1. Remove Clutter. A reason why hotel rooms feel so nice is that they don't have lots of knick nacks and unnecessary things lying around. Ensure you have a store room which can be locked and used to keep all the unnecessary personal stuff. If you have two of any kind of thing (even pens in the pen stand), remove the duplicates and ensure that only things that are required by the guests and will be useful are present and the rest of your things go into the store room.
2. Have daily cleaning. This is the next most important aspect where a hotel room differs from most residences. They are spotless and ultra clean. Ensure your maid and caretaker are trained to be able to clean thoroughly, make up the beds and do so on a daily basis so that the entire place is spotless and glowing. This is a good way to ensure that your property is not being misused and you can take corrective action quickly.
3. Bedroom. Put in a matress protector and ensure that it is washed on a regular basis so it is spotless. Bedsheets should ideally be white and without any prints. Same with pillows. Use 300 thread count sheets. To add color you can have a light blanket (fleece blanket) on top of the sheet and small show pillows on top of the white pillows. Ensure the beds are made before the guest checks in and that at no point of time the guest sees an unmade bed.
4. Bathroom. Try and replace the shower curtain with a Glass wall. This will go a long way in segregating the wet and dry areas and in also adding some glamour to the bathroom. Putting in superior quality shower heads and a better quality of Flush Toilet will also go a long way. Avoid Flush toilets where the flush tank is suspended much higher than the seat or where there is a need to pull a chain. Provide Toilet paper and a hand jet for the toilet.
5. Conceal all wires. This is important. If you have a TV, music system, cable TV connection etc. make efforts to conceal the wires so that they are not visible. To do so you can either create a notch in the wall and embed the wires and then cover up with plaster of paris and a new coat of paint or else use a false cieling and paint over the wires after cutting them to the bare minimum size required to ensure there are no coils lying around.
6. Uniform for staff. Have all staff who is present in the premises or who will be visiting adhere to a uniform. This could be a wrap around laboratory style coat for maids at the minimum to a full fledged uniform for your caretaker who wears the same every day whenever guests are visiting. Staff should definitely not be seen in baniyan (vest) or badly groomed i.e. unshaven or with unkempt hair etc. The same applies to yourself if you are residing within the property.
Lastly a good welcome gift like a bowl of fruits or a box of chocolates will also lend a feel of professionalism to your property. For more details please see my earlier article. I will also shortly be writing another article on creating a Guest binder for your property. Any suggestions always welcome!!
I've seen that most people who run homestays don't actually have any legal agreement that is signed between themselves and the traveler. I felt it was important to touch on the same and while this is not legal advice at least provide an outline for the various things that need to be covered that you can share with your legal advisor.
1. Ensure that the agreement outlines the address of your property, your phone number as well as the check in and check out dates along with times for the same.
2. Outline all restrictions that you would like to impose during the stay at your property. For smoking, outline whether smoking is allowed in the garden etc.
3. Mention if pets are welcome or not. If pets are welcome, ensure you mention in the contract that their vaccinations need to be up to date and they must have had flea treatment / are well groomed. You may also want to impose some rules that pets are not allowed on the furniture or else that there is an additional fee for the pets.
4. Outline the payment terms and cancellation policy clearly. If you are charging a security deposit ( a must if you are not residing in the property and don't have a caretaker), outline specific acts when you will deduct from the security deposit. Also ensure that the security deposit is not the maximum that can be charged and that all damages will be billed on actuals to the traveler.
5. Outline the maximum number of people who are allowed to stay in the property and the additional charges that will apply in case of every additional person.
6. Cleanliness and Cleaning Service: Outline whether you will be providing housekeeping or a maid service and at what frequency. If this is not included/ needs to be paid for separately then outline the same too.
7. Overall disclaimer: Enter a general disclaimer to protect yourself from any injury, damages, burglary etc. that are incurred by the traveler during stay at your property. A good lawyer will be able to draft this.
8. Special disclaimers: If you have a swimming pool, bath tub, jacuzzi, barbecue or any place that can cause physical harm to the traveler, specifically put in disclaimers and rules for the same. Ensure you clearly mention that the traveler is responsible for his own safety and the safety of his children.
9. Disclaimers on use of kitchen, gas, stove: Outline all safety precautions to be used when using the kitchen equipment and put in disclaimers to ensure you are not held responsible for any accidents in the same.
This is not to be taken as legal advice and please consult a lawyer to draft something that will suit your requirements. However, it may be best to share this article with them so that they have something to guide them. I would be happy to review any agreements once your lawyer has prepared the same and give you my opinion.
Remember, these are most important if you are not residing in the property / if the guests will be there under the supervision of only a caretaker. In India due to our culture, servants and hired help tend to be submissive to people like us and will not be able to exert much authority. They may also not have the presence of mind at multiple occasions and hence you as an owner should take all steps to protect yourself legally. A well worded legal agreement will do this and let you sleep in peace.
