Great Happenings in Spain

Episode 57 Young People PDC Update

Almost a year ago we published a podcast trying to help a group of young people in Spain to fulfill their dream of taking a PDC. PDC stands for Permaculture Design Course and is a 72 hour, information packed, life-changing event. At least many people describe their experience as such. I am happy to report that the group reached their financial and work- exchange goals and are all proud holders of a Permaculture Design Certificate.

Taking a course and taking action based on the new knowledge are two different things. Throughout the year, I was curious how the young people were implementing the Permaculture education and we were able to record this new podcast at the eve of an event which brought Rosemary Morrow all the way from Australia. We were so lucky to have her as part of the podcasting crew.

Eight people were in the room in Mallorca, Spain, to share the experiences of the past year and their hopes for the future. Four were teachers and four students from what we called the young people PDC. As it turns out, that is pretty much the ratio of the new Pathway program which originated after the course. Both teachers and students felt that more was needed and they are developing a program together to meet the needs of PDC graduates who really want to apply and deepen this new information.

The podcast participants from left to right starting from the top: Victor Pla Merklein, Elias Robson, Meiling Colorado, Eddie Brown Colorado , Dani Mildner Wilson. Sitting down Mandy Merklein, Rosemary Morrow and Miquel Ramis (picture taken by Daniel Wahl)

The students shared that the process of raising enough funds to take the course was just as valuable as the course itself. Their requirements had been two fold.First, all the teachers were kind enough to offer a work trade in lieu of monetary compensations for their fees. Each individual in the group had to finish their work before the beginning of the course. That work commitment taught them time management, punctuality and of course many skills. Second, the cost for food and housing required hard cash. The group launched a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform. To stand out and entice people to open their purse and hand over that money, they had to develop new skills from creating videos and content, to marketing and -maybe the hardest to learn – believing that it is possible to reach what seems an unattainable goal.

Now, the graduates of the young people PDC are not only eager to expand their skills with the guidance of their local mentors, but are ready to step into teacher roles themselves as they demonstrated the very evening of the interview. Rosemary said that she wanted them to teach, and that they did.