Guba

Back in Swaziland, we moved into our “house” and started our “job.” I use quotations because our house is actually a tool shed and our job doesn’t pay. But since we enjoy the work and we have no rent, bills, insurance, debt, or taxes to worry about, I think it’s a pretty good gig.

Our teeny tiny "house"

The nursery

Guba is a nonprofit started 5 years ago by an English couple. They offer free permaculture training to low-income Swazis, to empower them to rise out of poverty by growing their own food and living sustainably. Every year they select thirty participants who spend a week each month at Guba, learning how to garden, compost, mulch, filter gray water, raise chickens, etc. Then Guba staff members visit every homestead every month to support their progress. It’s the most intensive, hands-on permaculture training I’ve seen and it seems to be very effective. 

We arrived at Guba just in time to attend the graduation ceremony of their first group of participants. Everyone was joyful. There were hours of speeches and songs, mostly in SiSwati, but it was clear without translation that the trainees were grateful and proud. We walked there from the bus with one graduate who told us in English that this was the best thing that ever happened to her. She said there are no words to describe what a positive impact Guba has had on her family.

Part of the Guba team

Building the new training center

So we felt great about who we were working for, but then we started and didn’t know what our role was. Training doesn’t start again until January, and everyone’s main focus now is construction: building a new training center, a new kitchen, and volunteer accommodations.

The Volunteer Accommodations - you think it'll be ready by the time we leave?

Now we’ve got an idea of how this place runs and we basically choose to work on whatever projects interest us, or start something new. My main project has been planting a food forest. A food forest is like a regular forest, with a canopy, understory, vines, etc., but everything in it is edible – fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, grape vines, and perennial vegetables on the ground. It’s a permaculturist’s heaven; a consistent source of free, diverse food that requires almost no maintenance and makes a positive impact on the environment instead of a negative one. It improves soil quality, invites birds and small animals, provides shade, etc., etc. Guba has a large area of land set aside for this, so they asked me to research available trees and come up with a design that considers each tree’s needs regarding sun and wind exposure, water, soil quality, and spacing.  So far I’ve designed and planted one section of the forest. On a typical day I spend a few hours inside, researching and designing, then a few hours planting trees in the soil.

We quickly realized that TK gets antsy if he spends more than 10 minutes on a computer, and Microsoft Excel makes him crazy. So he works almost entirely outdoors, mostly planting and taking care of the animals. He’s in charge of the experimental chicken coop, which has four separated fields planted at intervals with different grains and vegetables. The idea is to learn which plants can coexist with chickens and how big they need to grow first to adequately feed the chickens without being trampled or ravaged by them.

TK's latest idea is to build a solar dryer for drying fruit.

Lewis and Ruby pay us a visit and we make it as white trash as possible:
sipping beers mid-afternoon, sitting on tires outside our trailer :)

So that’s what we’ve been up to the past couple months. It’s nice to have regular work hours again, but also the flexibility to take time off whenever we want. For things like Mozambique!