Gobabis
Future plans to support the development of ecological design in Vergenoeg and Namibia in general center around a practical training for the staff and beneficiaries of Light for the Children Foundation (WO 427, est 1999) and Steps for Children Trust. They are building a self-sustaining community in the middle of an informal settlement in Gobabis, Eastern Namibia. The informal settlement comprises half the population (15,000 of 30,000) of Gobabis where people live in shacks and the unemployment rate is 85%. Light for the Children contacted us because they see a need for permaculture training to help their organic garden and have already been planning aquaculture, growing mushrooms, hydroponics and collecting rainwater from the roofs.
As the informal settlement has no running water or sewer systems in addition to high levels of unemployment and malnutrition it is an ideal place for building permaculture infastructure because it will provide more water resources and better sanitation while producing nutritious food that can be consumed and potentially sold.
The training in how to do this will have a sustained impact through partnership with Children of the Light because they can continue to teach the skills after we leave. They have in place right now pre-school classes, afternoon study, database of children, parents meetings, home based care, and a computer training centre.
The focus of the training will be grey water food producing systems as well as small scale intensive gardens, composting, composting toilets and building water catchment systems (both tanks and building the soil so it also collects water). With approximately 5000 households there is large impact that can be yielded. Gobabis is the nearest urban centre to Vergenoeg and this project will create a support network for the project at Vergenoeg.
As the informal settlement has no running water or sewer systems in addition to high levels of unemployment and malnutrition it is an ideal place for building permaculture infastructure because it will provide more water resources and better sanitation while producing nutritious food that can be consumed and potentially sold.
The training in how to do this will have a sustained impact through partnership with Children of the Light because they can continue to teach the skills after we leave. They have in place right now pre-school classes, afternoon study, database of children, parents meetings, home based care, and a computer training centre.
The focus of the training will be grey water food producing systems as well as small scale intensive gardens, composting, composting toilets and building water catchment systems (both tanks and building the soil so it also collects water). With approximately 5000 households there is large impact that can be yielded. Gobabis is the nearest urban centre to Vergenoeg and this project will create a support network for the project at Vergenoeg.
