Earth Connections *
April 22 is Earth Day!
This year, the Earth Day theme is "A Billion Acts of Green," a campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy. In honor of Earth Day, ProLiteracy is sharing a few stories about innovative projects our partners are doing around the world to integrate literacy with preserving the environment.
Mexico - PLAMAC and AYUDA MUTUA
Solar ovens, medicinal herb gardens, and cactus greenhouses are just a few of the projects that Mexican learners have undertaken to help their communities celebrate and preserve their land. In the community of Ajuno (near Patzcuaro), learners have cultivated a garden with native species of flowers and herbs. Doña Salud, who oversees the garden, can name all the plants and explain their household, medicinal, and aesthetic uses. In the arid desert outside of Dolores Hidalgo, learners in La Cuenca del Guzano have installed a simple greenhouse that accommodates rows of Prickly Pear cactus, one of the few plants that thrive in the area. Learners harvest the cactus and cook it with local herbs to create various dishes known as Nopales. To preserve the already-scarce trees in the area, learners have replaced their wood-burning stoves with homemade solar ovens. ProLiteracy-sponsors literacy classes in which learners discuss important community issues serve as the impetus for these “environmentally friendly” projects.
H
aiti - AyitiKonseVet (AKV) was developed from a training program for rural Haitian farmers in the north and northwest regions of Haiti. Rural farmers and their families attend literacy classes, incorporating vocabulary and action ideas on environmental sustainability through better farming techniques. AKV’s training program aims to return the eroding deforested Haitian landscape to its former productive capacity through environmental education and hands-on training. AKV teaches the basics of composting, raised beds, and contour plowing/planting, encouraging farmers to use diverse agricultural techniques. AKV has also started several schools for adult learners and their children. Beside the schoolhouses, participants tend school gardens in a small area partially covered with a roof made of palm fronds. In this area learners cultivate “worm farms” and tree seedlings for planting in community gardens and for public sale.
Rwanda - SEVOTA
Rwanda, often called the “land of a thousand hills,” is a small but densely populated country of eight million people in eastern Africa. SEVOTA offers functional literacy classes, combined with educational discussions focusing on health and HIV/AIDS awareness, human rights, environmental protection, peace and conflict resolution, and entrepreneurship as well as other topics of interest to the groups. ProLiteracy has been working with SEVOTA for more than 10 years to train facilitators and translate educational materials into Kinyarwanda, a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language. An example of Sevota’s success is Antoinette, who, while learning to read, also learned to weave baskets to sell at market. The bags are an effort to protect the environment by offering an alternative to plastic bags. Profits earned from producing the bags help pay fees for Antoinette’s daughter to attend school.
* Earth Connections is ProLiteracy's environmental guide for sustainable living integrated with literacy instruction.
This year, the Earth Day theme is "A Billion Acts of Green," a campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy. In honor of Earth Day, ProLiteracy is sharing a few stories about innovative projects our partners are doing around the world to integrate literacy with preserving the environment.
Mexico - PLAMAC and AYUDA MUTUASolar ovens, medicinal herb gardens, and cactus greenhouses are just a few of the projects that Mexican learners have undertaken to help their communities celebrate and preserve their land. In the community of Ajuno (near Patzcuaro), learners have cultivated a garden with native species of flowers and herbs. Doña Salud, who oversees the garden, can name all the plants and explain their household, medicinal, and aesthetic uses. In the arid desert outside of Dolores Hidalgo, learners in La Cuenca del Guzano have installed a simple greenhouse that accommodates rows of Prickly Pear cactus, one of the few plants that thrive in the area. Learners harvest the cactus and cook it with local herbs to create various dishes known as Nopales. To preserve the already-scarce trees in the area, learners have replaced their wood-burning stoves with homemade solar ovens. ProLiteracy-sponsors literacy classes in which learners discuss important community issues serve as the impetus for these “environmentally friendly” projects.
H
aiti - AyitiKonseVet (AKV) was developed from a training program for rural Haitian farmers in the north and northwest regions of Haiti. Rural farmers and their families attend literacy classes, incorporating vocabulary and action ideas on environmental sustainability through better farming techniques. AKV’s training program aims to return the eroding deforested Haitian landscape to its former productive capacity through environmental education and hands-on training. AKV teaches the basics of composting, raised beds, and contour plowing/planting, encouraging farmers to use diverse agricultural techniques. AKV has also started several schools for adult learners and their children. Beside the schoolhouses, participants tend school gardens in a small area partially covered with a roof made of palm fronds. In this area learners cultivate “worm farms” and tree seedlings for planting in community gardens and for public sale.Rwanda - SEVOTA
Rwanda, often called the “land of a thousand hills,” is a small but densely populated country of eight million people in eastern Africa. SEVOTA offers functional literacy classes, combined with educational discussions focusing on health and HIV/AIDS awareness, human rights, environmental protection, peace and conflict resolution, and entrepreneurship as well as other topics of interest to the groups. ProLiteracy has been working with SEVOTA for more than 10 years to train facilitators and translate educational materials into Kinyarwanda, a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language. An example of Sevota’s success is Antoinette, who, while learning to read, also learned to weave baskets to sell at market. The bags are an effort to protect the environment by offering an alternative to plastic bags. Profits earned from producing the bags help pay fees for Antoinette’s daughter to attend school.* Earth Connections is ProLiteracy's environmental guide for sustainable living integrated with literacy instruction.
These stories could be collected as an anthology and used in k-12 schools here in the US for students and adults to understand how sustainability is both local and global.
ReplyDelete