CERES Global blog

It is my final day at Pitchandikulam and I have had just enough time to squeeze in an ethno medicinal class with Parvathy and friends. Today we learnt about the medicinal properties of 3 Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest plants: Vishnukiranti, Marul and Tortasaningi. The forest here is full of plants with medicinal qualities, fruits, building materials... pretty much all the essentials for living. In the short space of 2 hours I have learnt how to cure an ear ache/infection, fever, reduce blood pressure and heal minor cuts and abbresions. Wish I could stay longer and learn more!!!

Our teacher Parvathy is a co-ordinator of Women's Self Help Groups and a trainer in ethno medicinal plants. We have worked with her on women's projects in the past and hope to do more of this on our return visit. The women who work and live at Pitchandikulam radiate such calmness and beauty; it is hard not to fall in love with each person's nature. Parvathy, Mardu, Anita and Kamaxshi send their love to the past CERES volunteers from 2006, 2007 and 2009 and hope to connect with you again.

So Noel has left us and headed up to Mumbai to rendezvous with the Pal group, whilst I am headed further north to Delhi to meet up with Sheena and Nazila. We are bound for the foothills of the Himalayas to visit small village Balwadis (kindergartens/social movements... yes they are quite radical) and then down to Rajasthan to look at water harvesting projects, renewable energies, women's development initiatives.

We will try and blog when and where we can, so stay tuned and please get in touch if you want to find out more.

A belated Merry Christmas from the Pitchandikulam Forest! Too much activity and not enough time to blog. We have been Kris Kringaling in Pondicherry, sharing time with friends over a delicious Christmas breakfast and getting stuck into some project work over the last few days.

A highlight was Saturday's teacher training session out i Kadapakkam where we learnt about the Coromandel Coast and started visioning the programs that will operate out of the newly build Coastal Environmental Education Centre. It was a sobering day being on the same coast which was affected by the 2004 tsunami on the 5th anniversary of this tragedy. Despite this, the teachers and women's group facilitators we worked with were sparking with enthusiasm and have got some great visions of what is possible for this place. Women's Self Help Groups, fisher people, school groups and surrounding villagers will be engaged through the programs that are being designed here. The Centre is in an amazing location, surrounded by diverse ecosystems and some very real and present human pressures coming into play. We spent the day exploring the nearby beach and found an abundance of washed up sea life and modelled hands-on  coastal education activities. Pitchandikulam Forest is driving this project and is keen to link with funding bodies to make the dream come alive - let us know if you can help and want to see a funding proposal.

Another highlight was last night's trip into Pondicherry with the crew from Pitchandikulam to watch the latest smas hit Tamil film, Hero, staring none other than 'Vijay'. It was quite the experience - HUGE screen, blarring sound and 3 hours of song, dance, comedy and romance.

Over the next week we'll be scoping out potential projects for the next 12 months (keep an eye out for volunteer project briefs) and will head south to Madurai to visit our friend Muthu who works with medicinal plants and social enterprises. There are so may possibilities for project work, we are excited at the opportunities presenting themselves for next year's visit and the months in-between. Until next time, bye!

We could not have anticipated that our brief stop-over in Hong Kong could have inspired us with so much wonderment and joy. An invitation to visit the Kadoori Farm and Botanical Gardens was hastily taken up as we conteplated what to do with a lengthy stop over in this big city. Our host Tuck, the Education Co-ordinator at Kadoori, indulged us in a tour that went beyond fantastic interpretaion, it was sheer magic.

A brief bit of history to put things into perspective. The Kadoorie FBG was established in the 1950s by the Kadoorie family, as a means to engage refugees in agricultural/employment projects. The land was essentially a cleared mountain side and valleys which would over the years be transformed into market gardens, orchards, flora and fauna preservation, wildlife rescue, propagation and education activities: the work here is prolific, and not unlike CERES (just way bigger!). Rainforests, streams, orchid gardents and valley views made us feel like we were a million miles away from sky scraper development and smog.

By far, the highlight of the day was our trip to the top of Kwun Yum Sham, a mountain peak named after the deity of the same name. The beauty, energy and serenity of this place were truly restorative - we could have stayed there for days. The blue sky above this peak (whilst everything around was shrouded in smog) was telling of the speciallness of this place. The interests of the staff and community at Kadoorie seem intimately tied with those of CERES. Interestingly, Kadoorie is bocoming a Transition Initiative - they've even visited Totnes! Reluctantly, we left Kadoorie, with an invitation to Tuck to come and connect with the CERES community when he comes to Australia. Kadoorie go to: www.kfbg.org.hk

More travel and then an early morning arrival in Chennai, south India.

