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"Permaculture Design Certificate" (PDC) course and intercultural exchange program in Marda, Palestine  

The following Permaculture education opportunity is a unique one. It comes from my good friend and colleague Murad Alkhuffash who has established the Marda Permaculture Education Center in Palestine.

Murad's goal is to empower Palestinians to produce healthy food for themselves using traditional and modern methods without using expensive and environmentally damaging industrial fertilizers or pesticides.  Using gravel filled car tires to create terraces and Permaculture planning to incorporate rainwater harvesting, a covered nursery and compost production he has developed a small farm which produces much more than organic vegetables and fruit. 

Kaya Michener from Austalia, a 2009 graduate of Kibbutz Lotan's Center for Creative Ecology Green Apprenticeship Permaculture Design Course (PDC), is the administrator for the PDC that will be held at the Marda farm beginning on June 6, 2010. The course is open to Arab and International students (special funding opportunities are available for Australians).  According to Kaya, "the aim of the course is fostering cross-cultural exchange and learning between Palestinians and students from around the world in the areas of agriculture, regional history and culture."

Murad's farm is special as he has combined traditional Middle Eastern agricultural techniques with modern Permaculture concepts. The farm was designed jointly by Murad and drylands Permaculture forestation expert Julie Firth of Australia.  Participants will learn from his experience as a farmer, have an opportunity to learn from the culture of his community, and will be supporting with their hands the development of an important resource center that Palestinians need and deserve.

Internationally renown rainwater harvester Brad Lancaster is planning co-teaching the course and it is affiliated with Geoff Lawton's Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.  An additional bonus is a three day intensive Arabic language course from June 3-6 taught by an experienced instructor in crash-language acquisition.

Please pass this information on to others who may consider attending.

Inquiries can be addressed to Murad, Maya and Alex (emails below).

for more information and contacts

• Murad Alkhuffash - Marda Permaculture Farm director 
• Kaya Michener - Marda PDC course administrator
• Alex Cicelsky - Lotan's Center for Creative Ecology -  
• Julie Firth - drylands permaculture designer and nursery
• Brad Lancaster - rainwater harvesting
• Marda PDC course registration website
• Photo gallery of the Marda farm

Thank you - Salaam and Shalom,

Alex --
Alex Cicelsky
Director of Research and Development
Center for Creative Ecology
Kibbutz Lotan
website: www.kibbutzlotan.com
tel: +972-54-9799009
alex@lotan.ardom.co.il

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Contact Lotan Center for Creative Ecology

Leah Zigmond
lotan-ecocenter@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356811; +972 8 6356935; +972 54 9799024
Toll free (while in Israel): 1800 2000 75