[Scpg] South Africa EcoBuilding Tour Nov-Dec 2003

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Hello all,

Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested, or perhaps you 
might want to come along yourself!

Thanks,

Joe Kennedy

New South Africa In-Depth Reality Tour Will Produce a Model EcoHomestead


Cost:  $1,750 including food, lodging, ground transport and course fees.
Air travel not included.

Dates: November 10- December 1, 2003

The tour is available for non-New College students, and space is still 
available.

For more information, contact:  Joe Kennedy, 707-568-3092
jkennedy at newcollege.edu

Linking indigenous knowledge systems with modern technologies, U.S students 
will join South African students and farm workers this November in 
designing an EcoHomestead at the Tlholego Development Project (TDP) in 
South Africa.
Intending to be one solution to the severe housing crisis in South Africa, 
this project will be the final phase of an in-depth reality tour of the New 
South Africa sponsored by New College of California, Builders Without 
Borders and the Sustainability Institute at TDP in November of this year.
The tour will start in Capetown, and over seven days will visit examples of 
traditional architecture, new sustainability projects, and “reality checks” 
of harsh townships realities, and the innovations that some residents are 
undertaking to address them.

Focusing on the needs, but more importantly, on the exciting solutions to 
the severe housing crisis in South Africa, this tour will be an opportunity 
for U.S. students to immerse themselves in the wide variety of cultures, 
geographies and living circumstances in South Africa, as well as an 
opportunity to put in place some of the best thinking in a collaborative 
effort between the sponsoring organizations to create the ecohomestead with 
full water, power, waste and food self-reliance, using local materials and 
native skills.  This homestead will eventually form the seed of a small 
“ecovillage” to serve the housing needs of the rural poor including farm 
workers and the proliferation of AIDS orphans throughout South Africa.

Joe Kennedy, New College of California faculty and co-founder of Builders 
Without Borders, and Paul Cohen of TDP and the Sustainability Institute in 
South Africa have collaborated for ten years in creating the Tlholego 
Center in order to work toward sustainable solutions to the South African 
housing crisis.  The EcoHomestead project is designed as a course for 
students and interested members of the public from the US and South Africa.

The design will focus on creating a “holistic model” using forms desirable 
by the South African people, but using materials and skills available 
locally.  The design will build on an ongoing process at TDP that has 
benefited from continual feedback about social and practical 
considerations.  The resulting structure will be completed by interns and 
local workers, and will remain as a component of a future ecovillage for 
farm workers.
This model, with alterations, could also be used for educational 
facilities, ecotourism developments and housing for special populations 
such as AIDS orphans.

As a result of this trip, Kennedy and Cohen hope to: create a coalition 
that can continue to work together to further sustainability education in 
South Africa and the U.S.; initiate a “best practices” model for 
sustainable homestead development for the Southern Africa context; explore 
the possibilities for an ongoing annual learning program between the US and 
South Africa; and educate and empower students and others about South 
Africa, sustainability and ecological development.

Tour and Course Details

Introduction to South African Sustainability Issues

The course will begin with an intensive introduction to political, social 
and geographical issues of South Africa from an ecological perspective.
This introduction will be held at the Sustainability Institute, an 
organization dedicated to studying these issues.  This brief time will 
include some visits to local sites in and around Cape Town, including:
·Robben Island, the site of apartheid-era imprisonments.
·Cape Town, a beautiful burgeoning city on the tip of Africa.
·Cape Flats, the harsh reality just outside of Cape Town, where many people 
live in dire poverty.
·Ecological development projects in the region to be determined.

Sustainability Tour of South Africa

After completion of the introductory session at the Sustainability 
Institute, students and staff from New College and the Tlholego Development 
Project will embark upon a 7-day driving tour of South Africa, taking them 
on a winding route through the country to visit sites of ecological, social 
and political importance.  While an exact itinerary has yet to be 
determined, these sites will include:

· Areas of ecological importance.  Several game preserves and areas of 
unique ecological importance lay upon the tour route.  Students will get 
the opportunity to experience the ecological richness of South Africa.

· Areas of political reality.  Part of the tour will bring us through 
former apartheid-era “homelands” where many people still live in dire 
poverty.  We will also visit townships, such as Soweto, which demonstrate 
the harsh urban realities for many South Africans.  We will, however, seek 
projects of hope within these places, where people are doing the work of 
creating an ecological future.

· Areas of traditional life.  Parts of South Africa still exemplify a 
traditional, land-based way of life.  We will seek out traditional 
villages, and meet people who carry on ancient building, farming and 
cultural traditions.  Our tour may bring us through Lesotho, an independent 
country within the borders of South Africa that has traditional areas still 
intact.

· Areas of ecological development.  We will visit several Ecovillages, 
permaculture demonstration sites, and other sustainable developments, in 
order to see what the people on the cutting edge of sustainability are up to.

We hope through this tour to create linkages between groups and projects 
that may hitherto be unaware of each other, and by so doing broaden the 
impact of our journey.

EcoHomestead Course

Completing the time in South Africa will be a “service learning” project at 
the Tlholego Development Project (TDP) near Rustenburg.  Tlholego is an 
award-winning site of many innovative sustainable development innovations 
over the last ten years, and a globally-recognized teacher-training center 
for sustainable technologies.  Joseph Kennedy of New College and BWB and 
Paul Cohen (TDP) have been colleagues in the creation of this center for 
over ten years.

The course to be held at TDP will focus on the design and building of an 
EcoHomestead, which links indigenous knowledge systems with modern 
technologies to create a fully-self sufficient model home and food 
production landscape designed as a solution to the housing crisis currently 
facing South Africa.

This course will be a design and building course focusing on sustainable 
solutions to housing issues such as:
· Building materials and design
· Water collection and treatment
· Power production and passive solar design
· Waste treatment
· Food security landscaping

The course will focus on creating a “holistic” model using forms desirable 
by the South African people, but using materials and skills available 
locally.  The design will build on an ongoing process at TDP that has 
benefited from continual feedback about social and practical 
considerations.  The resulting structure will be completed by interns and 
local workers after the course, and will remain as a component of a future 
ecovillage for farmworkers.  This model, with alterations, could also be 
used for educational facilities, ecotourism developments and housing for 
special populations such as AIDS orphans.

This project has been partially underwritten by a generous grant from the 
Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation

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