Zumra: Testimony to the Power of Human Energy
Zumra: Testimony to the Power of Human Energy
This week’s entry was written by Negash Abebe, a Future Generations student based in Ethiopia. Negash and the other students met Zumra, an influential community leader, during the East African regional residential this term.
The day that Zumra arrived at the Red Cross Training Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the waitress who came to our table stopped all of a sudden and stared at one of our companions. “Are you not going to introduce me to him,” she asked, after a brief pause. “I am pretty sure I’ve seen the man somewhere, possibly on national television. Just can’t recall where.”
We told her that she was right, and the man with a stoic face she was staring at was Zumra, the founder of the famous Awura Amba community. Across the country, almost everywhere everyone has some knowledge of the relentless Zumra and the community he formed. To many, he is a symbol of defiance, perseverance, love for humanity, justice, and equality for men and women.
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| Zumra (center) with the East African cohort of the Class of 2017 |
At a very young age, Zumra began questioning the legitimacy and fairness of the community’s existing social structure where women were looked down on simply because they were not males and obliged to marry at a very young age. After decades of soul-searching, determination in the face of critical challenges, and hard work, he founded a community known today not only in the country, but also around the globe for its unique lifestyle and social ideals that center on principles of social and economic justice and peace.
Awura Amba community is as much well-known as the man who brought it into existence. Nearly ten years ago, when the news of the ways of the community came in to public attention, journalists came to speak with Zumra and other community members. It took a relatively short period of time before the name of the community, Awura Amba, became a highly celebrated brand nationwide. Some people named their businesses after the community. A popular local newspaper adopted the name.
From the very outset, Zumra has had little interest in attracting aid or any other kind of external assistance. He truly believes that in order to bring about change in a community, the most useful asset is the unwavering human spirit. He argues that many, if not all problems of the world, are solved if and only if humans place trust in their own power to make change. Zumra understands well that despite aid to a community’s cause, change happens for real when the desired change is in fact in line with the desire of the people, and as a result everyone has set its mind and heart on it. In the passionate lecture he gave in the residential program for the Africa cohort of the class of 2017, Zumra again and again asserted that people have to believe in themselves more than anything else.
In a country where the overwhelming majority of the population strongly believes in the value of religion, Awura Amba’s disregard for religious institutions is unusual. Zumra said that this progressive position has brought discrimination from other communities. During the previous regime, they were even untruly accused of conspiring against the then government and were forced to flee their land and seek refuge in the southern part of the country. At the time, people made every possible effort to wipe them out from the face of the land simply because they refused to believe in what others did. Every member of the community including the founder firmly stresses that God is in people’s mind and heart, and making institutions and going to one in search of God is a total waste of time. Zumra argues that the divine resides inside of people and looking outward for it is a waste of energy and time.
To Zumra and his community, the definition of divinity extends to the level that people are divine as long as they do the right and righteous. The idea of showing respect to churches and religious institutions that people built with their own hands, while simultaneously disrespecting the people, is ludicrous. The Awura Amba community believes that both earthly and heavenly rewards, if any, are the result of one’s actions. Zumra strongly believes and passionately speaks that people are capable of creating heaven on earth. To him and his like-minded followers, action and only action speaks louder than words.
The following day, as we left the Red Cross Training Center together, the group of students debated Zumra’s position on religion. As a young community change agent who would like to believe that reason paves the road to a better future, I listened attentively to the man’s critical thinking and liberal attitude. I was in awe.
Zumra’s inquisitive mind, outspokenness, and tenacity in the face of injustice has put him in a difficult position since an early age. He fled from his parents’ home at age thirteen. People did everything in their power to convince him that he wasn’t “normal.” After leaving home, he spent five years traveling throughout the Amhara region. He sat alone in the middle of the night amidst wild animals and thought about social justice questions until sleep took him.
Zumra has lived his entire life in defiance. He bravely challenges people, holds his ground, and yet keeps an open mind. He believes that the energy that keeps him going comes from his love for humanity. Standing for the disadvantaged lightens his heart. Making peace thrills him. Taking care of senior members of the community gives him immense satisfaction. To Zumra, all these aren’t only the moral thing to do, but the most rational path to pursue for a man and a community. Zumra is a living testimony of human energy. He walked his talk, and with little to no aid, he proved the fact that it is human energy that essentially brings and eventually sustains effective community change of all kind.
