Vigyan Ashram
March, 2007

Vidgyan Ashram is a school outside of Pune in the village called Pabal. “Vigyan” means ‘Search of Truth’ and “Ashram” symbolises ‘Simple living and High thinking for us, a organization where all are equal. Started in 1983 by the late Dr. Kalbag, his wife, Amma, is still there teaching today. She welcomed me to Vigyan Ashram after it was recommended by a friend from Mumbai. The school uses a radically different approach than the traditional, classroom style of Western education. Instead, it relies upon hands-on learning as the foundation for progress and understanding. The students who attend are "drop-outs" i.e. those who have been pushed out of the educational system (80% by the 10th grade). While here, the students grow food, poultry, build housing (including all buildings on the campus), furniture, and create their own innovations. They also conduct water well prospecting and have a M.I.T.-sponsored computer technology laboratory. When I was there, they were working on building a pedal-powered charger for flourescent light bulbs so that local village homes can have a few hours of light each day. Currently, there are 8-10 hour blackouts during the day due to the electrical drain of the IT industry from surrounding cities of Pune and Mumbai.

Back in the States!

I can't believe it. Six months truely flew by in what seemed like the blink of an eye, now that I'm back at the comfort of my home. I wanted to document some of the things I'll miss and not miss about India. I'm compelled to do this after having a conversation with someone about the foreigners who visit India and how they tend to idealize their visit (amazing trip, wow, yeah, I'll definitely be back, etc. etc.) Even if they don't particularly enjoy the place, they may only report or remember the good parts so as not to be disappointed with their trip (to themselves or others). Looking over some blog entries, perhaps I did idealize this trip in the reporting of it. Naturally, I was more compelled to write about the good than the bad. But in all honestly, there was very little bad. It was a wonderful trip because of the people I met along the way and the extreme hospitality they showed at every bend. There are the sleezeballs that are unfortunately present everywhere but they were by far the minority leaving me and my excessive baggage to safely wander along.

Things I'll miss:
-the amazingly warm, welcoming, and beautiful people, the friends I've made
-the beautiful trees, plant life, rivers, and surroundings
-how Hindus reverse the pronounciation of V's and W's (my name is Rainbow Wogt and we go to the willage)
-the traditional and classical music, how much singing ther is
-the food- sooooooo simple, soo good. The fruit! What will I do without my beloved chikoo, amla, and ramful?!
-the simplicity and slow pace of life in general
-cows in the streets and the general non-violent reverence for animals
-the question: "What's your good name?"
-dancing to the drum beats and percussion musicians that bless all celebrations
-learning the cultural characteristics and beliefs like: sweeping after dusk is bad luck, covering your ears prevents sickness, no raw foods when sick
-my dupata and kurta-- i not only developed a feeling of great comfort in my scarf and long shirt but an appreciation of how it's part of every woman's daily attire concealing the breasts and bum, which feel so objectified here
-local bananas, coconuts, street barbers, street food, street everything!
-cute phrases like how everybody says "less of" than fewer of even "very less of"
-the cultural worship of water

Things I won't miss:
-public urination-- very public: on the street, the road, on the side of a building
-bollywood/radio music that apparently comes with a minimum decible level
-public buses- the most the bumpiest, dirtiest, and crowded places I've been in India. There are rails on the back of seats that I learned were for holding on when you're practically thrown out of your seek.
-lack of municipal recycling-- why, petroleum industry, must you pollute our lands with this plastic rubbish and then not take responsibility?!
-scams-- those crafty individuals who have figured out how to scam travelers like over-charging for bad bus rides
-sexism and pushiness-- how some men ignore women and some others fondle them
-dinner at 10PM
-constantly honking horns
-customer service-- more like customer NOT service

All of that being said, I won't fret too much about missing or not missing, as I fully intend to return! Though I'm being honest about the less favorable aspects (as there are anywhere), the strongest feeling I leave India with is a tremendously deep sense of gratitude for all of the people and places that made this experience so special. Thank you!

I'm back in Dharamsala, where they recently celebrated the Tibetan New Year Celebration: Losar. Happy Losar! I came up here from Chandigarh (a city ~300 km south), where I lived in the Nek Chand rock garden in Chandigarh for 5 days with about 40 others for a Zero Waste Conference. The garden is composed entirely of industrial waste materials. Most of the other participants were from here and are active in sustainability projects throughout India. For example, one person I met works with hotels and institutions to reduce their waste production. With buildings to fill with all the biomass, the methane is trapped and piped to the kitchen to use for cooking. The hosting organization Seva ("selfless sevice"), provides alternative education free of cost and is totally volunteer-based. One of their members, Kush, teaches children math by intricate methods of oragami and paper folding. So, Seva hosted a gathering to make creative things out of rubbish and to strategize on waste reduction & management. It was great! Together, we prepared, cooked, and ate three vegan meals each day. We had workshops on making baskets, jewelry, cases, and furniture out of paper, scraps, and rubber. We danced, debated, sang,and slept piled on top of each other, Indian style. This is a picture of a group making cocnut shell jewelry. And another of Gyandev, who I accidentally called bastard instead of God of Knowledge by mis-prouncing his name. He is dressed up for an event we held with the public to raise awareness about zero waste. Here are more photos of the event.
From there, I met up with a few friends from Delhi in Dharamsala. I wanted to write again about it because it is a place with such feeling. The day after tomorrow, I will attend a teaching of the Dalai Lama at the main temple here which I will use a radio to listen to a translation (given in Tibetan). There is chanting echoing about the mountains accompanying the rain and thunder we're getting today.
Last night, a conversation with an Tibetan named Lutz who has been here for about ten years and talked about the Chinese occupation in Tibet. The entire region is militarized and it is impossible to talk freely in the public. In addition to systemmatically erasing their culture, China is also exploiting the natural resourses there. It is a region very rich in natural resources and China has been mining these since they arrived in 50 years ago using Tibetan prisoner labor. Then, I came across this interesting article today discussing the same issue. Check it out here. Also, check out the Mount Everest Campaignregarding the recent inprisonment of Tibetans crossing the moutains to come to India.
Anyway, despite all of this, the Tibetans I've met have such peace about them and truely live out their leaders messages. When I saw the venerable Samdong Rinpoche (first elected prime minister of Tibet in exile) speak, he said that only when Tibetans have no hatred or anger, but only compassion for the Chinese government, will freedom return to Tibet.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to New Year's Dinner:

