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PERMACULTURE IN MACEDONIA




Hi everyone
	I have collected  articles on the Permaculture Project in Macedonia from 
UN sites and more.
	I went to Louisiana and heard four of the Macedonians working on the 
Project give a talk plus Australian Permaculture Teacher Designer Geoff 
Lawton. Also present where Andrew Johnson (Permaculture Graduate) Manager 
of the Cegrane Refugee Camp  largest Refugee Camp in the Balkans. For more 
info go to Northern Louisiana Commerce Center website at www.nwlcc.com and 
check out there newsletter. NWLCC are hoping to establish a Permaculture 
based Training Education Center for International Aid at the former 
Military Base . Here is a Workshop posting "The goal would be to further 
understand the current need for an educational training center for 
emergency aid and post crisis development"  This is just one approach. Hope 
this will help the discussion
						Wes Roe Santa Barbara Ca
ps below is a radio interview with some of the folks

PERMACULTURE IN MACEDONIA  http://www.loe.org/archives/000721.htm#feature4

                      TOOMEY: It's Living on Earth. I'm Diane Toomey.
                      Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians fled the
                      war in the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo last
                      year. Nearly 50,000 of them camped near the
                      northern villages of Cegrane and Forino in
                      neighboring Macedonia. After the refugees returned
                      to Kosovo their camp was left in shambles, but
                      international aid workers and local residents
                      decided to rehabilitate the site and give it a new
                      mission. It will soon be a facility to teach the
                      principles of something called permaculture, a
                      design for living that makes sustainable use of the
                      land and its waste. Cindy Shiner reports from
                      Cegrane, Macedonia.

                      (Hammering)

                      SHINER: Workers at the Rudina mountain site are
                      laboring feverishly in the dry midday heat. Some
                      are assembling the frame of the new library and
                      teaching facility.

                      (A chainsaw revs up)

                      SHINER: Others are perched on top of the building's
                      skeleton, cutting wooden beams down to size.
                      They're rushing to finish before an upcoming party
                      to celebrate the end of phase two of the Rudina
                      permaculture project. When Albanian refugees left
                      the 125-acre emergency camp last year to return to
                      their homeland, tent poles, wire, and scrap metal
                      remained as monuments, both to the refugees and
                      to the money spent to house them. Now, with
                      donations from CARE International and other
                      organizations, a plan is underway with a few goals
                      in mind: to rework the land, establish a
                      permaculture demonstration and teaching center,
                      and foster local economic development.

                      (Water flows)

                      SHINER: Standing next to a man watering one of
                      thousands of fruit trees planted on Rudina ,
                      National Manager Patjim Saiti is inspecting the
                      mountainside through dark rectangular sunglasses.
                      Trees are growing, grass is sprouting, vegetables
                      are flourishing….

                      (Digging)

                      SHINER: …all in an area whose name means "dry
                      mountain."

                      SAITI: This might have been dry for centuries, I can
                      say, and no products have been produced here.
                      With our working less than eight months, now we
                      have our products, and we have changed the
                      history. We are proud of that.

                      SHINER: Permaculture is a concept derived from the
                      words "permanent" and "agriculture." Ecology is
                      used as the basis for designing integrated systems
                      of food production, housing, technology, and
                      community, that can continue without degrading
                      the environment. Since the idea was developed in
                      Australia in the 1970s, hundreds of permaculture
                      sites have sprung up around the globe, including
                      the United States. Environmentalist Dave Clark
                      wants to spread the word about permaculture. He
                      says it's necessary to help offset damage caused by
                      conventional agriculture, or monoculture, whereby
                      the soil is depleted of its nutrients.

                      CLARK: We're losing our soil at an incredible rate.
                      It takes nature, in a good situation, maybe 100
                      years to build up a couple of inches of topsoil. And
                      the wheat fields of west Australia and other parts
                      of the world are losing soil at the rate of an inch a
                      year. That's 1,000 tons to the acre per crop. The
                      production of sugar, for every ton of white sugar
                      that goes on our tables, we lose 53 tons of soil
                      forever, into the sea. This is obviously not
                      sustainable.