Today, the Awura Amba community, some five hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa, has five hundred members. There are also thousands of members of the community who live in other parts of Ethiopia and across the globe. Members share in and advocate the ideals of the community that center on equality of gender, social and economic justice, and peaceful coexistence. Today, in the Awura Amba community a man does what women do and vice versa. Children’s rights are respected and protected and from an early age, kids are taught the values of equality, the necessity of caring for the disadvantages, hard work, and the importance of living a free life that does not detach itself from responsibility.
Awura Amba is a utopian community. Even still, it has a long way to go in terms of achieving equality of gender, social and economic fairness, and peaceful coexistence of communities. A man, who has zero formal education, and little outside aid has managed to effectively make community change possible that many nations and people still dream of. If this isn’t the power of human energy in action, I have to say, I don’t know what is.
Bringing Home Fresh Ideas
Bringing Home Fresh Ideas
Kristen Baskin, a Future Generations student based in Athens, Georgia, joined the Appalachian regional residential this past September. Here’s a description of the experience in her own words:
The Future Generations Appalachia residential was interesting, insightful, well-planned, and incredibly helpful for my community in Athens, Georgia. Luke Taylor-Ide [Regional Academic Director for Appalachia] planned a residential that was so organized – meals, lodging and schedule – that we could 100% focus on our learning. I’ve been working in the field of urban gardening for a long time, and eventually started a composting business, Let Us Compost. If Let Us Compost were a bike, the residential was a living bike shop, oiling the gears, patching the holes in the tires, straightening the bottom bracket, while as I looked back upon Athens, I could see old bike paths I’d ridden a million times, new avenues to ride, and the air all around us that feeds everything.Future Generations is so applied that I often don’t see a gap between my business, Let Us Compost, and my graduate school work. Even though we had to travel for ten days to go on the residential, the alignment with work at home was spectacular, relating mostly to farms, food, community health and public policy. The residential was like a GIS layer placed on top of my community and business – each site visit was a better lens into what we we’re doing, how we could improve, and mostly a lens into the assets we already had – friends, partners, dedicated customers, land to make compost, a steady stream of food scraps, a team of spirited and passionate cyclists, and a governmental landscape that made it possible for us to grow. It was really new and difficult being away from my daughters, and I know for many people this is a big challenge for the program – but it’s really important to have that separation from your community and even sometimes your family to grow and become better. Coming home I love my family even more, and am crafting our systems at home to be better for everyone.
The most powerful visit was the trip to Refresh Appalachia, where we learned from a farmer how to use pigs to till the soil, use milk crates for an entire start to finish egg business, and how female animals really run the farms.This particular farmer was working in a coal mine and turning it into remediated, farmable land. He used an egg crate inside his hen house for roosts, the same crates to store empty egg cartons, to haul eggs (they have perfect circles that hold them steady), to wash and dry eggs (perfect drainage system), and finally to stack the full crates of eggs in nice squares for the market. The crates were free from a dairy and he used them for everything! With the land and sun he had an incredibly cycle that didn’t cost very much at all.
We visited the Capitol Market in Charleston where we saw a hand-painted public piano. I loved that it was out for everyone to see, anyone could play it and it spread joy all around. Somehow it was beautifully maintained too, and didn’t get destroyed by the weather.This taught me that if I’m going to get everyone in Athens to compost, I need for my community to understand what we are doing, and why. But more important than that, I need to involve my community more in what we are playing – asking for their input, talking to people who don’t compost and what they need to do so, and digging into the deeper environmental concerns that our community has – rather than just my own. I can set up a beautiful piano of sorts, but everyone needs to play it, the proper person needs to maintain it, and it needs to benefit the public, even if with new songs I’ve never heard.
Let Us Compost has changed a lot since I came home – we created a knowledge management system on Evernote so that everyone can see the operations manuals and have tools that they need at any time – this was a combination of my organizational management class with Dr. Ruben Puentes and absorbing my classmate Stephanie’s mind for organization. We created better systems for events so that our staff can manage them and interact with the community in new ways. We’ve pitched two stories to the local newspaper and were printed up in both Flagpole Magazine and the Athens Banner Herald – these were pitched by community members and our bike haulers! The interview with Flagpolewas conducted by phone on the residential. This advice came from Dr. Daniel Taylor, who told me to gather community voices rather than drawing a famous inspirational speaker – that these voices would grow composting more. A video was made about our bike hauling and I didn’t make an appearance or have any input on it which was wonderful!! It was delightful to see “my” company become our community’s company.
