hear the story of how an ecological initiative in a small
village in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe grew into a community model
of sustainable living...
SBCC Center for Sustainability Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBCC-Center-for-Sustainability/195585370466944
The SBCC Center for Sustainability Presents:
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from the
Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (CELUCT)
Zimbabwe, Africa
Sunday July 1,
6:30-9pm, 2012
Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College, West Campus
$10-$5 SBCC Students
P
lease join the Santa Barbara City College Center for
Sustainability on Sunday, July 1, as we host Julious Piti,
founding member of the Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust
(CELUCT) in Zimbabwe, whose ecological design work in Tanzania has
recently been featured in the award winning film From the Mara
Soil.
In the communal lands of Chimanimani on the borders of Zimbabwe
and Mozambique---in the midst of civil wars, deforestation, drought, and
severe land degradation---a wonderful story has been unfolding for the
last twenty years, an example to the world.
Where once the people of the Chikukwa villages in this region suffered
hunger, malnutrition and high rates of disease, communities have
transformed themselves with permaculture land strategies and farming
techniques, and along the way have become masters of conflict
resolution.
Julious Piti experienced the violence of war first hand as a teenager
fleeing Mozambique to Zimbabwe
during times of
conflict. These
experiences led him with other Chikukwa community members to a lifetime
of work committed to healing both the land and the people.
Many projects flourished through the years at Chikukwa, but the success
of these projects also led to difficulties. Conflict and suspicion
arose around many issues within the community, but when examined
carefully, it was found most were based on communication
breakdowns. From these difficulties, the creation of an
extraordinary handbook called The Three Circles of Knowledge; How
to Build Constructive Community Relations by Understanding Conflicts in
Rural African Communities occurred. The approach of the
book is based on the three circles method, which aims to work with
the areas where indigenous, spiritual and analytical knowledge
overlap. This method was developed by a core Chikukwa community
group and utilized deep indigenous understanding.
There is much for the world to learn from Chikukwa and CELUCT, for not
only have they managed to stay food secure and peaceful during the
conflict ridden years of Zimbabwe, but they have done this with solutions
that came from within the community, not imposed from the outside, and
with very little help or funding from international aid agencies or
NGOs.
Some 20 years ago, most were trying to survive on cash crops that caused
deforestation and erosion, now over 80% of the population of the
Chikukwa villages practice permaculture, growing food for themselves
with a surplus to share, on lush and abundant mountainsides where springs
honored by indigenous beliefs, have once again sprung to life.
Julious Piti is a permaculture teacher, designer and trainer, and
conflict facilitator. He is a founding member of the Chikukwa
Ecological Land Trust (CELUCT) and the Director of PORET, an
organization formed to support farmers in the low rainfall area of
Chaseyama, Zimbabwe where he now lives, by replicating the strategies of
CELUCT. In 2009 Julious was hired by Global Resource Alliance, an
NGO based in Ojai CA, to facilitate a permaculture design project for a
village of 5000 on the shores of Lake Victoria, Tanzania, featured in the
film, From the Mara Soil. Film producer Gillian Leahy and
Terry Leahy, author of Permaculture Strategy for the South African
Villages (University of Newcastle, Australia), are currently making a
documentary film about Chikukwa. A presenter at the International
Permaculture Convergences in Brazil, Africa, and Jordan, Julious Piti has
been invited to teach at the upcoming Permaculture Design Course for
International Development & Social Entrepreneurship at Quail Springs
Learning Oasis and Permaculture Farm in California, July 2012.
The evening talk takes place on Sunday, July 1, 6:30pm-9pm, 2012, at
the Fe Bland Auditorium, Santa Barbara City College West Campus, 721
Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109. $10 general/$5 SBCC
students. No reservations required. More info: (805)962-2571, email:
sbpcnet@silcom.com,
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
Additional Info:
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SBCC-Center-for-Sustainability/195585370466944
Websites:
Permaculture Design Course for International Development and Social
Entrepreneurship
Course Dates: June 18th – July 1st, 2012
http://www.quailsprings.org/event/permaculture-design-course-for-international-development/
GRA's film, From the Mara Soil
one of five films selected by a partnership between the Sundance
Institute and Hilton Worldwide to receive the 2012 Hilton Worldwide
LightStay Sustainability Fund & Award.
http://www.globalresourcealliance.org/
PORET -Participatory Organic Research Extension and Training
http://poret-zimbabwe.org
PORET Trust works with the community to address hunger, malnutrition, and
poverty.
Chikukwa Ecological Land Use Community Trust (SlideShow)
http://www.chikukwa.org/
Permaculture Successes in a Zimbabwean Community
http://permaculture.org.au/2011/10/01/permaculture-successes-in-a-zimbabwean-community/
The Chikukwa Project (CELUCT) - short 6 minute film by Julian and
Terry Leahy
https://vimeo.com/36582870
20 minute trailer for a longer 50 minute film called THE CHIKUKWA
PROJECT
https://vimeo.com/33761246
Chikukwa-A Lesson in Self-Reliance (CELUCT)
Elin Lindhagen
http://barefooteducation.wordpress.com/permaculture/applied-permaculture-tr
-end-
Margie Bushman
Coordinator, SBCC Center for Sustainability
http://sustainability.sbcc.edu/
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