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Nyumbani: A Village for TomorrowBy Bill Moore Open Access Article Originally Published: September 29, 2006
When you look at the ClustrMap display of where people live who read EV World, you are immediately struck by how few of them live in Africa. There is a sad and tragic reason for that. Despite enormous natural wealth both human and material, the continent, which straddles the Equator from Casablanca to Capetown, has a long history of oppression, from tribal conflicts to the slave trade to colonialism to seemingly countless despotic governments through the latter half of the 20th century. And now the most ruthless and cruel oppressor of all is laying waste to a generation of people by the millions; and in its wake, it is leaving behind anywhere from 12-to-25 million orphans, a number soon to grow to 18 or 40 million, depending on whose numbers you choose to believe. As frequent EV World readers will recognize, I occasionally digress away from what one would think is the editorial focus of our publication, and perhaps this story would seem to be the most "off-topic" of all, except maybe for the one where we discussed UFOs - now that was "way out there", I admit. But as you'll quickly learn, there is very much a link between this story about AIDS and the orphans it's left behind and EV World where we talk about "the future in motion". That connection comes in the form of a village built by Father Angelo D'Agostino, a medical doctor, psychiatrist and Jesuit priest. Father Angelo was in Washington, D.C. last week to be honored for his work in trying to improve the lot of the AIDS orphans of Africa by developing the concept behind and funding for Nyumbani (pronounced 'knee-um-bahn-ee' and meaning 'home' in Swahili) village in Kenya. Inspired by the Gaviotasexperiment in Columbia, he set out to create a model eco-village that will house 1000 orphans and 250 elders (grandmothers, usually) who will care for and mentor the children. The goal is a sustaining community in terms of both food production, energy and use of local resources. Many of the 100 rammed earth-block homes will be powered by photovoltaic panels. The village has used an ancient technique to assure a supply of clean water. It has planted some 400 acres of Jatropha Curcas trees and is in negotiations with the Kenyan government for more. Even the human waste -- both liquid and fecal -- are collected and eventually turned into fertilizer and safe, composted humus. Father Angelo's efforts to address the human toll of the AIDS pandemic in Africa began 14 years ago in the slums of Nairobi, setting up a orphanage to take in and care for parent-less children. Then two years ago, he conceived of the idea of a model village in which children could grow and some semblance of the family unit could be preserved. The government of Kenya donated 1000 acres of arid scrub land an hour's drive east of the capitol on land inhabited by the Kamba tribe. Between a half million Euro donation from the Vatican -- which he refers to as a "miracle" -- and another half million Euros from another governmental body in Italy, D'Agostino and his aid organization were able to break ground on Nyumbani village. His vision involved satisfying three major objectives: reduce poverty in the community, be ecologically friendly so that not only did it not degrade the environment, but would enhance it. Lastly, it had to be "self-sustaining".
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