Help Walter Bridge The Water Gap in Palawan

We need water to grow food! Your donations will go straight into projects to harvest, store, save and wisely use water. Local farmers will receive paid on-the-job training during the building of these projects.  https://koberwitz1924.com/ 


Extreme weather events are typical for many parts of the tropics. While there is too much rainfall in the wet season, there is a lack of water in the dry season. The islands of Palawan in the Philippines have experienced especially long droughts in the last three years and even in the rainy season there has been no reliability of continuous rainfall - in fact, strong rainfalls of 50mm are more often followed by dry spells of 7 to 10 days. More and more, these patterns threaten not only agriculture in the dry, but also in the wet season.  Even wildlife is seriously adversely affected.

 

Koberwitz 1924 Inc. has, in the last ten years, been engaged in the founding and advising of biodynamic permaculture farms in the Philippines. Biodynamic farming produces healthy and delicious-tasting food, enriches the soils, integrates carbon and enhances abundant biodiversity. Answering the critical need to show farmers ways so that they can keep their farms going throughout the year, we want to implement various methods of dealing responsibly with water in our model farm in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

 

These methods are: a) contour planting with herbs, shrubs and bushes edible for humans and or animals and which enrich the soil with nitrogen. Contouring results in the land being able to hold more water. b) terraces and swales - keep the water from running off and give it space to stay. c) catchment ponds - small water reservoirs made with on-site natural materials for catchment and storage of rainwater - these can be temporarily used for the production of algae or fish for consumption. d) waterhole - deepening of an existing waterhole for the harvesting of groundwater which is re-filled in the rainy season. e) deep well - drilling and installation of a deep well in conjunction with a solar-driven pump. f) water catchment - construction of concrete-based water catchment between 3000 and 20,000 liters, costing between 300 and 2500 USD.

 

Koberwitz 1924 has since its incorporation in 2010 been mainly funded by its founders through their consultancy and lecturing activities in South-East Asia, China, Europe and the USA. A smaller part of the funds came from the products and services offered by the charity itself. Both sources of income have been depleted through the measures taken by governments after the onslaught of Covid-19.

 

Help us implement this crucial project which will show farmers in Palawan how to deal with irrigation challenges in this time. We will implement the projects in the sequence above, as far as the money raised is able. During the implementation we will give twelve local farmers a paid opportunity to learn the methods on the job and support them when they apply it on their lands.

 

Koberwitz 1924 Inc. has been involved with support projects for typhoon survivors, victims of sexual abuse and violence, farmers, children and students of all ages, teachers of all kinds, indigenous people, environmentalists and others. Koberwitz 1924 has a civet coffee project to save the forest and the civet cat and create income opportunities for forest dwellers. It operates a sensory experience field for trainings and tours regarding basic human faculties of perception. It has done trainings, tours and workshops in holistic education, healthcare, nutrition and agriculture. It has established a simple and natural sample wastewater system and has distributed potable water filters. And it is showcasing for farmers the value chain from a healthy, integrated permaculture farm including the breeding and multiplication of seeds and fertilizers to marketable high-quality goods.

 

Help us keep this work going by funding this first project. We need water to grow food! Help us harvest, store, save and use water wisely and give farmers a chance to learn this. Do get the word out to your friends and like-minded souls through whatever channels you use.

About me:

Hello! I'm Mark Blacklock. I am from McKinney, TX and I graduated from Southeastern University in Lakeland FL with a BS in Ministerial Leadership. Instead of going straight into the workforce I felt the need to get to know people of other cultures though service. I volunteered in Mexico, Uganda, India, and China where I also met up with my brother. In China I met Walter, while I was volunteering on a local farm in August and September 2019. He was leading a weeklong workshop on sensory experience fields. I spent the week helping and learning from him. He is caring and eager to share his knowledge.  He is from Germany and lives in the Philippines with his wife. All donations made through gofundme will be withdrawn into my personal checking account and then transferred via  https://transferwise.com/us into his account named Koberwitz 1924 Inc. Alternatively, you can give directly using the account information at the website above and click join us however, he won't see who sent the money.