I spent the holidays in Chennai, a city in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. There, I stayed with family friends who also live part time in Connecticut down the street from us. Originally, I thought I might be in Chennai for long enough to do some volunteer work. My friend Aparna's family runs an organization that does disaster relief and various related projects. Though I didn't end up being in Chennai for long, they invited me to New Year's dinner. Address in hand, I arrived in the trusty auto where my host was on the porch inviting me in. I was welcomed by his son and daughter, both of whom were married to foreigners (one from Chicago, one from Denmark). Before long, I was brought a plate of delicious food. I asked Aparna's aunt, Usha, about her work but she said she didn't much feel like talking about it. So, we discussed other topics. When we started talking about Aparna, it became clear that something was not right. They have a niece in the states named Aparna but she lives in Texas and is a doctor. My Aparna lives in Montana and is an lawyer. Hmmm. Then, it turns about that my hostess' name was Uma, not Usha. I was at the wrong place-- Usha lived a couple doors down! So, with good blessings, they sent me on my way to Usha's along with my box of sweets I brought. I arrived at Usha's just in time for their New Year's dinner. First we served the wise elders. Then, we sat at ate delicious festival foods, made all the more enjoyable by eating with our hands. After dinner, we had coffee, sweets, and continued to laugh about the blunder I made. What an amazing place where people invite strangers into their home and feed them. Only in India would this have ever happened.

Kanniyakumari- the tip of the mother land!
January, 2007

From paradise (i.e. Eternity Beach), I traveled south to the very tip of India, at the meeting of the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. This place carries great spiritual significance and so is a pilgrimmage site for many many Indians. Sunrise and sunset are particularly significant times of the day. I took these picture early one morning on one of the quieter stretches of this blustery coast.
From the Vivekananda Kendra Ashram, I walked through a few coconut groves and arrived at a small fishing village, where fisherman were preparing to go out on boats and a few devotees were knee deep in the water and fully emersed in puja (prayer).

I finally visited the great Taj Mahal. Sike! I didn't care to get caught in this tourist trap celebrating a ruler who had this monument built for one of his wives and then had all the laborers killed. But I thought I'd throw a pic up on here for good measure, care of Karly.

Eternity Beach
Auroville
January, 2007
Wooo hooo!!! Happy new year, indeed. I've arrived! I know I say every place is amazing, and this is one is no different. In this community for human unity started in 1968, I am staying with a wonderful couple- Anna from Norway and Uval from Israel- who have lived here for the last 20 years during which time they created Etermity Beach. They raised a family of five children and now have four grandchildren. There are a few guest houses on their property, including one which has a kitchen on the first floor and a bedroom loft on the second floor with a grass thatched roof. This is where I sleep, drifting off to the sounds of animals all around and the waves of the Bay of Bengal lapping on the shore.

This area is basically a desert from which Aurovillians have created cool forests, farms (vegetable, spirulina, orchards, etc), schools (very free spirited, kind of a mix of home and community schooling), healing centers (where I had a great chanting session), and much more. This makes it easy to buy all kinds of locally produced goods like soap, candles, clothes, and even kambucha! It's like a permanent Burning Man. The community has about 1800 people with the capacity to grow into 15,000. It's paradise here this time of year and probably even more so during mango season (April/May). But then comes the hot, hot, humid summer. The community is made up of Indians (from the north and south) but there are lots of white people too-- many from Europe (especially France, who colonized the nearby city of Pondicherry). Local Tamil villages also overlap with much of the area, to create an interesting mix of cultural flavors. It's the first place in India where tank tops are acceptable. Phew!

Auroville is pretty spread out and even with a bicycle, it takes a while to get around. So, I've been riding around on a moped. What great fun and oh, the adventures to be had! The first time I took it out, it made it about 10 KM away and then broke down every 20 yards. I dropped it off to have it repaired (which ended up costing a whooping 75 rupees) and took a loaner, which had no gas. So, I stop on the side of the road to ask, "Where is the closest petrol station?" And this man responds, "How much do you need?" In a few minutes, he returns with an old Brandy bottle full of petrol and oil (which they mix with the petrol here). Excellent!

McLeod Ganj is a small town above Dharamsala and the dwelling of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, AKA HH.
Getting up here to Dharamsala was a trip-- it was my first long trip on a public bus. And by public, I mean unhygenic and over-crowded. on other trips so far, i have taken "tourist buses," which are niether clean nor comfortable (what bus is after 10 hours?) but you have a seat and space for your luggage. the public bus i took from Dehradun to Dharamsala was supposed to be a 13 hour ride. fortunately, i befriended a few tibetan high school students going home for a week vacation. there are tibetan settlements sprinkled around the mountains near Dharamsala. from Dehradun, we drove to Chandigarh, a city about half way there. one the way, i sat between a window and man, who occasionally groped my leg. a young guy got on the bus about half way there and proceeded to open the window next to me, lie across me and my molester friend and wretch out the window. he did the repeatedly over the next 2 hours. from 2AM-5AM, we sat out in the cold in this filthy filthy station that had the stinkiest bathroom i have ever been in, ever. we decided to catch a bus from a different station. to obtain tickets, one had to dive into a writhing crowd around a table (i never saw the center of the table though i assume it was a man with tickets) with arms waving money to purchase seats on the bus. two of the tibetans made their way through and got us seats. then we went to the platform and every time a bus drove up, they ran out to see if it was ours. and we still missed the bus. they put us on another bus but we had lost our seats. so we stood up for the first 3 hours of the 5 hour trip. then we were given the very slightest edge of a seat to perch on. as we ascended the mountains, people kept getting on even though there was no room in the bus in the first place. so at one point, i was sitting with one cheek on the seat, one off, with my knees raming onto a bar in front of me. and there was not another inch to be had. sometimes we'd hit a bump and it would throw everybody out of position given me an opportunity to negotiate another inch. in front of me, i watched a young girl amuse herself by pulling gum out of her mom's mouth, which then stuck to her jacket. she tried to eat it off with little success.

But then we got here and it's ssooooo nice, tucked up here in the mountains. Dharamsala was given to the tibetans because it was undesireable land-- steep land far in the mountains that cannot easily be cultivated. it's much like many of the hill stations built in the mountains, that were summer vacation towns for the british. but it is on a fault and experienced a severe earthquake a while back. and, as i now understand, it's very difficult to reach. the roads are incredibly steep and are poorly maintained (this is a picture of my taxi with bald tires that was unable to climb the mountains without assistance). the indian government discriminates against tibet in this respect and such treatment extends to the population as well. my friend from the bus station, Phuntsok, explained that he is planning to go to college in the US because he is tired of such treatment. even at the station, someone asked if he was chinese, in a rude manner.
i feel so fortunate for the experiences i have had with this group of wonderful, peaceful people. if i had not had the assistance of my tibetan friends, i don't think i would've made it out of that filthy station in chandigarh.

