Introducing Guba - Permaculture at its Best

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GUBA: meaning “To dig” in Siswati, the native language of Swaziland. This is a truly special project, and quite unique, I think, in its impact, its ability to evolve with the needs of the community, and its scope. It’s a small not-for-profit set up just 5 years ago with limited funding, by an amazing British couple who’d simply had enough of working in NGOs filled with bureaucracy, politics and corruption and who wanted to make a real difference to the quality of life of people in Swaziland. Guba’s mission statement is “Alleviating poverty through training in sustainable agriculture, natural building and natural resource management”. And it's absolutely true to every word.



Guba is run entirely on Permaculture principles - the space is laid out in a permaculture way - the garden is farmed using permaculture techniques - decisions are made using permaculture ideology - plans are made, buildings are built, people are treated, changes are made, situations are responded to..... And so on. Everything is Permaculture.



For anyone not familiar with Permaculture, it’s based on the concept of “Permanent Culture” - almost a philosophy - a way of living gently, sustainably, self-sufficiently, using the resources you already have to fulfill your needs, before looking farther afield. Importantly, this means that very little money is involved, which is vital in a country like Swaziland, where under two-thirds of the population is employed in the official “employment sector”, and of which most earn less than $1 a day. Added to that, a quarter of the population currently relies on food aid to live, a quarter of 15-49 year-olds are HIV+ and 70% of women are illiterate. That’s a lot of problems that need addressing in one small country with only 1 million inhabitants! And Permaculture seems like an ideal way to start.



So, people keep asking, how did I end up here? Simply, I read an article about Guba in Permaculture magazine, and I just couldn’t not go there - I was captivated. Was it really possible that such a small project was making such a dramatic difference to the lives of ordinary people in Swaziland? People who's normality and reality most of us could hardly imagine. Guba wasn't even officially taking volunteers - the volunteer building is a mere shell in its current state - but I jumped at the chance when a response came to my enquiry, saying that as long as I didn’t mind camping, I was welcome to stay. I was more than happy with that! Currently working as a freelance ecologist, I’m lucky in having the opportunity to take a long break over the winter (although my boss would no doubt prefer me to be around), so the opportunity that presented itself was ideal. Within a few weeks, I’d booked my flights, packed my tent and headed out to Swaziland!



I've found there to be many separate but interlinking aspects to Guba’s approach, everything being ultimately focused towards workshops for local people, in farming, building and natural resource management (as their mission statement suggests). These can vary from a couple of hours to a year in length, and are mostly provided for free, or for the amount needed to cover costs and no more. The farm at Guba is a demonstration farm, as are the buildings, toilets, showers, ponds, as well as providing vital nutrition and facilities to employees and volunteers. Everything is there for a valuable reason. I’ll cover the different aspects in more detail in future blog posts. For now, I will leave it there, as an introduction to Guba and all that it offers.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Being captivated
Keep reading and mapping out the great adventures of your life. This one is grand.