We have implemented a new commenting system. Now it is much easier for all our owners to comment on our articles. You guys are the experts and know a lot about this business. I welcome you and invite you to post your comments. This will also let you get to know each other and co-operate in whatever ways possible to grow your business mutually.
Image by saketvora via FlickrHi Everyone and apologies for the long absence. I have been working on multiple things. Unfortunately, cannot announce anything at the moment but hope to have some news to share soon.
1. The journey starts right from the time you get the enquiry. Remember, they are most probably traveling in one car or else two cars which are fully packed. As such it will be very nice if you can give them precise directions on how to get to your property - what time they should start, the specific restaurants and restroom stops they can take and the prominent landmarks in town they need to have saved so they know that they are not lost.
2. Ensure that there is someone to recv. them and to provide them with a nice breakfast/ lunch / dinner as soon as they arrive. Remember, the elders and women of the family would be very tired managing children after a long journey and so you should budget for this within the amount you are charging them. This small gesture will go a long way in making sure they have a good first impression.
3. Keep all telephone numbers handily available. Ensure that this includes numbers of a pharmacy, Doctor, hospital as well as someplace that will deliver food at short notice.
4. Families love Villas that have a full time caretaker living in the villa or just outside in an outhouse. The women are already very tired and may not be used to cleaning a large home and so having someone to clean / tidy up is really helpful.
5. Keep enough sources of entertainment available - e.g. playing cards, board games, carroms table are all really good options. A good collection of bollywood music (remember to throw in some old classic songs) and a music system is also a good idea.
6. If you have had kids, remember to collect all the toys they have outgrown and you can keep them in your homestay. A child can never tell if a toy is spoilt and having the kids occupied with a new set of toys will endear you to their parents.
7. Keep extra mattresses and linen in your villa. I cannot stress how often we see villa owners turning away groups because they are too big. It is common for Indian families to sleep on the floor or to share beds when they are visiting relatives. If you are flexible on this count, you should be able to easily target this audience. Also remember that many a time, families will travel with a cook/ driver and the extra mattress may be needed for them.
8. Child-proof the house. This is really important. Try and remove all big and dangerous stones from the lawn, put cushioning on dangerously low ceilings or doors and ensure that the bathroom floors are not slippery.
9. Make it clear on your profile that you are happy to accommodate such groups and your place is a friendly place ideal for families.
10. If you serve food, keep a few items on the menu that will be a surefire hit with the children. Things that come to mind are pastas, noodles and decorative cupcakes.
I thought I would write a small article on a question I get very often - Should I or should I not add a swimming pool to my Homestay? I have been struggling with this decision with my own homestay for the past month and I wanted to share with you'll some of my own thoughts.
1. Many more inquiries. We see this everyday when talking to our customers. Properties with swimming pools get more interest as compared to those without. In fact we have found in our surveys that one of the reasons that people prefer resorts - both families with kids and corporate groups - is that they have a pool.
2. You can charge more. This is another certainty when you add a pool. You will definitely be able to charge more for the property and people will gladly pay for the same.
3. Less dependence on season. This is very important. With a swimming pool of your own, you are not dependent on the season and your property is a self-contained tourist attraction with people being able to enjoy themselves within your property. Especially true also for beach properties and mountain properties where in monsoons the sea may be a bit rough or else it may be raining heavily and so treks are not so viable.
4. Customers enjoy themselves more leading to better reviews and them telling others. Again no doubt about this. A pool is something that is not very common for the average person and usually a good time is had by all. People who have a good time end up telling their friends and you get more repeat business.
5. You and your family get to use the pool.
1. Cost to build and maintain. This is not a trivial investment. A decent sized pool as per my calculations would cost around 10 Lakhs to build and is a source of recurring expense to be maintained, cleaned etc. In addition if it is not maintained then it will end up becoming an eyesore and destroying the look of your property. As such, this is a decision which must be taken with care.
2. Having to sacrifice the lawn. The pool with hardscaping around it will take up a lot of place which otherwise could have been occupied by your nice lawns. A nice lawn is very useful for some large groups - esp. weddings, mehendis etc. and if building a pool is going to mean doing away with the lawn then I would caution against the same.
3. Risk. In india you will get a large number of visitors who will not know how to swim or for whom the experience of having a pool at their disposal is an overwhelming one. It will become necessary to police the pool and ensure that someone is available to rescue anyone in trouble at short notice. This in my opinion is something that is a big risk and worry for the holiday home owner to take on.
4. Added Tension and need to create rules. Adding a pool and keeping it open for outsiders will mean you need to protect yourself by framing rules and ensuring that all visitors sign the rules so that you protect yourself. Some rules can be such that kids are allowed to swim only if adults are already swimming, no food or drinks within the pool, pets not allowed inside the pool, no diving in the shallow side, proper swimwear to be worn and guests to take a shower before they enter the pool.
