“It is pretty profound to be talking about food security here in Africa, it is very intense, so many different views, very surprising, and all so different.” Ali Shariff from Brazil

 “What was most inspiring for me today was that you can turn a desert into an Oasis, Geoff Lawton’s new movie Greening the Desert the sequel was great” Marisa Saladin from Switzerland

“If Geoff Lawton’s work was on CNN we’d had a whole different country” Patrick from USA.

And he was on Oct 7^th  http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/07/going.green.lawton.permaculture/

 “It’s all wide open, just blow it open, all the possibility for everything is just falling into place, it’s exciting and inspiring” Leigh Brown from South Africa of the SEED project out of Cape Town. www.seed.org.za

“ Open your hearts and relax your minds” Alex Kruger Of South Africa Permaculture Education Africa

“Have you seen the full moon?” Claudia from Switzerland “ Permaculture is calling….”

Today the convergence really took it up a notch when John Wilson of Zimbabwe gave the keynote address and challenged the permaculture community to abandon the ethics and use permaculture “for the unique gift that it offers as a land use tool the invisible structures are not Permaculture they only fog it all up. We should use permaculture as one of the tools at our disposal”

These comments shocked many into the realty and context that John was speaking from. In a country where a movement can be targeted by political agendas and the issue of population weighs heavy on the people, these comments sparked an instant discussion. Those of us that did not have any platform nor exposure to the scale and context started to wonder if John really understood the holistic design system that permaculture is and that the ethics are what we measure our design up to. How does our system care for the earth, the people and return the surplus to better these two.

And in the Third Ethic, the most contentious wording in Permaculture, setting limits to population, is where the opportunity lies, especially here in Africa. Here in Africa projects are funded around birth control and AIDS from countries who take no real responsibility for their consumption. As a Permaculture Community coming to the table with an ethic that is telling a culture to set limits to it’s population is in some ways no different than the western industrial culture that is sending relief aid in the form of condoms and abortion kits. The IPC is here in AFRICA and we have an enormous opportunity to re-frame this debate and come into maturity of  how we as a people can become a unified as humanity.

Ali Shariff of Brazil and Rosemary Marrow of Australia both engaged in the dynamic dialogue about these questions and suggestion put forth. Joel Glazenberg gave a awesome presentation around the curriculum that made a very good point about Permaculture’s intent of changing our perspective and how only through the inclusion of all parts of the system; visible and invisible; how we unlock the unlimited potential that natural systems possess, and create the mutual beneficial relationships that allow the cycles of the system we are designing to flourish.

Plan AFRICA took a look at how we can build a strong network within this continent around permaculture and come to terms with these issues that permaculture brings to the surface.

As the day continued, Planning Models, Vedic Agriculture practices, Peacekeeping in Liberia through Permaculture and Holistic Health added to the dynamics at how permaculture is not only a sustainable land-use plan, but includes all parts of the system. In some context, as we see in Zimbabwe, due to the political atmosphere, permaculture is more effective as a land use tool and the other parts are included through other modalities, so that Permaculture does not become a target. When diversity is expressed you cannot target any one thing and a people become that much more empowered by the tools and skills that are available to them.

The convergence broke up into theme stations taking on Education, Health and Nutrition, Green Economics, food empowerment, Chaoderic (whatever happens with those who show up) and Climate Change.  The diversity of views on these topics now had a voice and the whole convergence was just blown wide open.

Geoff Lawton along with two Jordanians, the minister of Agriculture and CARE internationals’ program director for the region then gave the first showing of Greening the Desert the sequel, in which they revisited the original GTD site and the assessment of that site, what they learned and the amazing lessons learned. The new site was exposed and the concept of the master plan taking root in the Middle East. The Bid to Host IPC10 in Jordan was put onto the table. To host it at a institute that can accommodate the IPC and the capabilities to stream it IPC live over the web and television. Cuba who is not present here at IPC9also has a bid at Host IPC10. The committee is in discussion at these two locations, and the assembly here at IPC9 will then decide on the last day.

Late into the night discussions around the lantern light about how we design our cities to our gardens and the books/ people that inspired us were shared. How we manage our personal lives with integrity, our personal permaculture. It is apparent that the IPC helps those doing Permaculture in the world, a deeper look at our profession and how to apply it.  A deep re-examine of why we do this work and where we can be most effective.

The words echoed into the still night......

We don’t have to place everything in it’s exact proper place because nature will self organize itself, we just have to set it up so that they are in relationship with each other.

People feel excluded there are those that see everything differently

It is what it is Permaculture makes room for all kinds of beliefs and spirituality to exist........