The
education center is located in
Nanyuki, in East Africa, 3 1/2 hours
north of Nairobi by car, adjacent to
the famous Mt. Kenya Safari Club and
the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Conservancy.
The education center offers on-site
demonstrations of conservation
through green methods that result in
alternatives to habitat destruction.
We offer lectures and programs
featuring subjects relevant to the
needs of local people. including:
solar heating of water, composting
of biodegradable refuse, fuel
efficient stoves for cooking, solar
ovens, instructions in making
alternative fuel briquettes, a tree
nursery producing fast-growing
indigenous trees which provide fuel
and fodder to enrich the soil with
nitrogen. and we also demonstrate
alternatives fuel sources by virtue
of a biogas plant, which converts
dung to methane gas, and, in the
process, yields a highly
concentrated liquid fertilizer. All
our water and waste is reclaimed
with the use of a permaculture
wetland that replicates nature’s way
of purifying water in an accelerated
fashion.
The center also offers overnight
accommodations for groups up to 50
visitors housed in youth hostel
style dormitory tents. There are
male and female shower and toilet
facilities powered by solar energy
and kitchen wash-up and storage
areas. We feature fuel efficient
cookers powered by a small amount of
fuel able to amply serve the
requirements of our guests.
In East Africa humans and wild
animals constantly compete for
habitat. In an effort to demonstrate
alternatives to traditional
agriculture on a small piece of land
that is economically viable,
conserves soil and has minimal
environmental impact, we created a
trout farm prototype. The adjacent
river is a source of irrigation for
the pond and the cash crop is
harvested twice a year. This plot
would otherwise become eroded and
unusable for man or beast in short
order without reconceptualizing its
usage.
We use a six-wheel drive vehicle
capable of accommodating 18 students
for field trips and visits to the
adjacent Animal Orphanage and Game
Ranch to study and observe the 37
species of East African wildlife on
the ranch property. There are
additional 4-wheel drive vehicles
for smaller groups and visiting
guest lecturers when necessary.
Trips to the surrounding forest and
lectures by the forestry officer are
part of the course study, as are
discussions of regional problems
conducted frequently by guest
lecturers from the wildlife
departments of all the National
Parks. Some of these field trips are
conducted on foot accompanied by our
resident Llamas used to porter water
and food for the groups. Llamas are
the camels of South America and our
prolific herd was the first of its
kind in Sub Saharan Africa thanks to
the brothers of our Vice Chairman
Don Hunt who gifted us with the
original four. Our Llamas also
provide a dramatic example of
biodiversity.
Our
education center also houses an
extensive library / video and
lecture hall. The library offers the
students an opportunity to further
explore the world around them in
books and on film.
Education Center's Trout Pond
Fish
farming is a type of farming that
can provide a source of income from
a relatively small piece of land
which would otherwise be productive
only for individual's immediate
needs. Since we had the land and the
river adjacent, we could create a
fish farm to demonstrate how one can
use nature but not abuse nature. We
only borrow the water to irrigate
the pond and return it unpolluted to
its source. We buy fingerlings from
a nearby fish hatchery and feed them
up to market size, thus creating a
cash crop enabling us to teach sound
financial and ecological methods.
Education Center's Tree Nursery
There
is no doubt that deforestation is
one of the most devastating
environmental consequences of this
century. The simple solution is to
plant more trees! In that light, we
constructed a tree nursery, and
students are shown two types of
seedbeds and taught methods of
sowing and caring for seedlings.
Since the nursery was established in
1989, the Education Center has
provided hundreds of seedlings to
students from all over Kenya
to take home, as well as to plant at
the Center for our own fuel source.
We have also planted trees in areas
close to the Center suffering from
soil erosion. The primary tree grown
is Sesbania sesban, a fast growing
shade-type requiring reasonable
watershed unlike the Blue gum or
Eucalyptus so commonly considered
the best fast grower, which requires
on average several hundred gallons
of water per day during its maximum
growth period. Sesbania sesban can
also be used for intercropping in
agroforestry, and fodder for animal
food since it is a legume.
Education Center's Bellerive Cooker
The
Bellerive Foundation is a non-profit
organization operating in Kenya, and
designed to assist people in
protecting their environment by
conserving natural resources while
making most efficient use of these
resources. The traditional source of
cooking in Kenya is firewood. Due to
the rapid population growth, the
forest areas have suffered greatly
from the unrestricted cutting.
Without trees to hold the topsoil,
erosion can carry it away so that
pastures become unproductive and
agricultural land is ruined.
Therefore, by burning less firewood
fewer trees will be cut, preventing
the incumbent problems. To address
this growing need, The Bellerive
Foundation came up with the
Bellerive Cooker, a remarkable
cooking system. How does this
amazing stove work? A stainless
steel pot is inserted in the stove
surrounded by fire bricks that
conduct the heat around the pot, the
heat is generated by the fire below,
the food cooks quickly without
burning the pot and the chimney
conducts the fumes away from the
cooking area. The stove can also
serve as an oven so it provides
every cooking need while
demonstrating good conservation of
fuel. The stove is built to last and
only requires yearly maintenance of
fire bricks, and with proper usage
the stainless steel pots should last
for years.
Education Center's Model Garden
Our
model garden teaches companion
kitchen gardening and crop rotation,
making an excellent lesson for
efficient land use on small plots.
Education Center's Permaculture
Wetlands Project
With a
grant from the J.L. Foundation, the
education center has a permaculture
wetlands project. The purpose of
permacultre is multidimensional, at
the same time as it conserves water
by completely recycling grey water,
it provides for wetlands which
attract many forms of insect and
bird life formerly lost due to over
use of insecticides. By employing
nature's own methods and translating
them to adapt to a given site and
source, water recovery can be
accomplished at an astonishing rate.
Education Center's Bio-Gas System
At the
education center we have been using
a bio-gas system as a source of
supplemental electric energy and
high-grade fertilizer since 1995 -
the good news is that the rest of
the world seems to be catching up.
Recent articles in major newspapers
and journals suggest that the sheer
volume of manure produced by today's
livestock 'factories' has finally
reached critical mass. A single pig
farm can produce as much as 70,000
tons of manure which not only has an
unbearable stench, but threatens to
pollute waterways and has been
linked to serious health problems in
neighboring communities. In years to
come, improper manure disposal will
not only increase pollution, but is
a waste of a potentially valuable
resource. Although bio-gas produces
only half the energy of natural gas,
benefits to the environment are not
only undeniable but may be critical
to our survival. As with all other
alternative technologies more
efficient methods will emerge - it
wants only our willingness to try.
Bio-gas is a gas mixture of methane,
carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide
- which is created when sewage or
manure is fermented in the absence
of oxygen. The material that remains
in the digester after fermentation
can be used as an organic
fertilizer. During processing,
organic substances are decomposed by
microorganisms and in addition to
manure, such materials as harvest
surplus, vegetable oil remains,
household organic waste and grass
can be used to produce clean energy
which contributes to the reduction
of greenhouse gases. It's a win/win
all around.
