Published: Aug. 10, 2024
I’m in the process of forming The Permagardens Foundation. Its mission will be to support the use of ecologically sound, climate-resilient permaculture principles, which families and communities can follow to become food self-sufficient.
Through simple, intelligent design – only requiring a shovel as the technology – permagardens make it possible to quadruple the yield of a simple kitchen garden, even during the dry season. A permagarden that is four meters square can grow all the food a family needs.
This is not hypothetical. I have been working on this with a schoolteacher in rural Kenya. When he was first posted to a new school in a community with 300 families, he surveyed the children, and found that 96% of them were malnourished and/or hungry. Within a year after he taught the community members to build permagardens, there was no hunger or malnutrition left in the community. The community now grew 45% of their own food. And by selling some surpluses, the community was able to purchase some fruit trees. My friend has now uplifted seven entire villages this way, others are following the same example, and hundreds of such programs are underway in Kenya.
Our friends in Kenya are planning to train friends in India online this month. The average cost of a program (for 25 families) – including seeds, compost/manure, transportation, and expertise – is approximately $610 or a little under $25 per family in one community.
Below, I will include some stories from one of our lead trainers, Laurent Wilson, who works in southwest Rwanda. He tells of amazing incidents in which this permagardens program reveals itself not only as a program of community health and nutrition, but also a program of community peacebuilding and reconciliation.
But first, how do these programs get paid for?
When my mother died in May, she left us tons of jewelry. The expensive stuff went to my kids, but she had a lot of costume jewelry. also We would have just thrown it all out, then something surprising happened.
I had just posted the stories I’d received from Laurant (see below), which led to some follow-up correspondence with the woman in Bedford, Virginia, who is my contact for Laurant. I discovered that she regularly takes old costume jewelry to two antique malls and a Sunday market. So, of course, I sent her my mother's costume jewelry, which we would have thrown out, and she has netted $476 thus far! This is paying for the necessary materials for the permagardens.
Friends, send me your old costume jewelry. Send stuff you don't wear, or which has been sitting in a drawer for a decade, or which you inherited, etc. I will collect it and send to Bedford. (I will take expensive stuff or cash as well.)
So, empty your drawers! Tell your friends and neighbors. We can do so much with so very little!
Send it to:
David Albert, Permagardens Foundation
1717 18th Court NE
Olympia, WA 98506
You are also welcome to contact me at
360-918-3642 or at [email protected]
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from David Albert, Olympia Friends Meeting (8/3/2024)
One of our lead trainers, Laurent Wilson, works in southwest Rwanda, which has been beset with landslides and floods, and hence, with high levels of hunger/starvation. He himself is married with three kids and has also taken in five orphans. I received the following communication from him:
“Today this morning I went to the transit center, commonly known as a temporary detention center. I was with four families. Two families including the men who were arrested, and two families whose vegetables grown in their first permagardens ever were stolen.
“Before entering the center we were all asked to present our identification and leave all we had with the guards (phones, money, hand bags, food, etc.)
“Arriving there we were warmly welcomed by the center director who asked us why we came. We replied that we have people imprisoned there, accused of stealing carrots, beets and other vegetables from permagardens. He called them, we greeted each other and had enough time to talk.
“We talked about reconciliation and forgiveness. The detainees agreed to ask forgiveness and to pay back what they had stolen by doing permagardens for their neighbors when they will be allowed out of the transit center. I also informed them that it will be better if I help them to do their own permagardens. After we all agreed to these, we wrote a letter of agreement of reconciliation and forgiveness, and I presented the letter myself to the director of this institution.
“After reading it, he asked me various questions about permagardens, how we do them, where the seeds are from, and why we do not do permagardens for all people of the cell [an area of government in Rwanda, not jail cell] instead of some only to those who stole. I explained to him that first we are working with poor families that have serious issues of malnutrition and growth crises of children which is a burden to the district, and the landslides victim families of Rusizi. I told him how difficult it is to get funds to do them and showed him how some of the money is raised from flower sales in the U.S.
“He himself and the police commander were very surprised and very sad and angry for the thieves who stole vegetables from children with severe malnutrition and were found in such a difficult way.
“Finally, they agreed to release them on Monday morning after giving the reconciliation letter to the executive secretary of the Sector and his agronomist.
“We came home happy that our work is completely achieved and that on Monday we will receive our people who were imprisoned.
“I am ready to use the released prisoners to do permagardens starting next week and will help to do permagardens in their homes too. Glory be to God from now and forever.”
Update from Laurent Wilson:
“After creating a reconciliation permagarden, the man who stole vegetables embraced the woman who forgave him. He thanked her so much. [See photo above.]
“They agreed that every day in morning, noon, and evening, they will meet at this reconciliation permagarden. They will together water it when needed, weed it, and on this permagarden they will about talk about fighting against hunger, which was the cause of stealing vegetables to begin with.
“The woman who is working with the man who stole her vegetables, and the men smile and talk as they dig, and are enjoying this reconciliation work. And they have now made plans to form a savings and loan association.”