with the Divundu Horticulture Projects (DHP) and the Evangelical
Bible Church (EBC) to implement and support Organic Poly Cropping (OPC) training in the
DiHokoHoko (DiHoko) area near Divundu in the Kavango East Region. This training
and support project will be over a period of 3 years over which 6 training
sessions will be done. EBC provides the infrastructure and DHP the
co-ordination, follow-up training and monitoring.
The project is intended to benefit individuals and
communities in the Kavango West and East Region, from Rundu to Omega 3. The
vision is to establish and implement a permanent training center at DiHoko from
where permaculture will be trained and monitored. Three levels of training will
be presented at DiHoko after the 3 year establishing period: 1) Basic seasonal
OPC (also referred to as ‘kitchen gardens’) 2) Irrigated OPC and 3) Commercial OPC.
Phase 1 visit 1 was to present an introduction to
OPC and to prepare and establish a training environment with
accommodation training facilities. The total project will train about 15
students intensively on the principles and implementation of permaculture, to
become trainers in their communities, training at least 5 students,
regenerating the whole concept. Everything will be monitored and evaluated as
they go.
Edward Dunkley from Go-Aide and Dor Havkin a training
consultant for Go-Aide, visited DiHoko during April 2014 to supervise the
implementation of phase 1. Anton Mberema from DiHoko and Emmanuel Muyumba from
Hope Village assisted them in establishing and managing the implementation.
2) Renovations to the existing center
One of the reasons Go-Aide chose DiHoko as the venue to
start their project from, was the existing infrastructure. This would suit
their needs for a training environment, to get started as soon as possible.
2 Houses were identified for the training project. One would
serve as a training class room, an office and accommodation for staff. The
other would be fitted as students’ accommodation.
A lot of equipment had to be planned, bought, transported,
fitted and installed. Amongst this were beds, mattresses, duvets and sheets,
pillows, cooking utensils, gas and a fridge. Then
the houses had to be cleaned, repaired, painted, toilets fixed, showers fixed,
locks fitted, window gauze fitted and electrical wiring and lighting fixed.
This kept the team very busy. Edward and Dor looked after the interaction and
networking of the project with local Government and Authorities, while Emmanuel
and Anton, purchased, transported and facilitated. Over and above this they had
to see that all the required training material was sourced and in place, including
the white board, the flip chart and the projector.
3) Introduction to Permaculture
Dor did some basic networking during the
preparation phase of the training center. He explained quite some interesting
concepts, unique to OPC.
He showed the DiHoko community that OPC is not simple
farming only, but a whole new life style involving yourself, the community and nature
around you. Three new sayings became evident: 1) Use and improve OPC patterns and designs 2) Go to nature to get the best results and 3) Seeing by asking
the right questions.
Dor also explained and discussed how to make a useful compost
heap. This involved techniques for best composting, to be used as a liquid fertilizer,
a fertilizing spray or just compost. Emmanuel took this opportunity to start 5
new, huge compost heaps at DiHoko with 6 volunteer students. The nice about it
was that it was taught practically, showing while explaining.
Then Dor introduced the concept of Banana Circles. This is a
concept where the drainage from your shower, kitchen and toilet can be directed
to a ‘feeding pot’, around which you plant bananas, paw paws and other local
fruits to feed from it. The community was quite impressed to see how simple and
effective this principle can be.
4) Finally
The site was not completed by the team during phase 1, due
to time constraints. EBC and DHP will carry on with this work, to have it ready
when the first training will start, somewhere in July.
The EBC and DHP trainers were impressed, the community was
impressed and all the visiting students were impressed. They all look forward
to the official training to start shortly.
16 Students were selected for this official training and
they will be notified as soon as this is to start. They were selected as a
result of their position in their communities, keeping the regenerative training
cycle going.
DHP and EBC would like to thank the GO-Aide Foundation for
getting involved in this project and all the hard work being done so far, it is
much appreciated.
Report by:
Emmanuel Muyumba
TOT in Permaculture
Hope Village
Windhoek
emmanuel.s.muyumba@gmail.com
