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BACKCOUNTRY SKILLS

Put a lifetime's work to a new test.

In the developed world, we have the liberty of employing principles of sustainable living as a matter of choice. But in the developing world, where population increases are exponential, people live off the grid, grow their own food, minimize waste, and simply live simply not because of a lifestyle choice but because they have to. In Guatemala, for example, about 2 million people live without electricity. The problem of accessing such lifesaving amenities as the power grid, clean and affordable housing, dependable food production, clean water, and basic comforts is often only solved through the appropriate technologies MOTHER has been shouting about for over a quarter-century. Thousands of communities throughout the developing world would profit immensely from the advice and direction of those who've made a lifetime of low-impact living. That's where you come in.

For decades, readers have been applying principles of appropriate technology, alternative building, and gardening methods in pursuit of a self-reliant, independent and affordable living situation for themselves and future generations. Voltaire advised us to cultivate our own gardens, but there's no reason you can't go further than Candide. Bill Steen, director of the Conelo project to build straw bale houses in Mexico, likes to use the Spanish verb capacitar, which literally means enabling or giving capacity to someone or something. The suggestion here is that MOTHER readers, having enabled themselves, are uniquely qualified to enable others. What follows is a short profile of a few organizations that work at home and in developing nations where MOTHER readers can put their skills to work, and maybe learn a few new ones too.

Educational Concerns for Hunger Association (ECHO), 17430 Durrance Rd., North Ft. Myers, FL 33917-2200, (813) 543-3246, fax: (813) 543-5317

A typical example of the endeavors of the scientists at ECHO is to design an effective way to keep baboons out of garden plots in Africa (just imagine those pests as slightly more nimble deer and the gardener's dilemma might be brought closer to home). ECHO is a small interdenominational Christian organization that uses 12.5 acres in North Fort Myers, FL, as a seed bank and lab for farming techniques in the developing world. It works with missionaries, development workers, and Peace Corps volunteers as an agricultural consultant. For example, according to ECHO'S newsletter. Development Notes —which is basically a how-to manual for farming and gardening in the Third World—ECHO recently sent information on making milk from the seed of the agushi melon to West Africa to an area where milk from cows, goats, or soybeans was not available. ECHO offers free seed packets for more than 70 species of tropical food plants to missionaries and other overseas workers. Volunteers work at the ECHO farm; work outside, in the office, or seed bank; one day, several times a month, or every day; or enroll in ECHO'S 15-month internship program.

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