I visited the main temple today, where HH gives his teachings.
i cannot really describe these breathtaking places that overtake my senses with the most beautiful, intricate paintings and statues of dieties and bodhisattvas. there is great ritual around these places and they act to preserve the tibetan buddhist culture. there are shelves with small, wrapped packages containing the sutras written in sanskrit, passed down from the buddha. he was an indian prince whose parents were told at birth, that he would be either a great king or spiritual leader. because the king wanted his son to be a king, he sheltered his son and this ultimately caused his son to seek out the truthes of life. i saw one statue i'd never seen before, of the buddha as a skeleton with skin stretch over him and the veins protruding from his body. this is a statue of him after he meditated for five years, waiting for enlightenment.

the walks through the forests in the mountains behind mcleod ganj are amazing. once off the road and away from the exhaust fumes that plague every town-- small and large alike-- the mountain paths are pure tranquility. one led me around the mountain to a village that farms on the steep slops using terraces. sheep and their young grazed on the young green grass. small plots on the terrace below held thriving herb gardens with cilantro. a friendly pup who accompanied on my walk attempted to grab a little sheep's neck and was quickly shooed away by the nearby hearders. From this mountainside I saw some of the most breath taking sunsets of my life.

I also visited the Norbulingka Institute, a beautiful school/craft center for tibetan refugees outside of Dharamsala. i went with a friend from the farm course who has a tibetan store in seattle and is married to a tibetan. there, they practice traditional tibetan crafts like textiles and wood painting and carving. i met a 20-year old who studies language there. the rest of his family is in tibet. when i asked him how he got to the school, he told me he walked for 28 days. In the last couple weeks, there was a news story of shooting at the tibetan/indian border-- chinese officers shot and killed two tibetans trying to get to india. it reached the news because a couple of tourist hikers happen to see it and photographed it.

Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas
SIDH School
Mussouri, Uttaranchal, India

SIDH school was started by a couple, who came to the Himalayas in the 1980's. There was a need for schools because there were not yet government schools there. A few years after starting village schools, they asked the parents for feedback. The parents said the result of education had had an overall negative effect. Their children no longer valued the village life, wanted to leave to get jobs though they could not get them and did not have skills for a livelihood. So, they have changed their educational strategy to emphasize both academics and life skills, based on the Ghandian concept of education. Now, government schools have come an the schools originally started by SIDH are now running independently. On site, they have programs for village children to come for 6-day stays during which they sing, play music, and learn traditional crafts. Next year, they will start a program to expose urban high school graduates to sustainable careers and lifestyles.
There, I met a graduate student from Cornell, who has worked with SIDH for ten years. Her project examines the recent formation of Uttaranchal state and the various educational methods used there ranging from SIDH schools, other village schools, and government schools.
I also met Raj Kananai, who is starting a program to bring Indians raised in the US to Indai and introduce them to a range of social organizations and causes here. Check out his blog and recent post on Coca-Cola.

Retreat with Satish Kumar- read a description of the retreat here
Sanskriti Kendra
Viveka Foundation
November 18-20, 2006

Satish Kumar, is the editor or Resurgence Magazine and in addition to teaching around the world, teaches at Schumaker College in England. He joined the Jain monkhood at the age of nine and left it at twenty to become a follower of Ghandi (who subscribed to no religion and therefore was inconsistent with Jainism). A few decades ago, he walked 6,000 miles without any money through the middle east, Russia, Europe, and the US to protest nuclear arms. He is a ghandian scholar though he has never attended one day of schooling.

Each morning, Satishji led a meditation that took place outside, under a wooden structure, where we sat in a circle on wooden mats.

Meditation:
·Bow to the great spirit and give thanks
·Shant OM (AUM) three times
·There are two kinds of movement in the body: the breath and the mindà harmonize
·The breath which sustains you sustains all life
·In meditation, we connect with the breath of life
·Gaiya in Greek is earth. In Sanskrit, it means universe. Gita means song.
·Life and the universe is a song in fluid motion, constantly changing
·Shanty means peace
·Say peace three times for peace in myself, peace in the world, and peace in the universe
·OM (AUM) SHANTI SHANT SHANTI
·Bow to the great spirit and give thanks

A workshop for the purpose of revujenating the self for those who do social work.

Prejudice of Ownership

Satishji opened by discussing the nature of social work. Work to help others. But actually social work to help yourself. We have a prejudice of ownership such that those who are "trying to help" are imprisoned by ownership of nature.

Separation= I know, I have, I will give

He discussed the nature of relating. All things have a relationship. Without a relationship, there is fear, anger, and other negative emotions.

Relationship= spiritual practice, sharing
·Become free by giving up ownership; this is not work, it is a way of life
·Giver and receiver is the same
·No end purpose, just BE
·The oppressed will not be liberatred until oppression is liberated
·We are imprisoned by idealism

Everything is a Process
·The moment you are fixed, you are no longer gaiya
·In a relationship, everything is there and you will respond appropriately by listening to your inner voice
·Swim with the current
·Use courage to release crativity within
·Undaming the flow of life
·A protest is action without goal of achievement, unattached to outcome
·Face the problem, there are no solutions
·It's all just a process

Vinoba traveled through India taking donations of land for the poor, landless. He worked with everyone (rich and poor-- nobody is a bad guy), equally and without discrimination.

Swadharma= your own dharma
·cultivate seeds, flowers, and fruits in our beings garden
·weed out the fear, greed, etc.

Dooka=pain; first noble truth
·when we understand how we brought pain to ourselves, we can deal with it
·whatever brought the pain is the cause of pain

Satya Graha= insistence on truth; civil disobedience
·must be practiced by someone living a balanced, pure life
·inclusive by spiritual obedience

Soul= dynamic composition; invisitable, constantly changing with continuity, individualized by universal

The 3 Concepts: SOIL, SOUL AND SOCIETY

Seeks answers and they will come
Find your switch
Maintain awareness to stay on the path

Definitions:
Dillusion- work of the mind
Enlightenment- is beyond the mind, includes the entire universe
Dharma- what holds us, what sustains us; patience has the same root
Bhakti- devotion
Violence- violating with dominating control; engage in struggle with violence world
Anekant- not one truth
Saduad- not the whole truth because language is dualistic; the moment a truth is spoken, something is lost by the very process of verbalizing it
Educare- to bring out
Transcendence- beyond the sphere of intellect

Recommended reading:
"Talks on the Gita" by Vinoba

International Conference on Living Rivers
December, 2007
Delhi, India

The International Conference on Living Rivers
This
was a joint meeting between the US organization of the Seed Keepers Alliance
of the US and a number of organization and individuals working on water
conservation in India. The central theme of this conference can be
described using the phrase: "Jal, Janjal, Jameen," which refers to the indigenous understanding that Water, Forest, and Land are inextricably linked.

