This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ] Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 10:31:03 -0800 (PST) From: "Shinjinee Chattopadhyay" Add to Address Book Subject: conversation with Peter Bakos To: "Anitha Sampath" , "'Rajendra Marulkar'" CC: cramanujam@austin.rr.com 1. Question on community involvement: Peter said that he envisages an ashram kind of stuation, where there will be a demo garden. he thinks that giving the villagers examples will help them construct their own gardens. the money that is made by selling the produce will go partly to GC to sustain their own management and administration costs and partly as investment into the garden again. They will buy more seed stock etc to plant. The running cost of this garden should be covered by this produce. GC will have the technical know-how to help the villagers in their own projects. 2. When asked on where the villagers will get the land They already have some land in the forests, where they are doing intercropping for fruit bearing trees. However there is some government land that can be leased and used for a community plot and GC is trying to lease this land from teh government for the villagers. 3. what kind of techniques/skills do the GC people have they have been attending government workshops and trainings in order to pick up skills required for organic farming, such as composting techniques, food processing, preparing soil etc. However they also need to learn about various grafting techniques, nursery building techniques, inorganic farming techniques. Peter will help them pick up these skills since he knows some of them, and the volunteers will also avail of government programs, along with trainings offered by other NGOs. 4. Question on progress already made: The cheque was cleared in the last 3/4 weeks and the soil has been prepared for construction and some border trees have been planted. They have cleared the ground for construction of the ashram. The construction will be done by the villagers as a voluntary activity and they will be given some compensation in teh form of food. Peter does not know how much of the funds will be used for the construction materials and how much will go to the people as remuneration. The people are enthusiastic about these kind of projects and in the past they constructed a pond which they now use freely for water, bathing etc. For the construction of the ashram, Peter will oversee this project since he is a civil engineer and they may have to hire a couple of skilled masons for a few days during one phase of the project. 5. Average salary of the people living in these villages: 300 or 400 rupees per month. 6. next step: Peter is meeting with teh GC people on Monday and he will email us about what was discussed in teh meeting. Peter will also send us a write up with the details of how the money is being utilized, ie . the break up of the construction costs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After this conversation Rajendra and I discussed among ourselves and we feel that we need some specific timelines and quantifiers for the progress made. Rajendra will send out a list of these concerns to Peter, Anitha, Chandrika and myself. Please let me know if there are any particular concerns or questions that you would like addressed and we can incorporate them in the email to Peter. Thanks