                      SHINER: Permaculture, he says, can help. Through
                      mulching and planting a diversity of vegetation, a
                      couple inches of soil per year can be saved.

                      (Footfalls)

                      IZAIRI: Behind you.

                      SHINER: Xhemile Izairi is a leader of one of the
                      women's on-site teams. Here, she plucks weeds
                      from around frilly heads of lettuce in a flourishing
                      garden that makes use of the permaculture
                      techniques of companion planting and curved
                      garden beds. In companion planting, different types
                      of plants growing together help one another, sort of
                      an agricultural democracy. The strong scent of
                      marigolds wards off some pests, and the roots of
                      one plant harvest the nutrients another needs. Few
                      women had ever held jobs in the Muslim community
                      around Rudina before this project began. Many of
                      them were already good gardeners, and the high
                      pay was something their husbands couldn't ignore.
                      Improving gender relations was an unexpected
                      social benefit of the permaculture program.

                      (Gathering straw)

                      SHINER: Recycling is another key component of
                      permaculture. Straw, for example, is a waste
                      product of agricultural production. Here at Rudina,
                      it's baled and used for building, because it's big
                      and easy to handle. This makes for thick walls,
                      which help with energy efficiency. Something
                      important in a poor area like Macedonia, which has
                      bitter winters and scorching summers.

                      (Clanking)

                      SHINER: The bales are secured with cement and
                      chickenwire. Architect Samantha Smith says all of
                      the buildings on the site were built with recycled
                      material, including some of the thousands of
                      blankets donated during the war.

                      SMITH: One of the big parts of this project was to
                      find a use for this junk. For the roofs, for example,
                      in those roundhouses is old fencing wire that's not
                      good for fencing any more, and refugee blankets
                      dipped in concrete and strung out over the frame.
                      And then we cover them in thatch to make them
                      look pretty, because while using the refugee
                      blankets was a good idea, though it wasn't very
                      pretty.

                      SHINER: But it was economical. Each year hundreds
                      of millions of dollars go toward relief efforts around
                      the world. Emergency refugee camps are often built
                      on poor-quality land. And grading it for temporary
                      housing damages the ground further. Reversing that
                      costs money. Some international donors see Rudina
                      as a model for how to respond to future refugee
                      crises. Patty Culpepper is with the U.S. Bureau of
                      Population Refugees and Migration, a key funder of
                      the Rudina endeavor.

                      (Milling voices)

                      CULPEPPER: This project is, basically it's a
                      benchmark of how you can use what's available in a
                      former refugee camp. Used in a positive way to
                      build something lasting for a community that used
                      to be a host community. I think the important thing
                      that I've seen in this particular project is how the
                      project leaders have sought to ensure that the local
                      communities feel that they are participants in the
                      project, and that they understand what's going on,
                      and they are part of the decision-making. And that
                      sort of grassroots decision-making, grassroots
                      democratization is really, I think, something that
                      sometimes is overlooked.

                      SHINER: And in a politically volatile area such as
                      the Balkans, that makes the potential benefits of
                      permaculture that much more striking. Rudina
                      Project Coordinator Brooke Watson says
                      permaculture is about working together and
                      improving lives.

                      WATSON: We've got recycling and we've got
                      harvest reduction and education courses, and all of
                      these things are ways in which the community can
                      make money on an ongoing basis. So our idea is to
                      try and empower the community, not only to deal
                      with their own issues but to help other communities
                      deal with their issues.

                      (Milling voices, laughter, shouting)

                      SHINER: Hundreds of people from the communities
                      surrounding Rudina pass through the site's gates to
                      celebrate the permaculture project, and remember
                      the refugees. The guests dip their hands in blue,
                      white, and green paint, and leave their hand prints
                      on two entrance walls: a symbol of working
                      together and the refugee plight.

                      (Music plays amidst the voices)

                      SHINER: The crowd files past the gardens, fruit
                      trees, and straw bale buildings, and settles back at
                      the site's amphitheater. Among the guests are two
                      mayors from rival political parties. All here to enjoy
                      the progress of this permaculture community.

                      (Music continues)

                      SHINER: For Living on Earth, I'm Cindy Shiner in
                      Cegrane, Macedonia.

                      (Music continues, up and under)

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