Due to a conflict that occurred with a Let Us Compost staff member while I was away on the residential, I created a template for our composting pilot which allowed our farm manager to give us six months of information about how to compost weird things at a farm. Before having this report, all his information was kept secret, and he felt like he wasn’t listened to or valued. Now he openly shares his ideas and processes, so we can all be a part of it.We launched a new test pilot to pick up CHaRM materials – things that are traditionally hard to recycle, and the only people participating are our clients – so they get all the input. My classmate Ashley inspired putting this into action – hearing about her community’s struggle with recycling made me incredibly grateful for the infrastructure we had – I finally saw it as an asset! Future Generations has really stressed this point – our community voices is what should drive social change – and it can flow through SEED-SCALE‘s process. Within days the lessons from the residential were applied – and it’s been working really well – our team is united, we’re sharing ideas, following process, and repeating systems instead of creating new ones. Thank you for my education!!Love,
Kristen
Regional Residentials Expose Students to Community Development Successes
Regional Residentials Expose Students to Community Development Successes
The Class of 2017 just wrapped up regional residential experiences in Nepal, West Virginia, and Ethiopia. Regional residentials are an important component of the Future Generations degree program because they give students the opportunity to meet face to face and explore things that are happening in their regions. Here are some summaries from each of the residentials by people who were on them.
Nepal“We visited 7 organizations related to the program outcomes and course objectives for this term. Above all, we learned that success comes through proper planning, community participation, and stakeholder partnerships. Students gained knowledge related to program outcomes, community mobilization, and sustainable development.” Nawang Gurung, Himalaya Regional Academic Director
West Virginia
“The term II residential for the Appalachian cohort was filled with innovative organizations, creative community involvement, and grand examples of partnerships, evidence gathering, and community organization. These shining examples, amid West Virginia’s economic collapse in the coal industry, are proving communities are willing to bind together and work for a common good even if that means finding healthier, more sustainable ways of living and working. These examples stretched across a wide spectrum of organizations and places from community gardens and farmers’ markets in Lewisburg to health groups and church assemblies in Williamson and Charleston. Though they varied in application and focus they were all working towards the same goal – harnessing and expanding human energy in a way that would spark and continue community change beneficial to people, the environment, and the economy. I am glad to see such innovation and drive alive and well in my home state, but I am happier to know that I am able to apply the same skillset I observed in these communities to my own.” Ashley Akers, Class of 2017
Ethiopia
“After the great residential program in Ethiopia am just back to the office. This program was very special to me for it exposed us to unique experiences with a selection of relevant institutions and communities. All of us were so active to attend, tirelessly asking questions, and compiling our new learning around the clock. We covered a huge distance during the field visits but it was a learning process all along. With this, I like to express my appreciation to fellow students and I like to say thank you very much for the Graduate School management and faculty for giving us this opportunity. A thank you should also go to all institutions who hosted us and gave us their time generously. But most importantly, I love to recognize Firew Kefyalew [East Africa Regional Academic Director] for his special effort and attention for the great success of the program.” Zerihun Damenu, Class of 2017
Graduate School Kicks off New Year-Long Applied Research Webinar Series
Graduate School Kicks off New Year-Long Applied Research Webinar Series
Future Generations Graduate School kicked off its monthly webinar series with a strong faculty showing and invaluable perspectives from alumni. The discussion set the tone for webinars to follow. From now on, they’ll be divided into two parts:
- A Theoretical Discussion on topics such as why to do applied research in the first place; pros, cons, and options for publishing applied community-based research; and the ins and outs of developing strong research questions. This portion of the webinar will include expert perspectives, guest speakers, and optional background and resource materials.
- A Presentation of either an active research project or an idea for a future research project by a member of the team – faculty, alumni, or current student. Presenters will have the opportunity to receive feedback, constructive criticism, and encouragement from peers and mentors alike.