The hospitality and friendship extended to us by Joss, Anita and the staff at Pitchandikulam Forest clearely extends beyond the forest floor. Today we explored the Adyar Poonga wetland which 3 years ago was still a wasteland. What was originally wetlands, turned landfill over years, has not been reclaimed and is starting to thrive. The aims of the project are to reach out to the Chennai community with the message of biodiversity and transformation. This is certainly a project which demonstrates both of these values. Check it out at: www.adyarpoonga.com

Pal Solar Cooker Project

Project name:                    Pal Solar Cooker Project
Location:                             Pal village, Maharashtra, central India
Partner organisation:        Satpuda Vikas Mandel (www.svmpal.org)
Dates:                                 In country: 6/01/10 – 24/01/10
Preparation and planning: equivalent 3 days (negotiable)
Follow-up:                           equivalent 5 days (negotiable)

Skills required:
• A passion for the environment and renewable technologies
• General understanding of renewable technologies and solar thermal principles
• Understanding of the needs of a rural community in a developing country
• Willingness to travel within India unaccompanied
• An open mind

Costs: $1000 (food, accommodation, project costs), plus airfares

Contacts: Nia Emmanouil, CERES Global Co-ordinator, nia@ceres.org.au
Trevor Ackland, Project Facilitator, tjackland@yahoo.com

CERES Global

CERES Global was established in 2005 with the intention of working alongside community-based organisations in India and Indonesia, to help reinvigorate traditional knowledge and support the application of appropriate and sustainable practices and technologies. Our approach is one of collaboration, ensuring that that local knowledge is valued and so that there is a two-way sharing of skills and knowledge.
Our partner organisations in India are located in the southern, central and northern states. We maintain contact with these groups during the year and on an annual basis visit each organisation with people from CERES and the broader community. Our trips over to India provide us with the opportunity to work more intensely on projects and build
face-to-face connections with the people whose lives we are hoping to make a positive impact on.
On our past visits to Pal, we have travelled as a group and participated in cultural exchange activities. CERES Global is keen to expand upon these experiences and have a more project-oriented focus whilst in Pal. CERES Global will be present in Pal during your stay and will be able to offer volunteers in-country support by way of facilitation, translation and networking assistance.

Background

Pal is a rural Indian village in the Satpuda Mountain Ranges in northern Maharashtra, close to the Madhya Pradesh border. The population is approximately 7000, consisting predominantly of tribal people from the Bajara, Powarah and Tadavi tribes.

CERES Global’s partner at Pal is Satpuda Vikas Mandel, a centre focused on agricultural science and training. Satpuda Vikas Mandel runs seven schools in the region, the majority of which are boarding schools.

The schools provide daily meals for the school children, with meals cooked on inefficient indoor open flames. A typical school has between 200 and 400 students. Satpuda Vikas Mandel has identified that alternative cooking methods would be beneficial for the daily cooking requirements of the schools, and that parabolic solar cookers may be a viable option for both the schools and the village people.

The majority of homes within Pal and the surrounding villages cook and heat water on an inefficient indoor open fire. The average family uses 80-120 kilograms of firewood per week contributing to extensive deforestation in the region, which has many environmental consequences. The local women walk extremely long distances to collect firewood each day, often carrying heavy loads several kilometres; this is both time consuming and harmful to the women’s bodies. Indoor air pollution from the open fires leads to several health issues such as respiratory illness and eye disease.

For most rural Indians cooking on an open flame is the only available cooking method, due to costs associated with alternative methods. There is no initial cost for an open fire and no ongoing costs, and there is also a perception that cooking with timber creates a better meal and a better chai.

Daily firewood requirements have outstripped annual biomass growth and the forests have been poorly managed by governments and by village people, leading to extensive deforestation in the region.

More efficient and alternative cooking and water heating methods would be extremely beneficial to reduce the impact of deforestation, reduce health issues associated with smoke inhalation and improve the everyday life of women in the region.

Project scope

The Pal Solar Cooker project involves investigating the feasibility of supplying the seven schools run by Satpuda Vikas Mandel with parabolic solar cookers for the preparation of the daily meal requirements. The view would be to supply at least one solar cooker on the next CERES Global trip to Pal in January 2010. Ways in which to do so would need to be identified early on.

The future scope would involve the potential for assembling and/or manufacture of residential or commercial scale solar cookers with Satpuda Vikas Mandel, possibly in association with a partner organisation as a commercial enterprise.

The project is in the initial stages of development. The initial work would predominantly involve scoping potential opportunities and possibilities. It is considered the volunteer would:
• Research and contact solar cooker manufacturers/suppliers within India from Australia
• Visit potential project partners, from the initial research, that could supply and manufacture suitable solar cookers and provide training on the manufacture and operation of parabolic solar cookers
• Install/supply a solar cooker in one or a number of Satpuda Vikas Mandels schools
• Develop instructions for the manufacture and use of solar cookers in association with potential project partners, and provide training,
• Scope the potential of assembly and/or manufacture of residential or commercial scale parabolic solar cookers at Satpuda Vikas Mandel as a commercial enterprise
• Investigate potential funding opportunities.

CERES Global acknowledges that it will take considerable time and resources to action all of the above steps. Hence, the scope of the project brief for any individual volunteer is negotiable. We ideally aim to attract a group of volunteers who can initiate and carry out this project(s).