Practical Permaculture Institute

We spent two weeks in rural Western Kenya, volunteering at the Practical Permaculture Institute of Kenya. This group began in collaboration with a permaculture expert from Salt Spring Island, a connection that led us here. PPI exists to support local food security and women’s self-sufficiency - important work!

Being at PPI was an incredible experience of the ‘real’ Kenya. At first, we were strange beings for the local community to stare at, and call ‘mazungo’ or white person. Some even wanted to touch us for good luck. After some time though, the local people began to connect with us as people. We built simple friendships with the people in the community, exchanging greetings in the local Luya language or Swahili.

Real relationships also emerged within the PPI Kenya family:
• JB: Founder of PPI. He has the most experience with foreigners, and we were able to speak plainly with him. He helped create our list of work responsibilities, and helped make things happen as needed.
• Steven: Judah and Mathai’s ‘supervisor’. He taught them about looking after the chickens, rabbits (who came during our stay there), tomatoes, compost, etc. He also worked with them to build small pieces of furniture.
• Rachel: a regular collaborator who lives near the coast, with lots of experience leading permaculture and sustainability projects.
• Lillian, or Mama: a powerhouse with vision, and close friend of Rachel
• Grace: Lillian's adopted daughter who contributes to all the domestic chores

One of our contributions was to purchase supplies for a rabbit hut. We thought Aaron and the boys would help build it, but in the end it was mostly created by local workers. The boys wanted to see rabbits in the cage, so they helped finance the purchase of some of the rabbits with their allowance savings. The boys loved the rabbits. The rabbits will provide valuable fertilizer and nitrogen for the gardens, and meat for eating and sale. It's also a powerful demonstration tool for teaching others about closed system farming.

As for accommodations, Aaron and Susanna’s traditional mud hut with a straw roof leaked when the rain was heavy. That meant it leaked at the start of every day’s rain. When this was happening, we covered our clothes with our rain coats. We set up an umbrella was over our coffee table. It was slightly miserable and slightly hilarious. After about a week, our hosts put a tarp on the roof overtop the bed, and we were dry.

The toilets were outhouses with a hole in the concrete floor. One day, Aaron opened the outhouse door and found a swarm of flies and a lizard on the wall. He waited for the creatures to clear before going ahead with his business. Afterwards he reported, ‘we’ve come a long way!’

Haiku by Judah:
Dinner ain’t ready
I am very hungry now
Give me some food please

Haiku by Mathai:
Pit toilet is bad
Too many flies up my butt
Careful, don’t fall inRead more