Editor: When did you first hear about i-genius? And why did you join the community?

Alex: I heard about it through a friend (Lily Lapenna) in March, and I joined it to assist networking and publicity for the SFEL project, since we are really cut off from the world down in southern Ethiopian, we want to get the word out and get people to come and get involved in what we are doing.

Editor: How long has the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge been in operation? And what does it do?

Alex: SFEL formally began operations in December 2008, so now about 3 months. We are an Eco Lodge with organic restaurant.

We have a Permaculture (PC) farm, which produces food for our restaurant, and acts as a demonstration site for PC (the first in Ethiopia). We also offer training and consultancy services for Permaculture design, which is open for local organizations and community as well as for foreigners.

We also run a series of cultural tours called Cultural Immersion Programs, by which we seek to give visitors a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the local culture, as well as increasing the community participation in tourism as a means of providing alternative livelihoods to subsistence agriculture. Konso has a fascinating culture and sophisticated traditional agricultural system which is renowned for its extensive use of stone wall terracing for soil and water conservation.

Editor: What current projects are you involved with?

Alex: We are currently working with NGOs that are in active in our area (CISS and Save the Children Finland) training school teachers and implementing PC in Konso schools. PC is a system for sustainable management and rehabilitation of ecological resources which is particularly relevant to the issue of food security, which is problematic in Konso, due to population growth, land degradation and climate change leading to increasing frequency of rain failure.

Editor: What future events and/or projects does the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge have in mind?

Alex: We are planning to establish an Ethiopian Permaculture Association to coordinate between the activities of the trainees we have trained in the country so far (50 to date), represent the ethiopian movement internationally and, hopefully to bring an Ethiopian delegation to the international Permaculture convergence in Malawi in November this year. We are also looking to develop community cooperatives and for small scale food processing industries for locally produced crops – local (rural) value chain development in Konso. We will also continue training and implementation in Permaculture in Ethiopia, and we seek new partners to assist us undertaking further projects anywhere in the country. Also we will continue developing our tour programs and integrating them into the community in Konso to promote community benefit and improve the relationship between the tourists and visitors, which has been problematic due to lack of rewards accruing to the community so far.

Editor: What book are you reading now?

Alex: The Masnawi (Muhammad Jalahudin al-Rumi)

Editor: What are your future plans?

Alex: I am totally focused on seeing this project succeed at the moment. We are a good bit of the way there but we really need people to come and get involved with what we are doing, either as tourists, Permaculture trainees or as volunteers (see our website www.permalodge.org).

Editor: If you could paint the world in three colours, what would they be and why?

Alex: Green (the land), Blue (the sea), White (the clouds) – how it should be and how it should remain…

Editor: What are your resolutions for this year?

Alex: Make SFEL survive, flourish and grow…

Editor: Thanks Alex!