Information Evening – The Chikukwa Project

Date/Time
Date(s) - 19/05/2015
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Location
Tuggerah Hall

Categories


Guest speaker: Terry Leahy

Terry will show “The Chikukwa Project” documentary.

This film shows a project in Zimbabwe which has been going for more than 20 years. The Chikukwa villagers were experiencing terrible problems in the early nineties – hunger and poor crops, soil erosion and land degradation.
Using a permaculture approach they turned the situation around. They have restored their landscapes and created a patchwork of permaculture farms and orchards, using swales and water harvesting, with woodlots holding the soil and providing fuel for cooking. The project has been successful because it has used permaculture, has concentrated on food security rather than commercial agriculture and has been a bottom up transformation of the society and culture, rather than just an agricultural project. Now these 7,000 villagers live in a lush paradise. This project may be the biggest area on earth transformed by a permaculture strategy.

Swale planted with Vetiver grass (photo from PermacultureNews.org)

Terry has been keen on permaculture since Book One in 1978 and did his PDC in 1996 at Tyalgum. Since 2003 his research as a social scientist has been focused on food security projects in Africa. Why do these projects so often go wrong? What can be done to improve outcomes? In 2009, he published a book on South African rural poverty and land care projects – Permaculture Strategy for the South African Villages. This, along with many other writings on permaculture and African projects, is available on his website http://www.gifteconomy.org.au.  In 2013 his sister and him completed their film on the Chikukwa project. This is available on line at http://www.thechikukwaproject.com


The Chikukwa Project – a permaculture success story in Zimbabwe

An amazing story of African villagers who turned their lives around. THE CHIKUKWA PROJECT is a feel good story out of Africa. For the last 20 years an incredible permaculture project has been growing in Zimbabwe.

 

When

Tuesday, 19th May, 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start

Where

Tuggerah Hall, Anzac Road, Tuggerah, directly opposite Hungry Jacks – within easy walking distance of Tuggerah Railway Station.