I have spent the last two years in Ethiopia in the southern district of Konso, working with the local people to establish Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge; a combined Eco Lodge and Permaculture Design (PD) training and consultancy service. We give training and follow up services in PD; a system for integrated and sustainble management of ecological resourecs. By doig this we are promoting food securiy in Konso. So far we have traned 50 participans and begun follow-up programs in 8 schools in konso. These involve implementation of designs produced by the participants on the PD courses (PDCs), who were teachers from the schools themslves. As well as this we are developing new eco-trails and trekking tours to increase community participation in the tourism industry in Konso, as a means of providing alternative livilihoods to agriculture, thus again pomotig food security. (Konso suffers from droughts and food shortages on average once every 10 yeas.)
The Land of Konso
Konso is an area of approximately 500km2 situated in the south-west of the Southern Nations Region of Ethiopia (latitude 5'15' N, longitude of 37'30'E). The Konso highland is a basalt massive, running east to west across the bowl of the Great Rift Valley. Its rugged topography is cut by deep valleys that enter into the heart of the country. The Konso people have a unique culture, based on sedentary mixed agriculture, which distinguishes them from their neighbours in the lowlands to the east and west who are pastoralists (Engels and Goettsch 1999). The pastoralists have in the past been prone to raid the Konso villages for livestock, which has greatly affected the Konso lifestyle. Their society is centred on walled hilltop villages, which are constructed for defence.
Konso has a degree of political autonomy with The Konso Special Wareda being one of 8 special waredas in the Southern Region. (The SNNP Region is divided into 13 administrative zones, which are assigned to larger ethnicities and another eight “special woredas” assigned to smaller minorities, including Konso.) Konso’s adminustrative capital, Karat-Konso, is situated at 1600m altitude (asl) and is located 85km south of Arba Minch, and around 590km south of Addis Ababa.
Konso's Culture
The Konso people display a strong culture and hard work ethic, which immediately distinguishes them from much of the rest of Ethiopia. They speak an eastern Cushitic language, suggesting a link to other Cushitic speakers in the area, such as Oromos.
However their exact origins are obscure and their own folk-law only indicates that they came from some where to the east between 500-1000 years ago.
The Konso village is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its workmanship, constructed entirely from natural materials, cultivated or gathered from the surroundings. The village is ringed by dry-stone walls, at least a meter thick and two meters high. Stone-lined pavements run between the housing compounds and the stones have often become polished to a shine by long years of service in the village’s transport system.
Houses are arranged into family compounds, each with three to five houses and grain store, which is raised off the ground on wooden poles. Animals including goats, cattle and the distinctive Konso fat-tailed sheep, are tethered under the grain-store or elsewhere in the compound and fed on ha
Development of food security for the community in Konso
Improvement of environmental resource managemnt in Konso
Improvment of community participation in tourism in Konso and the tourist-visitor relationship
2000-2003 BA: Biological Sciences (2.1) (Merton College, Oxford)
2004-2005 Post-grad diploma: Economics (SOAS, London)
2005-2006 Travelled widely in Europe, Middle-East and North-Africa working on farms, learning languages and visiting cultural attractions.
2007
Jan-March Permaculture Design Course (3 Months) Catalunya, Spain.
April Returned to Ethiopia, began research phase of project development.
June Received investment license (Ethiopian Investment Agency)
August Began implementation on SFEL project site in Konso.
2008 Worked on development of SFEL; construction, farm development, documentation, accounting, business development, recruiting, networking and publicity.
Hosted 4 PDCs (lead by Rosemary Morros and Tichafa Makovere)
December SFEL opened with Konso music festival.
