Voices from Africa

[Sue Bea]

From: Gebremedhine
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 6:02 AM
To: info@schoolsforchiapas.org
Subject: Re: Zapatista Ecologial Education in Africa

Dear collaegues/commerades in arms
 
Thanks for the information. It is nice to meet you in the WSF, at Nairobi, Kenya. Yes, we thank you again for the seeds and we are waiting for the appropriate seasons to plant them and let you know the progress. I f everything goes smooth, we will be multiplying the seeds and distribute among the farmers in maize growing areas.
 
Let' be in touch
 
Gebre

[Sue Bea]

From: david m
To: info@schoolsforchiapas.org
Sent: Mon, 7 May 2007 06:58:58 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Receipt of corn seed for planting

Dear Suzzane Beattie,
Thank you so much indeed, I acknowledge receipt of the corn seed from you plus the planting,harvesting, cooking,and storing guidelines.this is very wonderful suzzane,since you seem to be doing a lot on getting rid of hybrid do you have some some vegetable varieties that could be more resistant and tolerant or stuff such  as watermelon varieties?
 
This is  a big problem to Africa we cant grow anything without  fertilizers,pestcides,fungicides
Foliar feeds and so on.am looking into mobilizing Farmers in my home village to adapt the Mexican form of farming,I hail from the western part of kenya where there is alot of rain and corn growing some where around the Mt Elgon area.
 
So please look into ways we can partner with you if possible we start a project on maize which am certain that it will definately work or succeed.Do you do such projects at the school of chiapas? if yes can I start collecting the views from my home farmers?
 
Let me know suzzanne if there is any way we can be able to work together.
Thank you from
David Musungu
Bye.

[Sue Bea]

Thanks for the nice pictures.It is now planting season and we have already planted the good mother seeds.All the selected four farmers have planted using organic manures.The first ones have started germinating,hope they become seeds of hope for many indiginous communities who yearn for better seeds that are really indiginous.
We shall keep you informed of our progress.
 
Many regards,
Wafula
project officer-sustainable agriculture
Kima intergrated community initiative programme.

[Sue Bea]

Hi Peter!

Greetings from VSF in Uganda.

Its long since we wrote to each other. However today iam sending you the
plantation of the maize you gave us. This seed will be amemory for the
whole of Mexico. We shall not atempt to eat it but just to multiply.


Thank for your endevours.


George

[Sue Bea]

From: judy
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 5:30 AM
To: info@schoolsforchiapas.org
Subject: greetingsandthanks

Hi how are you guys doing ihoppe you are fine.iwish to
thank you for the corns you sent to me,and iwoulld
like to tell you that the seeds are doing better and
they will do mucht better becouse of the weather.the
picture that you asked me to send to you,iwill send it
as soon as they grow tall becouse iwant to take a
picture with my family+the plants,then i can sent to
you to see how they are doing.ihoppe you could pay me
a vissite one day. please can you define the amount
that you wanted me to sent for the corns how mutch is
it if you put in usdollars or you put in kenyan
shillings then iwill se what to do thankyou and have a
good day.

From: Susan [mailto:Susan@schoolsforchiapas.org]
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 11:15 AM
To: 'wangui judy'
Subject: RE: greetingsandthanks

Dear Judy,

Thanks for your letter!  We are fine and we are happy to hear that your little seeds are beginning to grow!  We would love to see any pictures you take and, when the corn has grown strong, we hope that you will send us some.  When you send them, we will post your pictures on our corn forum (www.schooIsforchiapas.org/forums/) so everyone can see that there really is Zapatista corn growing in Africa!

In terms of paying for the corn, you can send us a donation if you like (and if you are able to do this without suffering a hardship) but we are also happy to give the seeds as a gift to you and to all the small farmers in Africa.  Unless you have a credit card and can access the donation page on our website (which, I think is unlikely) it is probably best to just accept the corn seed as a gift from the indigenous Zapatista farmers and consider these letters as the best payment we could receive. To know that we are in contact is a very wonderful thing and we appreciate your letters a great deal!

We are still thinking about how we might meet up with you again... either here in Mexico or in Africa.  We just finished a very interesting meeting where we covered a wall in our office with pictures of all our new corn growers... including you and many of our new friends in Africa.  People are VERY EXCITED to see all of the new faces and think about all the places on the planet in which Zapatista corn from Mexico is now growing!

Thank you again for your letter.  We wish you a very successful growing season and harvest.  We are looking forward to seeing pictures of the corn.

For a world where all worlds fit,

Susan Beattie, Coordinator
info@schoolsforchiapas.org

[Sue Bea]

Dear Peter,

Thanks for the good communications and work you are doing.The Zapatista corn you shared with us during your visit in Kenya has multiplied almost ten fold.
During this festive season we wish you the best in your work as we all look forward to repair the damage caused to our Mother Earth in the coming year.Hope to share more with you in the coming planting season of March -April.

Best wishes and enjoy your Christmas and New year.

Wafula Ferdinand.