Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

After spending a few weeks in Sydney and Bellingen, the ALAF crew headed north to the Far North Coast of NSW region. The focus of this section of the journey was primarily to give the Fellows the opportunity to experience first hand a variety of innovative and creative projects dealing with sustainability in peoples day-to-day lives. José Toriello shares his thoughts and feelings from the week the crew spent traveling around the beautiful far north coast region…

"The Crew" - ALAF Fellows with Wadzy, Corrina and Gabe

The Seres gang from Central America had a very stimulating experience in Australia, however my favorite part of the trip took place during our visit to Lismore and surrounding areas…

The Fellows with Charlie at the Waste and Recycling Facility

On the 18th of October we visited the Lismore Recycling Center.  Charlie, the man in charge, took us for a stroll around the whole thing.  We were impressed.  In Guatemala we are used to seeing rubbish get dumped in heaps next to the road or, in some cases, get dumped in heaps in an officially declared dump.  It was amazing to see how much can be gained simply by separating the different types of discarded ítems.  Charlie and his crew, with a budget of around AU$7 Million, make the city council around a AU$1Million in profit, by re-selling what the people of Lismore throw away.  They charge citizens for the service of picking up each household’s three bins: a green bin that contains food and plant waste which gets turned into compost and sold as fertilizer, a yellow bin with recyclables that get sorted and sold to industry that can re-use them, and a red bin that contains true waste, which until now has been piled up into heaps, but will soon be turned into energy.  Wow, I thought, 1$Million in profits from the rubbish of these 30,000 Australians.  Imagine how much could be made from collecting the waste of 15 Million Guatemalans!  Since implementing the 3 bin plan, Charlie and crew have reduced the landfill area plenty and have turned trash into gold.  Good on ya mates!

Biochar!!

Just when I thought we had seen the coolest part of Australia, we were taken to Wadzy`s house.  He greeted us, very relaxed, wearing his Green party T-shirt.  He showed us around his house , which is an example of the many elements that need to change for us to live in harmony with nature.  His front yard, which faces North, has a small aquaponics setup that uses vertically stacked pots for growing yummy things.  He showed us his straw-bale approach to gardening, as well as his grape vine that doubles as a curtain for the porch. He showed us his chooks and worm farm.  He saved the best for last when he demonstrated how to make biochar.  Before this trip I had only heard a little bit about Biochar.  Since coming back to Guatemala, I have further researched this easy technology and have to say that it’s the most exciting technology to combat climate change that I know of.  If applied to stoves, it can simultaneously serve as thermal energy, reduce deforestation, sequester CO2 and help recover degraded soil.  I truly hope to see a biochar revolution in my lifetime.  I will be further studying this matter.  Thanks for bringing this revolution to my mind Wadzy and Corrina!

We went on to visit Bodhi Farm (one of the regions oldest and most successful intentional communities).  I had been reading about intentional communities for a while now, but had never visited one before.  Gabriel Anderson, our friend and OzGreen’s go-to guy, showed us around the place where he grew up.  This place has a magical air to it.  We hiked down to the creek to look at the micro-hydro plant.  It was wonderful to see this plant in action, and meet John Seed, Bodhi Farm’s technical genius.  He explained how the system works.  It’s important to point out that their hydro plant does not stop the river, it only draws a certain amount of water into a pool that after dropping past the turbine, joins the river again. In Guatemala we have many creeks like this one.  I can imagine the country filled with this kind of eco-friendly and clean energy generators.  We have to do 1,000 of these in the next few years, we just have to!

We also visited the Rainbow Power Company.  Paul O’Reilly told us the story of how three friends, tired of not seeing solar power become available, decided to start this company back in the day (over 30 years ago), with $50 amongst the three!  Paul briefly walked us through the history of the company, up to today.  Our group had several questions regarding solar power, it’s general competitiveness when compared to other sources, it’s role nowadays, it’s potential for the post-oil world.  Paul answered all our questions, demonstrating his extensive knowledge on the subject.  He showed us many photovoltaic arrays, water heaters, and other applications of solar power such as a solar cooker and a water purifier (distiller).  I have already started emailing Paul to keep this conversation going.  I feel we have much to learn about Solar Power, and I am eager to continue learning from Paul and others, and soon be able to adopt these technologies in my home.

Inspired and full of ideas...the crew with Charlie from the recycling and waste management centre in Lismore

You can see why this was my favorite part of the trip.  We visited these three sites that are trying, and succeeding at solving the energy problems we face.  I feel compelled to make sure these clean technologies and practices are adopted in Guatemala and will spend my life trying to see things like these take place here in my country.

Thanks to Charlie, Wadzy, Gabe, John, Paul and everybody else who treated us so well in Australia, that big welcoming land.  I will forever cherish our time over there. If you ever decide to come to Guatemala, you will all be welcome in my home: I will show you around this paradox of a country.  Fare well friends, I hope to see you again someday.

