ENM letter n° 13 November 2011
(new : this is just a short summary of the letter which can be downloaded at will...then click HERE but it is French P.D.F file)
Blue Paradiseis a real farm where the land is carefully tended, along with what it produces and the men and women who live on it. It covers an area of 120m by 200m, acquired plot by plot—the last purchase having been completed in April : an area of 100m by 30m for 440 euros—.
So far, Blue Paradise includes 11 buildings : 4 cabins for the students, 1 cabin for the teacher a
nd his family, 2 kitchens (Meline’s and the students’), outbuildings, the caretaker’s house, Meline’s house that she has dubbed “Wonder”, a large common house which is being built and the plots for vegetable and fruit growing.
32 students live in Blue Paradise: they share in the field work, in the catering and look after the animals. Thus they come to learn useful skills. Above all, the children can attend school and benefit from the teacher’s support, from lodgings and collective food. In the bush there is either no school—or no teacher-- or the school is not within walking distance. Their future relies on education : poverty and lack of knowledge pave the way for all sorts of humiliations, social chasms, authoritarianism and violence.
Femmes, Réveillons-Nous (Women, Let’s Wake up) : The association Meline founded in 2009 now counts 250 members. They call themselves “FRN”. 30 men or so, FRN’s husbands also belong to the association. The FRN are very active and thanks to them, information is better spread.
The week before we came, 1000 women accepted Meline’s and the FRN’s invitation to Blue Paradise. That day had required long preparations and active participation from everyone: conversations and advice were shared on how to “awaken” the villages, the neighbors and the male population.
A source of revenue for ENM Madagascar seems to make its way: through our website (http://www.echangenonmarchand.org), lots of people have felt like coming to Befotaka to share Blue Paradise’s expertise and actions in exchange for a low- price pension.
News:
- At the library, Justin, our librarian is very active and looks after the books and the building. He welcomes 15 to 20 people a day.
- The “Moringa” also called “miracle tree” is being introduced. We brought some 2000 seeds to Blue Paradise. All its parts are quite remarkable: the leaves can be used raw or dried for their edible vegetable proteins for humans, the stems are used for animal food, the seeds for oil etc..
- The SRI: what becomes of rice-growing after all these years of training by Patrick, the Agricultural technician paid by ENM? Gradually, SRI’s methods are becoming part of local practices quite naturally and the yield is improving.
- The Health centre: there’s a positive evolution as regards malaria medicines and contraceptives granted by the government.
- Agriculture: the seeds from Kokopelli association (http://www.kokopelli.asso.fr) that we had brought and that had been selected by Julia (an agronomics student) during her stay have been sown in 2 large vegetable garden areas.
- The wells: Méline is a “water diviner”! Contrary to what everyone thought, she has found water. She told the well-digger :” dig there, if there’s nothing when we get down to 8 m (8 hours per meter!), we’ll stop. When he reached 4m, the water was there. Just a bit of luck!
- Future plans: there are plenty, of course. The biggest one has started: the Common House called “Meleve”. This very large house, 16m X 6m (6200 euros), a permanent structure strong enough to withstand hurricanes, will be the core of Blue Paradise and a place for exchanges to organize meetings and welcome the local associations. It will be the symbolical centre of the FRN: a place of culture, of all cultures! The building started in the last days of May.
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Remember the following dates:
January 27, 18h30 Annual general meeting, salle Anna, parc Paul Bert.
- 19h: ENM plans will be discussed.
- 20h: buffet
- 21h: lecture by Bertrand Meheust about ecologic question
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