The purpose of the webinar series is to discuss research-related topics, learn new skills, and provide peer review and encouragement from members of the global team. It is an institution-wide effort to raise the profile of the Graduate School’s applied research, and to encourage further collaboration and capacity among the Global Network of students, alumni, and faculty. Applied research has been an integral part of the master’s degree curriculum and part of the work of Future Generations since the original research that informed its creation. This year in particular, the Graduate School is focused on scaling up and strengthening its educational offerings as well as the scholarship and practice generated by the institution.
These webinars will continue on the second Tuesday of each month through at least May 2017. The next webinar will take place on October 11, 2016. All feedback and ideas for how to make the series more relevant, effective, and meaningful are welcomed. Please send Meike Schleiff, Director of Research, an email!
Majoring in Life: The Career of Future Generations Professor of Natural History Robert Fleming
Majoring in Life: The Career of Future Generations Professor of Natural History Robert Fleming
“How can you major in life? How can you major in the beauty of the world? You have to choose a major to get a degree, but those were the things I wanted to study. . . My interests are in the beauty and diversity of nature, and having my Ph.D. in zoology was a stepping stone that gave me access to different areas of the world.”
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| Trinidad Motmot |
Dr. Robert L. Fleming, Future Generations Professor of Natural History, strayed from a conventional academic career in 1966. After three years of teaching biology at a high school in India, he decided he would make the entire world his classroom. “It’s confining to spend so much time in the classroom teaching and in making and grading tests and keeping people in line,” Dr. Fleming explained. In 1970, he founded a sole proprietorship, Nature Himalayas, which would bring the eager students he sought directly to him over the next four decades. Through Nature Himalayas, Dr. Fleming has organized and led hundreds of outings around the world, which have allowed him to simultaneously teach and research the natural history and rich cultural heritage of places like Borneo, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, and more.
Dr. Fleming has contributed an array of publications to the fields of natural history and conservation. He has published nearly a dozen Occasional Papers with Future Generations Graduate School, highlighting applied research and community-based approaches to social development, health, nature conservation, and more. He has also co-authored two influential books on the natural history of the Himalayan region. The first of these is Across the Tibetan Plateau, in which Dr. Fleming, along with Dorje Tsering and Liu Wulin, documents and celebrates wildlife, ecosystems and conservation efforts seen in the mountainous area. The book, with exquisite photographs capturing Tibet’s fauna and landscapes, has sold particularly well in its Chinese edition since its publication in 2007. Another wide-reaching publication, Birds of Nepal, was the region’s first modern ornithological field guide. Dr. Fleming co-authored and illustrated Birds of Nepal with his father, Robert L. Fleming Sr., and Royal Nepal Academy Director Lain Singh Bangdel. This field guide has been an invaluable contribution to the subsequent generation of Nepalese scientists, and all three of the manual’s published editions have sold out.
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| White-Necked Jacobin Hummingbird |
When reflecting on how his association with Future Generations Graduate School has influenced his career, Dr. Fleming notes how it inspired a significant change in perspective in regards to conservation efforts. “Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, we [conservationists] were exclusionary, believing that national parks should not have people living there,” Dr. Fleming recalled. “Future Generations really opened my eyes to see how that system doesn’t work. . . ‘no-man, no-go’ areas like Yellowstone National Park don’t work.” Fleming and Future Generations support an alternative model to conservation which relies on citizens in the management of park systems and encourages collaboration and shared responsibility between government agencies and private landowners. In the United States, this model is best exemplified in the Adirondack State Park of New York, a six-million-acre system of which half the land is privately owned and which serves as the place of work and residence for hundreds of thousands of people; such a model encourages park growth while cutting operational costs down to a 1/3 of the national park model.
Another successful example of conservation efforts integrated with existing human communities can be seen in the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet, China, which has been a focal point in Dr. Fleming’s research career. That is the Qomolangma (Mount Everest) National Nature Preserve, which was established in 1989 and, within a little over a decade, succeeded in doubling wildlife populations, reducing deforestation by 2/3, and protecting water supplies of local villages while at the same time expanding access to health care and education.Dr. Fleming, though a self-proclaimed generalist, specializes in the Himalayan mountain system and is working on a longer monograph that, once completed, will highlight our need to think about how the entire planet is connected as one great biosphere.