The Ganga
The conference started with a documentary about the state of the Ganga, one of the most holy and polluted rivers in the world. It described an initiative one of the oldest known cities of Varanasi (formerly Benares), a site of pilgrimage and confluence of the Ganga with two other rivers. Pilgrims traditionally take a dip in the Ganga for the healing properties of the holy water. This body of water is also used to cremate corpses in a traditional method using logs as a raft on which the body burns as it floats down the river. I have spoken to two people who have taken a dip despite the high counts of e.coli and expressed that the healing effect overpowered that of any waterborne bacteria. Last night, a friend was explaining how the silt is thigh-high but when it settles, the water is crystal clear.
In response to the pollution of the river, the local community developed the Ganga action plan, consisting of low-technology filtration mechanism to address 30 point source pollution points. Unfortunately, the Indian government did not approve this plan and favored a high-technology electricity-based filtration system instead. The pollution has not yet improved.


Rajasthan
Rajendra Singh, an Ayurvedic doctor, has been working successfully to restore traditional water harvesting in Rajasthan,
the second largest state in India, much of which is composed of
dessert. Historically, this was never considered a drought region
because the culture has evolved to appreciate and conserve every drop
of water the falls in the region. There are hundreds of words to
describe different types of clouds, rain, and other water-related
phenomena because of how highly water is regarded here. The
architecture of the houses are traditionally integral to water
conservation, including small shell-like devices used to trap every
last drop. Many of these traditional methods have fallen out of
practice and are now being rejuvenated by Dr. Singh, afterdamming projects, chemical farming, and pollution has exploited the water ways for the last 30 years. The root cause of these problems is the commodification of water at the central level.
The Araguari
River was the first to be revived. It happened with the cooperation of
72 villages, all of whom agreed to have only open wells. They also
agreed not to plant any water intensive crops. The benefits of the revival extended to the communities as well. The women of these villages used to wear parda, the face covering. After their participation was sought in the process of liberating the Araguari, many of these women have also become liberated and no longer wear the parda.


Arunchal Pradesh
Shalabh Gahlaat runs Kayak India, a company that gives guided tours down the Bramaputri, located in north-east India. The Bramaputri (which means Brama's
son), originates in the mountains of China, flows down to India, and
has some of the largest potential for hydro-electric power in this
Asian sub-continent (see pics here). It is being targeted fordaming projects for this
reason but so far, no building has taken place for two main reasons.
One is the geography of the area prevents easy access to the area and a
solid transportation infrastructure has not been built (it's necessary
to travel to this area by plane rather than train or bus). It is also
because there is political strife in this area. The Indian Communist or
Naxalite
movement emerged from this area in the 70's and the struggle continues
today. These two aspects have the fortunate outcome of conserving
tribal culture and biodiversity. Thecommunities here are both forest-dwelling and laborers in tea plantations. One community Shalabh
described is a nomadic tribe that moves to a different area of the
forest every 5 years that let the forest re-grow. The methods of forest
and jungle ecological preservation and indigenousfarming methods pre
-date the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) and are intact today.
More that 1500 medicinal plants are used by
these tribes. There is little in the way of
politics herebecause people (about 10 lakh in the region) live peacefully in the forest. Many matriarchal cultures are found here and Shalabh told us about a tradition that is practiced three years after a marriage in which the groom's family is invited to the bride's village for a feast to give the gift of seeds.
However, the threat of dam building is ever-present. To prevent building here, Shalabh
explained that the area needs to be designed a Asian Development Bank and
World Bank need to be told by the global community that destroying rivers and livelihoods for the sake of development is unacceptable.

India Social Forum

The India Social Forum grew out of the World Social Forum, an annual meeting held by members of the anti-globalisationmovement to coordinate world campaigns, share and refine organizing strategies, and inform each other about movements from around the world and their issues. Both meeting have a rotating location and the ISF was held in Delhi this year, after being hosted in Mumbai last year. The next World Social Forum meeting is set in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of Jan 2007.
Attended by approximately ten thousand people from around India, this five day event had a program packed with presentations, events, and performances covering a range of social-political-cultural areas. Some examples were Dalit (lower caste) rights, women's empowerment, children's access to food and education, and water rights, to name a few.
Many of the talks were in Hindi or another Indian language, but one of the talks that was well-translated was a series of reports given by women from around India. The topic was globalization and women's empowerment. One woman from the mineral-rich Menali region reported about the current trend to use child labor-- particularly young girls--- to mine iron ore. The current demand for iron ore comes from China, where construction of stadiums for the Olympic games is taking place. Families that lack money and resources often send girls to work before boy children. In response to concerns about education, portable schools are set up near mining sites but these schools are poorly staff, under-funded, and irregularly attended. Far more resources are put into the transporting the iron ore out of the mining sites by helicopter.
Another story came from Karnataka state, on the central-west coast of India. Many of the villages in this coastal region are somewhat isolated because of the geography of the region. The so-called "back waters" are areas reached by taking boats through the complex, winding, waterways of the canal system. These villages practice subsistence faming and have been relatively self-sufficient until recently, upon the introduction of liquor. Liquor stores wreak havoc on the villagers, by creating a drain of the local economy and a dependence on this addictive poison. When women have organized to prevent liquor stores from coming the community, they are wounded and killed by the local police, who have been paid off by liquor companies to allow building the stores.
Another story was about micro-credit programs provided to women in Tamil Nadu, the south-eastern state of India. There has been a lot of discussion of the potential of micro-credit programs in India lately, which are programs that provide small loans to village women for entrepreneurial purposes. In Tamil Nadu, this money used to be taken only by women who had projects that would benefit by having investment money. Now, men can take loans and the burden on the family is greater due to repayment problems. Further, the loans obtained by women for projects are often instead by taken the men.

Forum for the Powerless
December, 2007
Delhi, India

This conference was hosted by Tehelka, an Indian socialist publication. Here are a few notes on the topics of farmer suicides:

Currently, there is an agrarian crisis in India. The highest rate of suicide is in the most industrialized agricultural areas (e.g. Punja and Maharashtra).

An 8-member panel discussed some of the causes for farmer suicides:

·The rising cost of inputs and decreasing market price
Due to subsidized imports (from the US) and market consolidation (a few huge buyers), farmers have little choice about who to sell to and when to sell. This means that they are unable to repay the loans they've taken out to purchase high-cost inputs like GMO seeds, fertilizers, and equipment. Farmers are pressured to buy these inputs and then are humiliated by money lenders when they are unable to repay them.
·More crop failures due to pests and drought and no crop insurance
·India has decreased overall investment in agriculture and support over the last 20 years

The panel referred to US subsidies as impossible to compete with. The US model of subsidies was suggested as a solution to India, failing to note that following this model will promote industrialized agriculture. One scientist on the panel spoke on the importance of converting agriculture to ecological principles.

