Impressions from the USA tour

July 1 2012

During his tour in the USA, Julious Piti is visiting various projects and exchanging ideas with many people. Here some impressions:

June 30: Forest Garden tour in Santa Barbara. Daniel Parra Hensel gave a tour of this newly planted food forest which he designed.
Julious Piti meets Benson O. Oswago (EARC Officer from Ministry of Education, Mbita District) for the first time. They discussed school garden programs and how permaculture can transform schoolyards. Benson will be traveling to Zimbabwe to study at PORET as a result of this meeting.

June 30: Julious Piti was interviewed by Jill Cloutier of Sustainable World Radio in Santa Barbara. The interview will be posted shortly on their website.

July 1: Julious Piti with Adam Green (director of the Santa Barbara City College Center for Sustainability). Piti held a talk "Chikukwa, Then & Now" at the campus's Fe Bland Auditorium.

Julious Piti at the Global Resource Alliance's 10th Anniversary Celebration

23 June 2012

The Global Resource Alliance, which actively promotes sustainable projects in Africa, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary in California. Featured as special guest, Julious Piti will be sharing his experiences as part of the team that designed and implemented GRA's Kinesi Village Permaculture Training Center.

Julious is also featured in GRA's award winning film From the Mara Soil.

Julious Piti on tour in the USA and Europe

21 June - 19 August 2012

Julious Piti is currently visiting various projects in the USA and Europe, exchanging ideas and solutions, and presenting his own projects to the American public.

His stay in the USA, from 21 June to 25 July, will be followed by his attendance of the 11^th European Permaculture Convergence in Escherode (1 - 5 August), where he will also hold a workshop.

Petra Krubek will be taking him on a two day tour of interesting projects in Germany on August 6-7, after which he will be visiting projects in Austria until August 19.

This opportunity was made possible by a large group of supporters: Santa Barbara Permaculture Network (Tour organizer USA), Santa Barbara City College Center for Sustainability, Global Resource Alliance, Quail Springs Learning Oasis & Permaculture Farm, Antioch University Santa Barbara, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, Daily Acts, Sebastopol Grange, Sowing Solutions, Living Routes, UMass Permaculture, Sirius Community, 8th Annual Northeastern Permaculture Convergence, Environmental Change-Makers, Carbon Economy Series Santa Fe, AppleSeed Permaculture, Horticultural Society of New York, Jeremiah Kidd, Therese Williams, Wesley Roe, Margie Bushman, Marge Erickson, Monica Ibacache, Warren Brush, Lyn Hebenstreit, Tara Blasco, Ryan Unmach, Ethan Roland, and Margreth Holzer (for Europe).
Thank you so much!

Our work at the moment

May 2012

Growing vegetables in family and community gardens

We are growing vegetables at the PORET training site, for sale and for consumption by the playing centre kids.

As PORET we are also facilitating the growing of vegetables in group gardens in Jinga village. This helps to bring healthy food to the community and build community skills in permaculture techniques.

Bee project at the Dombera farm

We are starting a bee project with the commercial farm Dombera in Chimanimani.
The Dombera farm currently relies on heavy chemicals; some people get poisoned in their eyes and their health is bad through the sprays they use. The water is polluted, birds and beneficial insects are dying.

The owner heard about PORET and our work and he is interested in Permaculture.
Our vision for the future is to start a small organic demonstration plot at Dombera farm.
As a start we suggested them to begin a bee project, which will lead to many positive consequences when healthier and non-polluting treatments are adopted on the farm.

Provincial Culture day

23 May 2012

On the 23rd of May we are going to participate in a Provincial Culture day hosted by Chief Chikukwa in our district.
The Chikukwa community is well known for its culture preservation by the Zimbabean Government and this year about 5000 people will be hosted by CELUCT and Chief Chikukwa.

All Chiefs in Manicaland and the district administrators with their families will team up for the greatest event in the area. PORET will also participate in this ceremony. We want to bring cultural products from our permaculture projects to the event.

Food fair at the Chaseyama primary school

16 May 2012

The seed fair is an event where all farmers display their seeds which they were growing during their farming season. The main purpose of this gathering is to exchange seeds with other farmers, as they will observe other farmer seed collections. Besides, they get information on how to plant and grow some special crops.

A team of judges will judge the seeds, using criteria that are inline with supporting the production of open pollinated seed. The farmers who display will get prizes. At the moment we are working out who will help support the prize and the food for the event.

The event is created by the community and is very helpful for the farmers.

Pre-school opening at PORET Centre

8 May 2012

With the start of the second term, the pre-school was opened with 21 kids at the PORET centre. The Chaseyama Permaculture Club initiated this pre-school because the next school is about 5km away and kids of 2 to 5 years cannot travel that far.

At the moment we have two volunteer teachers, Eveline Zimunya and Mrs. Dube, who work with the children daily, to teach the children in playing, singing - also a little bit in writing and reading and the first steps in sustainable living. Their parents are usually working in the fields. The families are poor, they usually pay nothing or what they can. But in the future we hope to get funding for the materials we need for the playing centre. We still need to pay teachers' allowances, training materials, food and build a shelter for the children.