DIPLOMA APPRENTICE
Re-engaging, relocating and raring to go!
I signed up for the Diploma in Applied Permaculture in 2011, but judging by my level of activity it would be hard to tell. However, I have recently (August 2020) recommitted myself and am raring to go!
I spent the intervening years until March this year in East Africa, volunteering for a number of organisations, living a nice life with lots of fun, new experiences and many challenges, and finding focusing on the diploma pretty difficult. I did manage a small number of designs in that time, one or two of which may find their way into my portfolio.
But my African life has run its course now: it’s time to come back to Europe. In March this year I arrived in Portugal (where at the time I thought I might settle) on a WorkAway placement, expecting to stay a month. However, lockdown changed my plans, as it has for many. I stayed, but a change of heart has led to the decision to make my home in France rather than Portugal. At the moment I don’t know exactly where I will end up, or in what sort of living situation.
Recently I participated in Surviving the Future, an online course based on the work of David Fleming, which has inspired me to think much more about “what will follow our troubled civilisation”, about the importance of community, about lean living and about what part I can play in that sequel. It was partly that course that inspired me to say a resounding yes to the question from PA head office, are you on the diploma bus or not?
I’ve just finished designing my new Diploma Learning Pathway, which brought me to a new idea: to stay on WorkAway and WWOOF for a prolonged period, maybe a year, using the opportunities that will offer for designing, learning and working out where the next phase of my life will be based and what my focus will be.
Life is always full of uncertainty, even when we don’t realise it, and mine feels particularly so at the moment. And that is very fertile ground for permaculture design and new ways of thinking. So I’m open to what will present itself, and to any suggestions!
September 2020