One of the panel speakers was a Pepsi Company representative who was there to tout their contract farming programs in Punjab, an agricultural area with some of the highest cancer rates in the country.

Segundrabad is a small, primarily Muslim town surrounded by rural villages about 40 km southeast of Delhi. Karly and I took a rickety bus ride there one Friday morning with a co-worker from Navdanya. He works in Delhi during the week and returns to his family home on most weekends. The Payal homestead is located in a small village, which we reached by taking a taxi from the bus stop through the market (where many services were provided including bike repair, cotton processing, weaving, building, weighing of various materials like huge bundles of cardboard, etc), and past vegetable fields. Cauliflower (phool golbi in Hindi) is a popular ingredient here although broccoli is hardly seen. The village has a population of about 2000, housed in either thatched grass huts or gated homes with yards for buffalo and houses made from concrete. The two different types of households represent the two castes of the community- the laborers and the land owners. The buffalo are huge, gentle, creatures present throughout the village at at homes. The buffalo area of the home is sectioned off by a gate, but is integral to the household. There is a feeding trough on the sides along the fence and a small canal that for water and urine runoff. The buffalo supply the family with more than enough fresh milk doodh in Hindi) each day. Throughout the village are areas where cow dung is fashioned into neat cakes that are a mixture of dung and straw and serve as cooking fuel.
After passing through the second gate, leading to the house, we met Rajiv's mother, wife, son, brother, brother's wife, and two nephews. Soon after, his father arrived, who also works in Delhi during the week. In this patriarchal community, men stay with their families and daughters move to their husbands family's home (there are also matriarchal communities though fewer and located in north-east and southern India). The Payals have farm land on which they grow the cash crops of rice and sugarcane. It is rice harvest season and we headed out to the fields to check it out. One the way, I asked if they farm organically. Rajiv said they use some fertilizers and GMO> seeds because the yield is higher, though they have never tested this assumption by comparing it with organic yields. The larger structure of crop buyers does not generally encourage this type of experimentation. Field workers were out harvesting rice using a systematic method of bunching paddi (rice) for later removal of the grain. There are ancient festivals and rituals associated with the rice harvest. Surrounding the fields are bunds, traditional ditches that are reinforced for irrigation. The ground wells provide water for the crops and is also the source of the village water.
Back at the village, we made the village rounds, visiting Rajiv's aunts and uncles (family friends), who served us up chai and many ceremoniously brought out the wedding album for us to admire. Though we didn't speak the same language, we communicated with smiles and warm regards.
For dinner, we had a thali (plate with dal, rice, chapati, and veg dish) similar to what we'd had elsewhere-- this chapati was maiz-based instead of flour-based, a bit heavier but equally tastey>. The food was generally a lot spicier here. As night fell, all of the family gathered around and lounged outside on the back porch in the peace and quite of the village night. The family conversed and laughed. Karly and I dozed restfully and finished off the night with a glass of sweet, warm doodh. Oh, so good!
In the morning, (Mom, stop reading here), Rajiv and his friend (he calls him his cousin-brother) took Karly on motor bike rides to the nearby hydroelectric dam, where there is a confluence of three great rivers, one of which is the Ganges-- mother Ganga. Before leaving, I collected some neem leaves from the large neem tree in their yard. Neem is a highly regarded tree here, whose leaves and bark are used medicinally and culturally for diverse purposes ranging from skin disorders to fertility rituals. Don't worry, my interest is in the medicinal value for the skin!

Nainital
Ahhhhhhhhhhh, Nainital, the first mountain town I visited. I boarded a bus at the main Delhi bus station at 9PM and settled in for a long ride. Though Nainital is a mere 300 KM away from Delhi, it's a long way up the mountains and our arrival time was scheduled for 9AM.
Bus drivers here have a little team up front with them. One of the team members hangs outside of the door and yells the names of the destination town and signals for the bus to stop should someone want to get on. And by stop, I mean slow down, as passengers hop on and off.
We made our way through Old Delhi, AKA the walled city, and up towards the Himalayas. I slept well through the night, waking up occasionally to observe steep drop-offs outside of the window and hectic traffic scenes in the towns. I felt very fortunate that the bus driver had his team with him because it looked like one foul move would send us to into a pitch black abyss, never to return.
In the morning, I woke up when we driving through Haldwani, the closest city, where the market was bustling, two days before Diwali. Traveling along the main drag, the bus man hanging out the door called out Nainital, Nainital, Nainital, Nainital in a slight crescendo. Outside of Haldwani, the tree cover became thicker and little monkeys swinging about invited us to climb the mountain. To bring us up to Nainital, we followed a narrow, winding, steep road. After 15 hours on the bathroomless bus, we arrived at the center of the Nainital, perched right next to a lake. People wore hats and hoodies to insulate them from the brisk lake breeze. This was a welcome change coming from hot, damp Delhi.
A taxi brought us down the road to the bottom of the hill, where we got out and walked up a winding path, densely populated with hotels, apartments, markets, and restaurants. A small man who probably weighs a quarter of what I do carried our luggage (for three) up the mountain by bundling it up with a strap, putting it on his back, and placing the strap across his forehead.
The views were gorgeous and the whole feel of the place was a stark contrast to the chaos of Delhi. The mountain people from there mostly work in the service industry and speak a different dialect than the Hindi spoken in Delhi. They have the gentle happiness about them compared to city folk. One, named Dolly, cooked our meals, and let us help in the kitchen. My favorite tool she had was a great stone slab that wasn't so much a cutting board, as a grinding board. A forearm-sized piece of stone is used to grind up onion, garlic, cardamom, and whatever spices are being used to make tea and food.
The day after we got there, it started raining and man, did it come down! It felt like we were inside the clouds that thundered around us. It became cold and damp. There was no one to bring firewood because it was a holiday and the electricity was out, rendering the electric heaters useless. I found our lack of wood particularly ironic as we were surrounded by forest-- but it's illegal to cut down wood from there. So, we hung around, layered in everything we brought (which wasn't much), eating very well, and playing cards-- a traditional Diwali activity. As soon as the rain stopped, fire crackers started and continued on and off for the next three days. Fortunately, we were far enough up the mountain that they weren't too loud. Out on the street was a different story. I ventured to the market to get something warm for Karly to wear, who had become ill. The deafening "crackers" were constantly being set off in close proximity to crowds. Thank goodness for my earplugs!
By the end of our stay, the clouds had parted, the crackers were spent, and peace returned to Nainital. The highlight of the trip was taking a boat ride on the lake, which gave the town an even more serene feel. It reminded me a lot of boat rides I've taken on the lakes in Maine.