Antonio - one of the two Fellows from El Salvador

Leading With the Heart is a program run by our Australian host organization OzGREEN which the Fellows participated in during their last weekend in Bellingen. The three-day workshop is a very powerful workshop, designed to get people to “lead with their heart” and take action to bring sustainability into their lives, families and communities. Our group of Fellows was joined by a diverse group of members from the local Bellingen community – bringing together a beautiful, diverse group of souls to both share their experiences and share an experience and become (as Pedro so eloquently stated) “part of the Universal family”. Antonio shares his thoughts on what for him was a very very unique experience.

The Fellows with some aunties and youth from Bellingen's Indigenous community, who joined us at Leading with The Heart

The workshop Leading with the Heart is designed for adults and aims to enable participants to vision change within themselves and then act on problems that they care about and that affect them. The first day brought in the focus for the workshop: working in couples, we asked the important questions: What are our biggest concern? What affects me personally? And what is my/our greatest hope? This helped us to better understand and frame what it is that worries us most as well as fellow participants, and what it is that we all hoped to be able to change. Afterwards, each person told the story of their lives – the good things that they had done and what they are doing right now and the things that they would like to do. This helped us to develop a deeper understanding of the passions and concerns of the fellow participants within the group. We also saw a presentation called Pulse of the Planet, which talked about the state of the planet and the environment problems as they now stand, and what lies ahead for us. The presentation was very confronting and strong, however I saw that it creates a strong impact and seeing this, many people decided that they wanted to change – to make a positive contribution and to stop bad habits that were contributing to climate change and all of the environmental problems that we face.

Afterwards, we saw a video called Four Years Go! – a short clip about a movement that showed us that we can still change the world, so that our children will enjoy the wonders of this beautiful planet. Then, in a quiet time for meditation we were encouraged to think about our leaders and think about the virtues and qualities of each one and to look at how we could make these qualities manifest within ourselves.

Taking the plunge - cooling off in the Never Never after a hard days work at LWTH

The second day we learnt about a technique called Strategic Questioning – a very effective way to create ideas and makes these ideas grow and take ownership for them. We practiced strategic questioning in groups of three – one person asking quesions, one answering and the third taking notes. The essence of the process is that the role of the person asking the questions is not to interrupt or suggest answers, but merely to listen and provide the space that allows the person being questionned to develop their own ideas – in this way giving that person a space to talk and the chance to take ownership of what they are saying.

For me, this experience was amazing because I had the opportunity to think about quesions and come up with ideas that I have never imagined that I could. It was a wonderful experience and I wish that everyone could have the chance to have this experience as well.

Fernando, Antonio and José enjoy their day off

After the Fellow’s first week in Sydney, it was time to load up the van and head north – with all anxious to experience the rest of Australia. With a short stop in Newcastle to visit the house of Emily and Gabe – to fabulous volunteers that have been responsible for making this trip come together – the group headed up to spend a week at OzGREEN’s headquarters in Bellingen. Fernando tells us more about his experience….

After a hectic week in Sydney, Emily and Gabe hosted us for a night their beautiful house –  a great dinner, some glasses of wine, a quick tour in the morning of their fantastic backyard veggie garden, then out for brekky before heading north for our next adventure…(thanks Em and Gabe!)

Working away on our "Group Strengths" session

Bellingen (rated 27th best town in Australia by an Aussie travel magazine I found out) was our next stop. We reached Bellingen’s picturesque downtown as the sun was coming down, made a pit stop for some goodies and headed to Col and Sue Lennox’ house (the co-founders of OzGREEN) where Col was waiting to meet the whole gang and settle us into the solar powered carvan where stayed for the whole week – awesome!

On Saturday morning we went in to town to meet Joe Walker – a local who had helped organise a few local visits. Our first stop was to a beautiful community where we saw some amazing bamboo construction (local and sustainable), including a house over 25 years old that still looks amazing and were hosted to an incredible morning tea where we discovered mulberries! Our next stop was the Bellingen Farmer’s Market. Of course this markets differ in the colors and variety of those in Central America, but the quality of the produce is superb. Following this, we visited an amazing urban house that has all of its space – backyard, front yard and pool – dedicated to food production. Our day finished with an invitation to join the local permaculture group for a potluck at Dave’s place where we got to meet some more locals, and a fantastic talk and slideshow with from renowned permaculturist Rosemary Morrow who shared the amazing permaculture projects that she has been working on in impoverished communities around the world.On Sunday, we (finally) had a day off and headed down to the beach for an amazing day swimming, surfing and fishing. I caught my first Australian fish and we finished the day watching a beatiful sunset overlooking the Bellinger river and  the Dorrigo mountains.

The next day we scheduled an office day to continue working on Yoth Leading the World in Central America, and to have a workshop (facilitated by Sue Lennox) to help us bring out our virtues and capabilities as a group. On the way back Sue made a stop on the Never Never river where three of us – Jose, Antonio and myself – jumped from the bridge in to the clear and cool water. It was amazing! Since that day we made it a routine to stop at the Never Never river to jump and cool down.

Enjoying the lushness of Bellingen's Community Garden

The following two days were all about being outdoors and permaculture. Col Lennox and his youngest son Wade had organized the activites for the group.  Tuesday morning we had a brief intro to Permaculture then a tour around Wade’s and Col’s productive gardens: tomatoes, strawberries, bananas, papayas, spinach, eggplant, nectarines and zuchinnis. We stopped by the dam for a quick cool-off, then spent the afternoon working on permaculture designs for our own houses.

