Many of our SD supported projects are growing and expanding in unexpected ways. Here are two examples. The opening of a roadside café and the gift of a piano have all contributed to our projects meeting the needs of the communities they serve.
Inner City Schools
Thanks to contacts made through Subud gatherings and a piano, the Inner City School Project has expanded to help a high poverty school in New Jersey desperately in need of supplies for students participating in online learning.
The story begins with Ophelia Hurst, a Subud Member from Pennsylvania who was moving to Tucson. She wanted to give away her piano and asked another Subud member, Deanna McFadden, for advice. It turns out that Deanna’s daughter Olivia is a principal in a high poverty school in New Jersey. Contact was made and the piano delivered to her school. During the conversation with Olivia, it was discovered that the school was in need of much more than a piano. They needed paper, crayons, markers and white boards and dry erase markers, a must have for elementary students. These supplies were especially important since the school year would begin online. It was going to be hard enough to teach virtually but to not have basic supplies made the task even more difficult.
Ophelia left the school feeling she had to do something. She happened to be in touch with Pennsylvania Subud member Kevia Walton not knowing that Kevia’s mother is Hamidatun, founder of the Inner City Schools Project. Kevia contacted her mother to see if she had any money to share since some of the schools she was supporting in LA were on pause due to Covid. Hamidatun had received earmarked funds for her project and after contacting SD USA to make sure she could use the funds for a school in New Jersey she said, “yes, order supplies!”
Currently Kevia is waiting for her orders to arrive so she can personally deliver the supplies to Olivia. Due to so many students in the country needing white boards, dry erase markers and construction paper, everything is on back-order. But as soon as they arrive, Kevia will deliver the supplies.
Yayasan Permakultur Kalimantan
A door that was closed opens due to the Little Café That Could. Read Myriam Ramsey’s report on how the YPK Permaculture project is growing and helping communities in Kalimantan.
When I visited Permakultur Kalimantan Foundation, YPK, last January, Frederika and her husband Jayadi were just completing the construction of a café they expected would provide a small amount of money to supplement their permaculture project. They had no idea of the consequences of this Café.
Up to this point, their project had been conducting workshops on sustainable farming in partnership with the 1,000,000-tree project. The farmers that attended were from villages several hours away. The techniques these farmers learned were successfully implemented in their villages with great benefit to the environment and health of these communities.
But none of the farmers near the project were interested. These farmers continued to use pesticides causing the land to dry up and health problems for the villagers. But Frederika was patient and understood you can’t force people to listen, learn and change. The attitude of her neighbor farmers all began to change with the opening of her café and the effects of Covid on the areas around her farm. The café has become a place to get something nice to drink and sit and relax outside and visit. Suddenly her neighbors are open to learning about sustainable farming. Seeing and tasting the delicious food and beverages she sells that have been grown in ways that build the soil and without pesticides have opened the feelings of her neighbors. The café is so popular the new problem is how to keep up with demand.
Frederika was recently interviewed on the podcast, Beaming Green,
Episode Two – Pioneering Permaculture in Borneo, Indonesia.
It’s a wonderful and inspiring story filled with courage and amazing event after amazing event. Please listen.
Click here to hear the podcast
