In the picture above, project leader Rose Nibagwire is visited by Barnabe Mukezangango. I first met and worked with them both in May 2018 on the Sabina School permaculture course and the first East African permaculture convergence, which followed on directly afterwards. Mutual support and mentoring is so important, especially for those pioneering in such essential new areas as developing longer scale and longer term permaculture projects.
It is this kind of mentoring we hoped to facilitate through the S39 East Africa work and it is very exciting to me to see it starting to happen.
Click on the Rwanda category to see the rest of this story as it unfolds. I first visited the site in February when Rose shared her plans and ambitions with us. We met the head of the school and since then we have been working to progress this. Rwanda observed a strict quarantine, brutal on many people but effective. It has allowed a more normal life to resume and since then progress on the project has come on at a pace.
This steeply sloping school campus although recently built is already suffering from gully erosion from the heavy seasonal rains there. The plan is to implement a large swale system that can channel water sideways, slow it down and instead of eroding the landscape help the water percolate into the soils where it will be taken up by the trees. We hope to fill the school with fruits and birds and life, and to create a more shaded and interesting environment for the pupils to explore and enjoy.
It is our contention that all schools should be leading on habitat restoration, on producing food within the curriculum and ensuring good nutrition is at the heart of education.