Eating in India

Vegetarian’s paradise! The two eating options here are “veg” and “non-veg”. “Veg” is default? Brilliant! Unlike the US, where many Americans choose to be vegetarians because of the various health, environmental, and ethical reasons, the choice to be veg or non-veg here has more to do with religion. "Good" Hindus are veg. My flatmate is non-veg just for the purpose of rebelling against Hinduism (and it's caste system, etc.). However, women do not have equal opportunity to engage in such rebellion. In some circles, women are strongly discouraged to eat meat along with foods such as onion and garlic, which are all considered to create heat and increase sexual energy.

The food is highly accessible, although I was an India food lover before arrival. All the food I’ve had is delicious and I just avoid the spicier dish if there is one (in the villages we’ve visited, the food is a lot spicier). Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of buying organic food from local farms here that I do in northern California, which means my toxic-free diet is no more. I buy produce from stands set up in the market. I don’t know where it’s grown (the vendors won't tell you). Some veggies are probably from the northern state of Punjab, which like California is to the US, is the bread basket of India. Oranges come from the nearby "orange capitol" and other fruits like bananas and pineapples come from the south. On the highway the other day, I saw a truck with an open-air trailer packed full with broccoli and cauliflower—exposed to the smog, fumes, and particulates all the way. Yummm. Grapefruit seed extract is my miracle medicine that balances out the bevy of chemicals I consume.

I buy organic grains, pulses, and spices from Navdanya, all of which come from Uttaranchal, the state to the north of Delhi towards the Himalayas. My favorite favorite breakfast item is popped amaranth. It’s sooooooooo good with raisins, soaked almonds, bananas, and milk. Yes, I’m drinking cow’s milk again—actually it’s buffalo milk. Between the chai and amaranth, I feel like a calf I drink so much milk. The two alternatives are Indian-made soy milk and Silk soy milk. I stopped drinking Silk in the US because it’s owned by the Hain food group, which abuses organic standards. But the soy milk from Indian companies comes spoiled. So I tried the Silk soymilk but it is really expensive (150 ruppees compared to 15 for milk) and spoils almost as quickly. You know how the expiration date for packaged food in the US is like four years away? Well, here the date is like a week away. So, we know where all our expired food goes. After asking around, I have learned that the main milk company here ‘Mother’s Milk’ uses the same chemicals (antibiotics and hormones) as industrial milk companies in the US. I was interested to learn that here, when you get your bag of milk (everything comes in plastic bags), you boil it. This way, it keeps much longer (1-2 days instead of 8-12 hours) for us folks without refrigeration.

Other fruits I’ve enjoyed here are apples, guavas, pomegranates, and custard apple. For lunch and dinner, I’ve had Indian food for almost every meal though it’s possible to get other kinds of food. We often get food out or on the street because it’s so cheap and good. I’ve experimented some with cooking but am still developing my skills and it stinks to cook in a kitchen with no equipment. It’s no problem to whip up some rice and a veg but there’s little hope of getting any good roti(bread) out of electric burner. But last night I was asking around the neighborhood for fresh rotiand stumbled upon a bit of serendipity. One of my neighbors has a stand where he sells drinks and candy. But he also sells proper Indian meals to go with dal, rice, veg, and roti. For 25 rupees. Woo hoo!

My ethnic deviations from Indian food have included Italian, Greek, and American. American chains are pretty common—we’ve visited Pizza Hut, and TGIF (a “cool” place where a friend wanted to meet for happy hour i.e. really sucky, smokey, with bad, expensive food). Though I must admit that Pizza Hut was really good. McDonalds we refuse to go to but it’s all around.

Coffee shops are increasingly popular—especially because they’re an acceptable place for men and women to interact normally (=talk). Most of these places serve American desserts like ice cream, cake, and milk shakes. You can also buy cigarettes at them. Traditional desserts are kulfi, a delicious kashew-based ice cream, kheer- rice pudding, rasgullaa- cottage cheese balls in sweet syrup, and jalebee- deep-fried dough swirls in rosewater syrup.

Surprises/Observations

1. No hugs. What, no hugs? That’s right. Girls may give a fake cheek kiss when they greet. Some people use western hand shakes and some green you respectfully with, “namaste” but nooo hugs. That is, among women. Among men, it's a different story. Men are free to walk down the street holding hands or with their arms over each others shoulders. Overt displays of affection among women and men are rare except at night clubs, where a couple may take advantage of being out of the house. And I’m not talking about teeny boppers. These are grown adults, most of whom live with their parents until they are married. Because dating is discouraged, parents are often ignorant that their son or daughter is dating anyone at all, much less at a club making out on the dance floor. I have yet to see any woman to woman displays of affection. Sometimes, Karly and I walk down the street holding hands to rebel.
2. Snoop city. Pepole are sooo nosey here. I thought Roey was a snoop, but she’s nothing compared to these folks. And they have not qualms about it. For example, I’m writing down places I’ve been recommended to visit in my journal, and this dude next to me on the train, starts making his own recommendations. Thanks but no thanks, Rishi. Geez!
3. “Rush to do nothing.” When Karly and I first arrived, we were obviously very anxious to please those we were with. So when we were told to do something, we would make sure to do it, even if there had been no previous mention or planning of the activity at hand. We would often be told that we were leaving for somewhere presently and to get ready, in a very hurried tone, no less. So we would drop everything, get ready, and sit for two hours, often to find that we were never going anywhere, or perhaps our destination had changed. This pattern developed over a few days and we developed the phrase “rush to do nothing,” to describe the phenomenon. Now, we respond more appropriately. That is, how everyone else responds: continue with whatever you were doing and make your own plans. This issue is part of the greater issue of communication here. It’s a joke. You say: "Rainbow, you speak a different language, of course there’s a communication issue." True, but this goes deeper. There are times when I don’t understand someone—this is a language issue. But the communicaiton problem is ridiculous. For example, we showed up for work last Thursday and the office is closed. Holiday? No. It’s just been really busy lately so the office is closed for a day. No phone call, just closed. It’s possible we’re not so high on the priority list, too. I take that back, highly probable.
4. Women’s and girl’s respect. The degree of respect a man has for women can be observed from how much personal space he gives them. When a man is has respect, there is absolutely no touching whatsoever. In the company of less respectful men (on the bus, for example), they brush shoulders, play footsie, and seemingly inadvertently touch breasts.
5. All Indians I’ve met delight in the fact that I’m interested in learning Hindi and even moreso in my name. In Hindi, my name is “Indra danush,” which means the goddess Indra’s bow. Naming people after gods and godesses is very common and so for the first time, I have a common name when I go by Indra. I have also been given the name, “Naina” by friends at Navdanya, which means eyes.
6. People are sooo industrious here. I was walking down the street the other day with my 2-week old sandals and the strap broke. I simply went to the market and there on the corner was the shoe repair man, making his way through a pile of shoes with his well-aged tools. He fixed my shoe in 5 minutes and charged me 5 rupees (equal to about 15 cents). So, if the quality of some goods here suffer (in the case that it was made by a hungry, sleep-deprived child), people don’t throw anything away. Even things that are thrown away are garnered from the garbage to be used or sold. The remaining garbage is eaten by the cows on the neighborhood cow, chillin by the side of the road. All except for the plastic, which is indigestible and wreaks havock on these holy creatures.
   
