by John Bliss In an open field in Maine, rows of crops are growing, which look only vaguely familiar to most Maine gardeners. They would recognise the eggplant, the pumpkins, and certainly the pigweed towering over the field edges. But other crops would require closer inspection to recognise: hibiscus, cowpeas, and okra. More confusion arises … Read more
By Jessica Perini Jessica Perini shares four innovative fundraising strategies for refugee projects, including salvaging and selling discarded goods, connecting paying learners with refugee learners through online workshops, dedicating a portion of personal income to support initiatives, and running ongoing crowdfunding campaigns, emphasising the power of community, fair share, and practical creativity to create lasting … Read more
For many refugees in Malaysia, the journey of survival is intertwined with the search for belonging, education, and purpose. For Mohammed Ayas, a 22-year-old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, that journey led him to The Blue Ribbon (TBR), a grassroots initiative blending permaculture, peacebuilding, and community empowerment. Ayas arrived in Malaysia as a child, separated from … Read more
In 2023, as political pressure in Pakistan intensified, the government declared its intent to expel Afghan nationals, placing thousands of lives in danger—many of whom had already fled conflict once before. Amid this crisis, a quiet but powerful effort emerged from within the global permaculture network. A group of dedicated permaculturalists, recognising the urgency and … Read more
written by Eunice Neves End of July 2021, Rowe and I were conducting online interviews to permaculture practitioners who were applying permaculture in very challenging circumstances. The first people we interviewed were two peace activists, students of Rowe Morrow’s, who were using permaculture to redesign a primary school in Kabul. During the interview, we understood … Read more
Photo by Márton Orosz By Marguerite Kahrl This Erasmus + training course brought together youth workers from 11 countries, including Italy, Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, and Serbia. The course was supported by P4R and held at the Ecovillage Torri Superiore, Italy. It was facilitated by Massimo Candela, Dražen Šimleša, Marguerite … Read more
for translation into Refugee Languages Our experience in Permaculture for Refugees (P4R) of teaching permaculture with refugees has shown that suitable good learning materials in their languages are missing. Materials need to be appropriate to regions and circumstances, as well as culture, literacy and prior education. This issue of equity and access taps into the … Read more
Alo Goshami, her husband, Shamal Goshami and son live in Horintana village, Union Koilashganj, District Khulna, Bangladesh. Alo is a housewife, her husband is a day labourer, her son has dropped out of school and is unemployed. She was facing difficulties running her family’s day to day living expenses with the little income from her … Read more
Interview with Ernest Gibba and Marguerite Kahrl In P4R we use the term ‘refugee’ interchangeably with forced migrants, stateless or internally displaced peoples (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees. While some of these labels are used to define political and legal status of mobilised populations, it is our intention to embrace these situations under the umbrella … Read more
With 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries and approximately 190,000 Russian troops in the country, the situation in Ukraine remains frightening and uncertain, yet there are stories of hope and cooperation. According to GEN (Global Ecovillage Network) Europe, while some ecovillages outside the Ukraine are welcoming refugees, so far the vast majority are … Read more