ricoclime

the pdc course that just finished went extremely well. it was a dynamic mix and very rewarding as many questions and thoughts were shared. we had much knowledge contained in this group that allowed close to half the class presenting different ideas and subjects. tea: history, social impacts and the tea industry today, bamboo as building material, ecovillage, nutrition, alternate economic models, as well as several projects were presented. anyone who doubts that a major part of teaching/facilitating , at it best, is a process of learning and letting go need only to have been in this course to realize this truth. this reality is one of the great rewards of teaching/facilitating.

this course also was one of meeting new friends. i am hoping to keep in contact with several of these beautiful people. in particular is one young tamil man who was sponsored by several of the foreigners who came up from auroville. karthik is intelligent (he taught himself the english language, both spoken and written), hard working and earnest. because of him, as well as a couple of other reasons, i have decided to include a visit to auroville during the second half of february. with some guidance and encouragement he could become an invaluable gift for his community. i am hoping to work with him over the coming years and look forward to learning along side this great young man.

this coming month will be a busy time as i am in and out of darjeeling at least three times, with a fourth in the works. first is a week trek with two friends, one a long time student, to visit their native villages. after this rohin and i trek to singalila so i can visit the five villages that are part of the food jungle component of this critical bio-corridor. this is part of a large international project working to conserve threatened plant and animal species and the habitats necessary for their survival. what prerna will be doing is to train local villagers and than to provide support as they create a food jungle to supply their fuel, fodder, food, medicine, craft material and an economic income. this will be done in such a way that they will become an integrated aspect of this bio-corridor with minimal impacts on the species that they share this environment with. this will be my first visit to the area. i am very excited of this opportunity to demonstrate a strategy that has great potential to be replicated in many threatened environments.

my third absence from darj will be for the 'tea, tourism, and sustainable culture' course. i am hoping that this happens as it is a fund raiser for prerna and should be a easy as well as fun. below you will see our local advert for this course.

at the end of nov. i may be teaching a course for local tea workers again. this one, however, would be sponsored and run by 'the chai project'. this is an ngo that is support by tazo tea. for those of you who may not know, tazo is owned by starbucks. (did i hear some groans out there) i have been in conversation with them about pc and did a one day presentation recently for their office crew. the director is an american while the rest are local darjeeling folks. they are all sweet and committed people. while there is no doubt some corporate image advantage to this funding, they are also doing some good work. and as far as i can tell, tazo funds mercy corp (of which chai project is a program) with little influence on actual projects or programs. (having said this i will inquire further to ascertain how true a statement this is) within the ngo world, with precious little money to do some very important, necessary and immense work, funding can become a question of how much of your soul to sell. it is not always this way, and it is all to often a challenge many sincere, good hearted people are forced to face. for me, within the consulting framework, it is a dance that i am willing to do. what the question becomes is about actual work done and the physical reality of what is accomplished.

inbetween these excursions i have a couple or three days in town. these will be immersed in this digital world that has become a strange and very important part of my work. crazy, is it not, that my work, so focused on physical reality and the natural world, would become so influenced and supported by this digitalized communication. at least i can have my veg wrap and hot lemon while doing so.