- I'm Geoff Lawton.
I'm a permaculture teacher,
designer, and consultant.
I live in Australia,
but I work all over the world,
teaching the design science of permaculture.
(gentle music)
Well, this site here,
the "Greening the Desert" site,
I initiated with my wife, Nadia.
We purchased the property
after I'd been working in Jordan on aid work
for the Japanese aid organization, JICA.
And we decided that we want to further that work
of helping the local people in Jordan
with sustainable systems to give them resilience
and empowerment to be sustainable economically
and environmentally on the ground.
- My name's Nadia Lawton (Abu Yahia).
I'm the CEO of the "Greening the Desert"
and the founder of the "Greening the Desert".
(speaking in foreign language)
The "Greening the Desert" Project started 20 years ago
as an idea and then 2007 we actually set
up legally the "Greening the Desert" Project.
- This was a classic project
that when we started with really poor ground
and the whole idea was to show
what was possible even on very poor ground.
On a small area you could get a great diversity
of food and demonstrate lots of sustainable systems.
The "Dar Al Shouneh" Project is an extension
of the "Greening the Desert" Project
into a traditional and cultural restaurant
on the third floor open
to local people and tourists.
- [Nadia] "Dar Al Shouneh" is a traditional restaurant,
a link between the Jordanian culture
and tradition to give opportunity
for our visitors to understand more
about the Jordanian culture.
We offer our visitors come to "Dar Al Shouneh"
with a beautiful traditional food
and with beautiful different old games
and we show them around our traditional,
beautiful way of living
and give them a nice experience coming
to this project.
- Well, our mission here has always been
to help the local people
and to give them more opportunities.
So it really showcases what can be done
on the ground expressed in menus
and recipes that link to local culture,
but have this unique assembly that relates
to what we can actually do
with this type of food forest oasis.
Well, the funding comes from the Dutch Embassy,
the Netherlands Embassy here
in Jordan and Partners for Good.
We were looking for a practical partner
that had experience on the ground
and could put the cultural traditional food
restaurant together with something
that really made sense and this system
does for that partnership.
- [Nadia] "Dar Al Shouneh" helping the community
from providing a opportunity for job
to come here and create a beautiful cultural food
for our visitors and find that they will get
some kind of income to help them
out with living sustainably.
- We're giving local people opportunities
so employment opportunities
through the restaurant and expansion out locally
to something that could look something
like a permaculture village.
- My dream for this place
to be
a way of everyone lives.
This is the way we should be living,
sustainably and very simply.
And this project truly showing people
how to live sustainably and a very simple way
and you provide all their needs in one place.
And I'm hoping to get this one is get out there
for all our people to learn from.
- People should visit this site
cause it's absolutely unique
and it's an experience you can take away
with you and use in your life
to be more resilient.
(gentle music)