7. Men love to dance! Unlike many men in the states, men rock the dance floor here, uninhibited. Forgive the stereotype, my dance-loving brothers.

Getting Around in India

There’s a whole range of modes of transportation here including walking, public transportation (bus and metro), cars, bicycles, motorcycles, auto rickshaw and taxi. People carry impressively large loads on their head, in carts, and on bicycles. The most impressive I’ve seen is a system of carrying a huge load on the back with a strap that ties the load to your head so the strap goes across the forehead.

In general, getting around is a rather frenzied, chaotic but surprisingly safe process. However, there’s a whole different set of safety standards one adopts once you set foot in this land. Seatbelts are virtually unheard of. Even if cars have them, they are clearly never used (stuffed in the seat or broken) even though it’s the law in Delhi. Everybody runs lights. It’s like lights are a guide for who can go next when there’s heavy traffic. Otherwise, people just drive on through—I don’t get exactly how it works. There are few accidents and collisions despite driving very closely together because traffic moves slower, on average, and people are used to it. Drivers beep their horns constantly to let other drivers know they’re there. When traveling, you often encounter beggars who weave in and out of stopped traffic in the middle of the street, selling goods such as magazines and rags, or just asking for money. Constantly—drivers always have one hand positioned over the horn. It’s used as a courtesy. Trucks and cars on the road have signs painted on the back of the vehicle, “Horn please.” Lanes are also a very rough road guide that are seldom observed. It’s common practice to drive down the road in two lanes at once.

Most of the Hindi I’ve learned is for the purpose of communicating and bargaining with auto rickshaw drivers. These are small men who work under terrible conditions (exposed to smog all day, and most of the smoke to boot) and most speak little English other than the price of a ride. Many of them are pretty slimey and will try to get away with as much as possible, especially from a Western woman. For example, when bargaining, a driver may take a lower price and say if the passenger agrees to make one or two stops. This is some sort of scam in which drivers drop tourists off at shops for 5-10 minutes before dropping them at their destination. Then, there’s the “no change” scam in which drivers claim they don’t have change even though they do. Finally, there’s the total sleeze ball scam. The other day, we went to a market that was closed. Noticing western girls with no place to go, this guy approached us to ask what we were looking for and accompanied us to another market. He successfully found a store with what we were looking for and then took us to the India Government tourist office to get some travel info. As the driver was bringing us back, our guide asked, “Can I ask you something and you will promise not to get angry?”.Yeah, okay, what? “Do you want to sleep with me tonight?” Disgust.

To avoid all of this insanity, I enjoy walking—the most relaxing mode of transportation here—until you encounter a road, of course. There are few crosswalks. To cross six lane roads is kind of an art of locating the slow cars driving down the road, stepping in front of them, and making eye contact with the driver. I often opt to find a crossing buddy—another crosser whom I can just follow across—and think about how I should’ve brought my snow boarding helmet to India instead of a winter jacket.

The Status of Organics in India

When I started working for Navdanya, I was happy to meet Kavita Singh. She is a nutrition educator, who works with schools in Delhi to encourage them to serve local, organic food. Connecting schools and farms in this way was the topic of my dissertation so I was thrilled to learn about the program here.

Navdanya works with about 15 schools out of hundreds in Delhi. Navdanya visits schools during parent events to conduct outreach by selling food and handicrafts, and distributing literature about organic agriculture. She also organizes farm field trips, school assemblies, and other educational events for schools.

On October 12^th, we accompanied Kavita to St. Columbus school for 3^rd-8^th standards. At the event we set up tables to display Navdanya’s educational literature on land and water conservation, organic farming, and children’s books. A group of students from the 8^th standard helped sell products ranging from hand-crafted notebooks and lampshades, to grains, pulses, oils, and Diwali gifts. We also took orders from the teachers for a delicious organic plate of barnyard millet tabouli and vegetable cutlets with coriander chutney.

This event was well-attended and there was a steady flow of parents who were either already familiar with Navdanya or who were interested in learning about the organization. As advocates of organic farming and food, were delighted to inform families on the benefits of going organic! We were happy to see that many individuals took membership forms or bought educational literature, along with organic goods to take home.

Generally speaking, this type of program faces the same issues as Farm to School programs in the US. Namely, organic food is most accessible to folks with more education and more money. The school system here is highly competitive and costly. Often, up to half of the family income is used on education. It is through going to a good school that parent ensure their children will get a good job—or a job at all.

When I asked Kavita if any of the schools they work with serve lower income populations, she replied that none of the parents can afford to buy their food. This is understandable considering it’s about four times the cost of other food. I was surprised to learn that few Navdanya employees purchase any of their food products because it’s so expensive (a café worker only makes about $750 a year). There are a number of solutions to this problem, most of which consist of subsidizing access to healthy food to the poor through public and private entities. For example, the government of Belo Horizonte, Brazil has a great program in which the city subsidizes the cost of farm land, food production and distribution so that all people are able to afford healthy meals at Retaurants Popular (People’s Restaurants) and schools. Check out: http://www.smallplanetinstitute.org/worldhunger/jahi.pdf.

Addressing the gap in access also means evaluating the strategies used to create a sustainable food system thus far. While adoption and regulation of organic standards by government bodies serves to legitimize efforts, it has also turned ‘organics’ it into a bureaucratic program imposing fees, rules, and regulations on farmers. These are strong disincentives to the formation of a new food system, meant to create direct connections between producers and consumers.

Corporations have established a strong presence in the international food system because there is so much profit to be made by industrializing the process of eating. Food is processed and packaged to create products that can sit on shelves for years. This is even happening with fresh produce, like apples and bananas that can sit unripe for months until they are gassed, causing them to ripen. Organic food is the new darling of corporate food because it has the highest growth sector in all food categories. And since governments have started regulating organic, it is easy for lobbyists and corporate lawyers to define what organic is and what it isn’t—thereby defeating the whole purpose. Meanwhile, they’re pressuring countries around the world to grown genetically modified seed. Since it is impossible to regulate the wind, it’s only a matter of time before the majority of the food system is contaminated. Worst of all is the damage done to farmers who have been given no option but to become reliant upon inputs in the form of genetically modified seeds, chemical pesticides & fertilizers, and other biotechnologies that result in economic and ecological debt.