On Wednesday morning we went up to the Dorrigo national park, taking in amazing views from the top of the mountains down to the ocean and bushwalking to an incredible waterfall. Throughout the walk we learned about native plants and flowers, and about the fig tree and its effective evolutionary strategy. When we finally arrived at the waterfall, we took a refreshing dip (brrrr), then hiked back up for a picnic and frisbee. For some in the group, it was the first time that they had ever seen such pristine rainforest and clear, unpolluted water – a stark wake-up call for all.

On Thursday, after spending some more time working on Youth Leading the World we headed out to learn about Biodynamics – a process dedicated to producing “magical” fertilizer!  The production process involves energizing the water through centrifugal flow then adding an array of flower extracts and cow manure that is buried inside a skull for 6 months. It was an interesting and new technique for the group as we have never seen or heard of anything like this. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t see any tangible results of gardens using biodynamics to not for long – next stop, an amazing community garden in urban Bellingen. The idea  is to make available free fresh produce for anyone that wants to harvest, and people can volunteer time to work on the garden if the want – so many ideas brewing to take home….

Friday through to Sunday we had a Leading With The Heart workshop facilitated by Sue Lennox. The workshop is a process that takes you through a journey to listen to our hearts with techniques including meditation sessions, strategic questioning and story telling. It was a great experience and a great opportunity for the participants to express their deep filling and worries to others, and it was very rewarding to listen the stories of the rest of the group.

In between sessions of Leading With The Heart we had a very special visit to a sacred tree – we were invited by the local aboriginal elders to go and meet the tree, so two aboriginal elder women took us to see this sacred fig. When we arrived we saw a beautiful fig tree, tucked behind a house overlooking the Bellinger river. It had inmense branches that stretch more than 35mts on each side and the energy of the tree was felt all around. We all had several minutes of silence to embrace the tree, walk and clamber around her big roots and hug the massive trunk, then we listened as the elders shared the story behind the tree. It was a very special, sacred moment.

Hanging out in the Lennox veggie garden

I really enjoyed the days that we stayed at Bellingen. Sue and Col Lennox open their house to us and were excellent hosts and we were able to learn alot from their alternative way of living and from the people that we met. I like the natural topography that surrounds the Bellingen valley…exploring its rivers and mountains was so satisfying. We me many interesting perople that have taught to us to live more sustainable, and I would like to thank everyone that was involved in making it such an action-packed, interesting and enjoyable week.

Fernando

Brainstorming with youth lead facilitators from across Australia

At the beginning of this month, 4 Guatemalans and 2 Salvadorians arrived in Sydney to start the Climate Change Resilience Leadership program that is being sponsored by AusAID’s Australian Youth Leadership Awards Fellowship (ALAF). Tired yet excited, the planned activities kicked-off in Parramatta with a one-week training program for young people from across Australia and around the globe who would all be taking part in facilitating the multi-locational Youth Leading the World congresses in November this year. We have asked Pedro Rodriguez – one of the ALAF Fellows – to share with us his thoughts and experiences on his first impressions in Australia, with OzGREEN and with Youth Leading the World…

Antonio (El Salvador) with Abraham (Camaroon) - facilitators for Youth Leading the World 2011

The experience was fantastic! We had the opportunity to meet people from several countries and various locations in Australia including Tasmania, Queensland, Darwin and Bellingen as well as Cameroon and Malaysia. This has been a great experience because we have come together to create a circle of people that cross the barriers of language, culture, borders and other beliefs – coming together in the spirit of saving the mother who holds us and feeds us.

We learned important techniques for questioning and strategies to allow us to envision clearly our biggest challenges and threats, but beyond this to also look within ourselves for alternative solutions… solutions that are perfectly possible. We learnt processes to help us define what are the goals, what is our role and how and where to start the changes that are necessary to achieve these goals. It was a program with games and activities that unite us as members of a family that I call the planetary family, reminding us that we are not alone and although there is much to do there are many hands to do it.

We enjoyed a very pleasant atmosphere in a scout camp where we woke up everyday listening to a variety of birds singing, all in many different colors, shining brilliantly before our eyes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner plus two breaks for teatime was a positive culture shock thanks to the dedication and creativity of our Natural Chef Amie who with a rainbow of organic flavors and a party of aromas seducing the palate reminded us that there are ways to eat nutritiously without sacrifices. Her fully vegetarian menu gave us the energy we needed throughout the week and the hardest part was always not to go back for seconds – yum yum!

The completion of this facilitator training has enriched our spirit as well as our knowledge. Many of us where touched in our intimate fibers to meet like-minded people sharing a common purpose, who understand we are dealing with issues that concern us all globally but that only some of us are aware of it. Thank you all for the beautiful company and for opening your hearts and sharing not only your concerns but also your visions of a sustainable future filled with peace, harmony and freedom.

Gracias,

Pedro

All together - youth lead facilitators from around Australia and across the world!