Working Villages International Newsletter Volume 1 Message From The President Dear Working Villages teammates, Greetings from Eastern Congo! I would like to welcome you to our first newsletter. Our original plan was to put this newsletter out once a month, but there is already so much going on in the project, it looks like we will need to produce a newsletter every other week! The newsletter will not only have updates from the project – we will also have columns on appropriate technology, Village Self Reliance, and a column spotlighting some of the key players and success stories here in Congo. Excitement is running high here – we are getting ready to begin our herd and start oxen training. We have also brought tools to start out our blacksmith shop. Within a few months, we will produce all our farming tools locally! Stay tuned for pictures! I would really appreciate any feedback or ideas you might have for improving this newsletter and our website. If you would like to help in any way, please go to our website “Contact Us" page and send us an email! I’ll be talking to you soon, Alex In This Issue Ruzizi - 100% Green App. Technology Swadeshi Quick Links Website Home Ruzizi Project FAQ's Photo Album Why Ruzizi Will Be 100% Green If you have had a chance to look at the website for the Ruzizi Project at www.workingvillages.org, you will notice that the entire town is being engineered to approach 100% recycling and an absolute minimum carbon footprint. Why is WVI’s Ruzizi project being built totally “green”? When we are trying to help some of the poorest people in the world, why is such emphasis placed on minimizing carbon footprint and 100% recycling? Experience in the West seems to indicate that recycling costs a lot of money. Clean energy costs more than dirty energy. Clean energy is “not yet economically feasible.” Green living is seen as a luxury. Due to notions like these, many people wonder why WVI does not shed the “green ideology” and build as cheaply as possible. Click Here To Read More What is Appropriate Technology? Appropriate Technology is an indispensable component of Swadeshi, or localized economics. In its broadest definition Appropriate Technology is used nowadays to indicate a wide range of technologies that can be used in non-industrialized countries, where access to a traditional power grid is greatly reduced. As such, it might include products of sophisticated industrial process such as photovoltaic cells, high-tech windmills, solar-powered fence chargers, etc. Click Here To Read More What is Swadeshi? “Swadeshi” or Localized Economics is a concept developed by Mahatma Gandhi as a key component of peaceful living, and we at Working Villages feel that it will be a valuable tool in taking our part of Congo from an environment of war and chaos to one of peace and productivity. Our economic program of Village Self Reliance (VSR) is built on the philosophical concepts of Swadeshi. Click Here To Read More Keep in touch and check back in to the website often! We want to hear from you!   Sincerely,   The Working Villages International Team