We breakfasted well on porridge, toast and fruit before forming a circle for announcements with department coordinators describing morning jobs and volunteers then taking their pick. Current jobs include creating a low-cost solar tracker, mulching vegetable beds and planting out, maintaining the waste-water system, baking bread in the wood-fired oven, renovating a compost toilet and translation work for the website.
These jobs are carried out, with a welcomed respite for tea and homemade bread, until the bell rings and there is a stampede for lunch. In sunnier months, the various solar cookers harness solar energy to prepare inventive meals full of fresh vegetables from the gardens. There is typically a brief silence at the start of meals as everyone tucks in, ravenous, before compliments about the food, general chatter and laughter fill the air. Days are becoming steadily hotter and the scent of the fig trees, orange blossom and roses creates a heady mix.
The working hours changed recently and now there is a siesta break before afternoon work. Today (and most days) this involved running to and diving into the deliciously refreshing cana pools. Long-term volunteers then work on a project of their choosing in the afternoons (see the project pack for examples). Once a week there is a seminar on, for instance, reciprocal roofs, compost toilets or international communities.
Early evening is a beautiful time for walking in the mountains, doing laughter meditation with Jyoti, yoga with Mimi or catching up with others. During dinner time, a hike was planned to Monkey’s Head to see the sunset so a group of us set off, with cartons Dom Simon (classy!), to sit atop of the peak, gawping at the extraordinarily beautiful landscape surrounding us.
In honour of Johann’s birthday we held a Rave in a Cave part III which was fantastic, full of dancing, laughing and cake and complete with a slightly bizarre amalgamation of romantic candles and hardcore trance music.
No two days are the same at Sunseed but each leaves you feeling positive and with new knowledge, excited for the following days’ adventures.
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However, since then Modou has developed a smaller model with thin, flat metal lining which works much better. I wonder if he could also use recycled aluminium cans for this purpose? He is very happy with the results and has plans to spread the word. He has promised to teach my friends in Senegal how to make them, and has called a meeting of all the Al Callos in his district. They want to plan a way to get more solar box cookers made and distributed, and find ways to encourage popular uptake of the solar cooker in The Gambia. Concern about deforestation for fuel has become widespread and reached governmental level so hopefully there will be much support for this work.
Last Winter has been an unusual Winter. For the first time in 25 years Sunseed closed to volunteers to focus on improvement works. That was not only refereed to the houses and commodities, it was also about internal structure, management and organisation.
All the staff members have been involved in many different meetings and working groups to analyze current situation, identify needs, brainstorm ideas, plan future actions and ways to make them happen.
EPF department (Patricia and Martin) has been involved in some of these working groups: Appreciative inquiries, Volunteers experience, Networking, Income generation, Sunseed Policies,…;
