P4R member Marguerite Kahrl, recently participated in this training geared towards permaculture teachers who want to teach in refugee situations. This course was funded through an Erasmus+ EU grant and was run at the Gorno Draglishte Village in Bulgaria, in November 2019. Many people from all over Europe attended this training.
The Teaching Permaculture for Refugees course was designed by the Green School Village to complement the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) and invited those willing participants that work with refugees and young people to transfer the knowledge they have as designers. The project was planned around the course “Training Permaculture Teachers” (TPT), developed by Rosemary Morrow with an emphasis on refugees. It was an occasion to connect with Permaculture for
Refugees (P4R), a collective of Permaculture designers working with refugees. P4R teamed up with ECOntACt, who acted as the sending organization for participants from Italy. This Erasmus course makes the start of a collaboration between P4R and ECOntACT.
It is clear that a number of permaculture teachers and practitioners are interested in offering courses focused on the needs of asylum seekers and disadvantaged people and are looking for ways to make the content of these courses more accessible, relevant and responsive. The TPT course developed by Rosemary Morrow offers a rich overview of methods and techniques in general and in particular for organizing and teaching the PDC (Permaculture Design Course). The overall context, location, selection of participants and choice of course content proved to be valuable for the participants.
