The smiles were radiant last Thursday night as student's from BUSTAN's first Permaculture Course gathered in Tel Sheva at the home of BUSTAN Director Ra'ed Al-Mickawi to celebrate their graduation. The students, who are both Bedouins and Jews, have been studying together for the past 5 months, learning the theory and practice of local sustainable resource use.
The goal of the course was to create a core group of local leaders who have the tools of analysis and planning to respond to local issues and implement projects that are sustainable and appropriate, promoting community health and personal empowerment within their communities, and more specifically, within the unrecognized Bedouin villages. Students who completed the course received an internationally recognized certificate of Permaculture, and will now be moving into Phase II of the course, projects and implementation. We congratulate all the graduates and look forward to see how these students will go on to make a difference within their own communities.