In India, the fact that the term ‘organic’ is used here seems to miss the point altogether. There’s nothing new or technological about organic agriculture. The organic and sustainable agriculture movement simply stands for the return to traditional farming methods in which people work in harmony with animals and land to produce food and preserve the ecology. India has been doing this for hundreds of years and when the British arrived to teach Indians about agriculture, they found they had nothing to teach, only learn. Fortunately, there are agricultural communities in India that have not been reached by unsustainable farming methods. These are the farms to look to for lessons about how to re-build our food system and the best teachers for farmers disconnected from traditional farming. Involving children is an ideal way to bring up a generation of people who value sustainability. The student musicians who performed at the school we visited are an inspiration to us all.

Women and Food Sovereignty Course

Soon after we arrived, we took a 5-hour train trip north to Navdanya’s farm, outside of Dehra Dun in the foothills of the Himalayas. There, we took a course entitled “Women and Food Sovereignty.” This course was taught by Dr. Melaku Ward, an Ethiopian scientist. Though the course got off to a rough start (instructors changed, course content changed with less focus on women, and there were numerous problems reported by participants about the registration, enrollment, traveling, or payment process). But after a few days, we settled in and began to get to know one another. There were about 20 of us from 12 countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Canada, UK and US. The strong African contingent was the most beneficial part of the course, as they brought a valuable perspective about their work with sustainable agriculture in countries heavily preyed upon by agriculture biotechnology corporations.

For ten days, our schedule was:

7A Yoga

8A Breakfast

9A Shramdan- service to the community in which we either cooked, cleaned, or worked in the field

11A-1P Morning lecture

1P Lunch

2-4P Afternoon lecture

4P Tea

6P Evening yoga

7P Dinner

One of the best parts of the course was the yoga (and the lemongrass tea. oh, and all the food--yummm)! In the morning, we rose with the sun and performed asanas (poses) in the open air at the beautiful farm with flowers, lemon trees, rice, and millets growing around us was excellent. The evening yoga teacher, Lalitha Ganguly, is a great teacher and transformed my practice. She has trained at Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram for over 20 years in Chennai (S. India) and now teaches in Pune (Central West India). During the evening sessions, she worked with us solely on pranayama (breathing) and provided very useful exercises for us to take home with us. She emphasized the importance of remembering our breath in all aspects of our lives, not just during yoga. This is very similar to the philosophy of Jin Shin Jyutsu, which I also practice. A great exercise is sitting quietly and taking 36 relaxed breaths—so rejuvenating!

The lectures had a lot of interesting information on various issues in international agriculture. We also got some hands on experience on the farm like visit the seed bank. ‘Bija Vidaypeeth,’ the course site, means School of the Seed. It was co-founded by Satish Kumar and Vandana Shiva for the purpose of saving seed in response to seed patenting and bio-piracy practiced by agriculture, chemical and pharmaceutical multi-national corporations. By taking indigenous knowledge from farmers and villagers and altering it slightly, these companies make huge profits off of seed, chemicals, food products, and medicine. And of course none of the profits are returned to the village.

The seed bank at Navdanya has hundreds of varieties of rice and pulses stored in special containers that maintain proper moisture level. There are about 30 rice varieties in production at the farm currently. The seed bank itself was built with cow dung walls. Just as the cow is revered as holy here, so is its waste and for good reason. It is both a great insulator during the winter and keeps the room cool during the summer. Cow dung walls are also a natural insect repellent—good to protect us from those Malaria, Dengue, and West Nile-ridden mosquitoes flying around. All the structures at Bija at built of cow dung with aluminum roofing. Cow dung walls are made simply by mixing cow dung with enough cow urine and a bit of straw to make a solid but moldable consistency.

All the farm structures and systems were built with sustainability in mind. Troughs that carry waste and rain water to the fields surround the living structures. There is a huge solar panel for electricity (used to power lights and fans). The main grass hut where the group gathers for yoga and meetings is built atop a huge rainwater catchment. The farm as a whole was an excellent model for the course participants in this regard, as many of them hope to start similar farms in their communities.

To stay in contact and to collaborate in the future, we created the “12 Seed Initiative,” for the 12 countries represented at the class. This is an exciting, concrete outcome of the course and the forum can be viewed at http://groups.google.com/group/12seedinitiative. We also interviewed several of the participants to profile their organizations. Interviews will be aired on radio stations in California (and webcast) upon our return. Here are the brief descriptions:

Jack Wafula

SMART Initiative

Kenya

SMART Initiative with women farmers, gender, and AIDS issues. Many men refuse to work. Women farm, raise children, and expected to have food on the table when men get home from lying in the sun.

They work to convert farmers to organic by

• Composting to avoid use of corporate inputs
• Vegetable farming to diversify diet
• Raising fewer cattle
• Using alterative hives for bee keeping. Traditionally trees have been used but trees are becoming fewer and fewer so they work to develop alternative systems to using 1000-year-old trees.
• Developing possibilities to process their own food and start Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs)

The primary issues they address in their work are lack of soil fertility, deforestation, malnutrition, and access to information. They use local resources to manage soil fertility and translate educational material into the local language. To address malnutrition, they plant crops such as corn and cassava to provide all essential nutrients.

Challenges they face are light rainfall, drought, and insufficient means for extension to reach all areas. They have experienced success of farmer mobilization to grow and market crops together. They also have successfully networked with other organizations to share information. They hope for Kenyan farmers to go organic and to save their own seed. They want to develop a Global Alliance to share experience, technology, and information to further development of organic movement and capacity building.

Peter Anthony Kindimba

Ileje rural development organization

Pobox 160 Itumba,Ileje

Mbeya, Tanzania.

The primary issues they face are food security, market access, gender issues, and local use of resources. To address gender issues, they encourage community members to share resources equally. Agriculture companies come to their farmers with GMO seeds and their organization is working to instead promote organic farming. They encourage farmers to use local resources in stead. Challenges they experience are unsustainable farming methods, food provision for families, and marketing of their products. To solve the problems of farmers, they need assistance in production, trading, and from financial institutions. So far, they have experienced success in formation of farmer cooperatives and networks of farmer groups to overcome their struggles. He hopes to continue farmer collaboration to assist marginalized farmers and to create an information exchange.

Ayele Kedebe

Forum for the Environment

Ethiopia

They work to bridge the gap between policy and public understanding by holding public meetings on current legislation. They focus on deforestation, waste management, and the growing population. Working with a network of ten groups, the Forum distributes Green Awards to recognize progress around the country. They publish a tri-annual magazine publication to address the problem of government owning the media. They have experience success in growing environmental awareness and by working with many organizations for cumulative change. They hope to that their work will result in environmentally literal citizens in Ethiopia.

Check out www.ringo.com, search for my name, and look in the Bija Vidyapeeth album for more photos.