I'm covering two events - First the GlobalNet 21 Meet-up called "The Path To Development -Trade or Aid" (yesterday evening) and secondly the March First Thursday meeting (this afternoon) which predictably did not go as planned - but was a great session involving people from three continents, eight countries and a confusing number of time zones.
Once again,Yesterday's online meeting between the UK and Nigeria did not fail to disappoint. As well as addressing the items on the agenda in an informal but business-like way, we had two welcomed treats.
The first treat
The First Thursday chat on March 4th at 12.00 GMT/UTC will focus on two of our permaculture interests - kitchen gardens and jatropha. The plan is that Marcus Simmons will join the chat as our permaculture adviser. One or more people from the Dadamac team in Nigeria will also chat. They will discuss what has been happening since Marcus's visit a few months ago. It is still very early days, so the discussion will be about first practical steps that have been taken (or are being planned) by the permaculture early adopters, and what else they need to know.
Hi Vijay
Sorry you could not make it to February First Thursday, but I know you are very busy at present. You would have met some interesting people including members of the Dadamac team in Nigeria. It would have been interesting to compare some of the eco-developments there, such as growing Jatrohpa, with what is happening in India
I mention Jatropha because at our UK-Nigeria meeting yesterday we were told that "we are raising a nursery of 2000 jathropha palnts we intend to transplant when the rains begin"
This is how our feedback works
Marcus Simmons taught about mulching on a permaculture training course.
Back in the UK he asked for feedback.
Feedback was requested during a Dadamac UK-Nigeria team-meeting
This photo was sent back to the UK
Marcus saw that the mulch was being laid too thinly
He sent a detailed email suggesting that one area should be covered with a much thicker mulch, so that people could see if they would get a better result that way.
Marcus is active in areas related to technology transfer and permaculture. He first connected with Dadamac in 2008, and visited Nigeria in September for the ecodome project.
He returned in 2009 for work on permaculture, and the email he sent while there is included in this blog.
Today's First Thursday meeting was a mixture of networking and discussing permaculture. It brought together people from Minciu Sodas, from the Video Bridge workshop and from the Dadamac Community in the UK and Nigeria.
I love to introduce people to each other, so now that I am back from the Video Bridge (Streaming Sharing and Learning) workshop I am doing introductions for people with overlapping interests related to permaculture and similar concerns.
A continued focus of our weekly online UK/Nigeria meetings has been the subject of permaculture.
This was not a word or principle I had come across often in my day-to-day life in South London.
However over the past two years I have been lucky enough to begin to learn more about it - and to appreciate the importance of designing the proposed ecovillage at Attachab along the principles it dictates.
Even as a relative newcomer to the discipline, I recognise it is the most practical and commonsense way to proceed. Not only does it make ecological and financial sense ... it should also help provide sustainable communities. In short, I am very much a convert!
Wow, what a start to the New Year!
Although it had been a few weeks since our last UK-Nigeria online meeting (due to connectivity issues and holidays) I was quickly reminded again how thrilled I am to be involved with this dynamic group of people.
Although these meetings with Fantsuam are arranged for the same time and day each week, they are never routine, dull or a chore.
As this was our first for a while, there was a lot to catch up on. Despite (yet another) loss of connectivity and time lags, we enjoyed another productive session - and, miraculously, still managed to cover the whole agenda! A real triumph over adversity for the team.
