This is Yongo’s story and his goals for rural Kenyan communities [and a model for communities everywhere. Please share it widely. Thanks.].
I am Yongo Otieno Wycliffe, the founder of S.H.A.R.E. [Lend your support here] I was born May 16, 1992 and live in Kenya Africa. I finished a Permaculture design course at the Permaculture Institute in Kenya, during which I was supported by a Good Samaritan who treated me as his only son and paid for all my expenses during the course. Later I took another permaculture course at Oregon State University(OSU). I love working hard and helping out. I work on as many farms as I can, especially in the surrounding villages. I am very interested in developing sustainable energy, agricultural, and building systems. I am interested in developing local energy policies that promote permanence in a system that is regenerative, efficient, and progressive. I spend my days volunteering for various gardening and farming projects and love learning about local techniques in building the soil, building practices, and working with women, children, elders, and tribal governments.
My central goal is educating and empowering people to work together in creating communities that are energy-efficient, sanitary, and abundant in food and housing. I do this work free of charge. Teaching sustainable living practices and sharing my expertise is a goal that I have dedicated the rest of my life to accomplishing.
MY PROJECT S.H.A.R.E Peace Permaculture Sustainable Housing Agriculture Reaching Everyone
S.H.A.R.E. was invented out of a passion to educate and empower many people and also to improve the sustainability of livelihoods for this generation and those to come. I especially hope to help people who are located in rural areas.
WHICH PROBLEM DO I AIM TO SOLVE-AND WHY?
Every ninth person suffers from hunger worldwide. In Africa an average of about 20% of the population is insufficiently nourished due to the high food prices and the low food supply. Worldwide about 3 million children under the age of 5 die each year from the effects of undernourishment.
A better food supply allows a healthy physical development of children and adolescents and also generally ensures a stronger immune system. Furthermore, it allows people to meet their daily energy and nutrient requirements and enhances the ability to concentrate during other activities, such as profession and education.
An improvement of these factors allows the citizens to eliminate one fundamental problem and overall enables them to live a healthier life. Besides a higher productivity at work this will significantly have a positive impact on the personal development, thus paving the way for a better future.
EDUCATION FOR THE PEASANTS OF TOMORROW! MY SOLUTION; AN INNOVATIVE IDEA THAT TACKLES THE CHALLENGE WITH A NEW PERSPECTIVE
The solution to the problem is to increase the availability of food, resulting in the reduction of food prices. To make this possible, we want to invoke the concept of permaculture in our communities.
Permaculture has been known since the 1970s as an alternative to the prevailing industrial agricultural system. Permaculture aims to form agriculturally productive yet resilient ecosystems. Instead of continuing to promote monocultures, local environmental factors are considered in the architecture of cultivation during the planting of the fields. This allows symbiotic effects between different farming products and an integrated, sustainable use of the soil, without damaging it.
This results in higher agricultural yields that can be used by subsistence farmers for their own consumption and sale, offering farmers the option of entrepreneurship. As climate change creates uncertainty, utilizing more sustainable farming concepts will create numerous positive side effects while directly and indirectly combating the problems of food scarcity and malnutrition.
HOW IS MY IDEA FEASIBLE?
My plan includes the construction of an Educational Center for organic farming in the city of Kitale. This center is aimed at teaching permaculture to subsistence farmers and other interested parties in the area. It will serve to educate and empower many African communities about this ethical and revolutionary form of sustainable living.
The establishment of the educational center would include the purchase of a suitable property.
A selected partner would emerge there as a teacher and would introduce 20 students simultaneously to the theoretical and practical concepts of permaculture by facilitating workshops. WHICH METHODS AND CHANNELS DO I WANT TO UTILIZE?
The key element of the project will be educating communities in the successful implementation of the concept of permaculture.
A website about the project shall be created, where we will write a blog on the subject. Participants for the workshops shall be gained primarily via a Facebook page and word-of-mouth recommendations.
WHAT IS MY EXPECTED OUTCOME AND IMPROVEMENT?
My Mission is to work with individuals and communities by empowering them. I especially want to improve the lives of the rural African. Education in permaculture will give them the knowledge and resources needed to escape extreme poverty. Communities can work together to provide an abundance of food, low or zero energy housing, general cleaning and waste management. Increasing knowledge in the area of sustainable living will improve the lives of future generations.
The objective will be the training of farmers to successfully implement practical permaculture concepts to improve their yield. The harvest of the Educational Center garden can be analyzed during workshops to assess crop yield increases. Any negative differences would indicate a lack of comprehension, whereby the education programs could be improved. After completion of the workshop participants and their families could be asked about changes in their yield situation. As the knowledge spreads throughout our area, every community involved will see positive outcomes. They will be able to produce their own food and other supplies. WHAT IS OUR BUDGET AND WHO ARE OUR BENEFICIARIES?
Those who would benefit are rural African communities, subsistence farmers, and especially children, youth and women living in rural Kenya.
The costs including the running expenses are estimated at $8,000.
$4000- will help purchase more land to dedicate to building strong community. This land will bring the people together and help our communities grow. We will grow organic, non-GMO, permaculture food utilizing cultural techniques, thus preserving and reinforcing the cultural aspects of the communities with which we are working.
$3000-will help in establishing a small seminar hall where we shall offer follow up workshops. Here the community will gather together and learn and share their ideas and experiences together.
$1000- will buy construction tools such as wheelbarrows, jembe, spade and shovel for the construction of the conference hall, as well as gardening tools, educational materials, and seeds.
This funding will help S.H.A.R.E. make sure not only that these projects happen, but that they are done well and sustainably for many generations to come.
With your support, SHARE can continue to grow and provide self-sufficiency to many communities, and help regenerate the land in rural Kenya.
Help my community vision take a step toward becoming reality! Donate now.