helen perks

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since May 09, 2013
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Biography
I started out in academia studying global environmental change and climate change in the past in the tropics, then worked in various places, longest in Papua New Guinea in environmental conservation, farmer-to-farmer training, and rural "development". Quit all that because of the ethical minefield and started to retrain in permaculture and holistic approaches to ecological regeneration, in Mexico and Central America. Wanting to gain the experience and connect with community to apply these approaches more specifically to regeneration of degraded lands in communities with fewer economic resources. Recently lived for 2+ years in Cuba.
Apart from my native English, I am fluent in Spanish (and German and Neo-Melanesian Pidgin!).
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Recent posts by helen perks

Terve Lumia,
Thank you for the post, it looks like a very cool event. If this is funded by Erasmus, is it only open to people under the age of 30, or how does it work?
5 months ago
Hi, I was looking through some old posts and saw Paul's book from about 5 years ago in draft form. Has it all been updated and "finished" now and how is it available - I think I might have been entitled to a copy at some point as a crowdfunder, but I'm happy to pay for it? Anyone have input on the book and it's usefulness?  Also interested in other books and resources on "building community", especially strategies for decision-making processes, organisation, etc.
5 months ago
Hi Connie, Just wondering where things are at now! I lived in PNG 2003-2009 and there is not a day goes by where I don't think of the place, but I have not been back since. There really should be lots of agroforestry options, both building on traditional polycultures with trees, incorporating "mainstream" modern agroforestry practices carried out in PNG, and ....working with syntropic farming, which although knowledge and (in early years) labour intensive, can give incredible results.
2 years ago
Writing this here seems unchartered territory, but...here goes...Single female, 55, grew up in UK, currently based in Portugal living in a camper. Has kicked around the world a lot over the past decades. Special places spent more years include Papua New Guinea and Cuba. Looking for someone to build and create with and live embedded in the land and all of the life that it holds...going deeper into being fully alive in this world. Sometimes in Guinea-Bissau, planting in the villages, in the islands, on the mainland. Agroforestry and syntropic farming. Abundance. Ability to laugh often at life, the universe and the wonder of it all.

2 years ago
Look up Jaime Otero Páramo and Proyecto Dispersor on social media, etc. Syntropic farming, food forests, regen ag, etc. etc. in Galicia. A wealth of knowledge and contacts.
2 years ago
Hi Bill,

I am actually at this moment in the UK, but just visiting family briefly after time in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, then to southern Spain, then Cuba...then...I move around a lot, but am looking for a base for about half of the year and the rest of the time to be working in the Global South, probably Guinea-Bissau and perhaps Mexico and Peru. I spent 7 years in the US, but back in the 90s. Just some visits to New England and an over-winter. It's quite hard for me to get a visa for repeated longer stays in the US, but perhaps there would be ways. Where are you?
6 years ago
Hi Melanie, I only just came across your post and it is now from several years ago! How are you going there and are you still looking for people to contribute to what you are creating? I hope that it has all been going well!!!
6 years ago
Hey Jack,
You first posted this several months ago so things might have moved along since then, but if you are still looking and just in general if you want to share more about what you are doing then I would love to talk with you! I'm currently looking for a base in southern Spain for at least half of the year, while trying to build projects in Guinea-Bissau (and perhaps Mexico and Peru). In the past 6 months, I've spent much of the time volunteering at a site near Motril learning more about syntropic farming in a Mediterranean context. I am about to return to a site in the Sierra de Cádiz for 6 weeks to volunteer and try to do some designs of degraded arroyo areas there. I am networked in some with the SE Spain permaculture network REPESEI and the new association for the Ecosystem Restoration Camps, but still looking for a base and community. My email is helenaperksatyahoo.com
6 years ago
Hi Brody, they all sound like good ideas. Do it! Ask yourself each day what you can do that day to move closer to doing what you want to be doing.
6 years ago