So in closing, this is a decision that must be taken with a great deal of thought and caution. What have I decided to do?
I have decided to install whats called an over the ground pool. An over the ground pool is basically an large pool that is sturdy but made of synthetic material and can be dismantled. It can be installed fairly quickly (1hour) and you can take it out when the weather permits and install on top of the lawn and take it out whenever you have functions. I have decided to import the same and install it and will put some pictures when it arrives so the rest of you can also see how it looks. The cost has worked out to about 4.5L inclusive of the shipping costs and my estimates of customs duty etc. in India and the pool is a very large one capable of handling 20-30 people at a time. Do send me your feedback if you feel I have done the right thing / wrong thing / anyone else has any other experiences they would like to share.
How do I decide how much to charge for Renting my Second Home?
1. Check on pricing of hotels and resorts located around your property. This is a very important activity and something that every homestay and holiday home owner must do. This information is easily available by either visiting a online travel website and searching for hotels by name or else calling up your local travel agent or the hotel directly. If you call the hotel directly, please remember that the price they quote to you may be 20% to 30% higher than what they sell their rooms at. Remember to ask for the prices for different types of rooms and whether they include meals as part of the rate. If your property is a 2 bed room apartment, see if they have a 2 bedroom apartment available. It is also best to ask for prices at the well maintained and hotels which are visibly doing well as generally they would have a good idea of what rates should be charged.
2. Have a realistic expectation of where your property stands in terms of luxury and who the ideal clientele would be for the same. It is important to price based on the target audience. Some of us have high expectations from those who come and stay in our homes and if so, it is important that the home must have the luxury amenities AND that pricing is reasonable but not too cheap. If you feel the target audience is college groups then you might want to make some modifications to the property -.e.g by adding many extra mattresses, a dormitory etc. and thus bring down the average cost per person who is staying over yet ensuring that you make more money in total. If the average target is a small individual family - husband, wife and 2 kids then be reasonable - it is rare that they would spend more than 6000-7000 Rs. per night at the maximum.
3. Have rates that reduce for longer stay guests. Remember most people who come to stay will stay for one or two nights - as such, you must have pricing that encourages people to come for 3+ nights and ensures that if a person stays for just one night you make 75% of what you would make if they were to stay for 2. Drop your rates significantly for those who want to stay for longer than a week. In my opinion if you are charging 6000Rs. a night then if a person would like to stay for 15 days - you should not be charging more than 42,000 Rs. in my opinion - roughly a 50% discount.
4. Keep your eyes on the calendar. Remember to keep in mind the long weekends due to festivals and the kids holidays. If you get reservations many weeks in advance for these days you must hold on a little in the bargaining process before discounting as you may get more customer options in the days to come.
5. Keep in mind any important deficiencies w.r.t. a hotel or resort. The primary one I can think of is a Swimming Pool. Esp. in the monsoons when going to the beach is not safe, travelers prefer staying in a property which has an in house swimming pool. If your property does not have one, be prepare to give a slight discount as compared to the resorts. In your marketing, promote other activities that can be done without the pool.
6. Be flexible. Ask every customer where he works and the number of people who are coming along. I would recommend giving those who are influential - i.e. those who work for very large companies or those who are premium travelers - i.e. coming alone and renting the whole home. a better deal and asking them post their stay to tell their friends about the place or to visit you again.
Lastly, Be alert. It is important to beware of customers coming in very large groups and yet bargaining too hard or where it seems like they don't have a budget. If you provide food, esp. be careful if they ask and insist on all meals being inclusive. I have found that sometimes some of these travelers can be very difficult customers to please and may cost you more than what you make to serve them. I would also be vary of customers who don't seem like they would be good guests to have over. Use the messaging system effectively to interview the travelers. How? That I will cover in another article.
So you want to buy some land and build your own farmhouse??
At some point during our life, we all toy with the idea of buying some land and building our own small dream home. As urban educated Indians in well paid jobs we tend to feel after we've paid up our mortgages that this would be a nice way to invest some money and also build something that we could use in our retirement. Ever since I've started homestaysDOS.com a lot of people (friends, family) have been asking me for advice on buying land and building a house.
Firstly, I'd like to stress that you need to get legal advise from a lawyer local to the district you are buying in. A lawyer from a bit city or a lawyer from a different state will definitely not do. My views below are meant more as things to watch out for and should not substitute your retaining a lawyer to advise you.
1. Investigate the title of the seller thoroughly. I cannot stress how important this is. Find out who the person bought it from and who that person bought it from. Go to the local land records department and take an extract for the particular plot. It should clearly mention all the owners and whether the land has a lien on the same.
2. Investigate the exact nature of ownership. India has complicated land laws which vary by state. These are termed differently in different states but to simplify there are varieties of what in the west is known as "Freehold" Land. In India, historically, land was owned by a landlord and tilled by a tenant farmer. Over time, this tenant farmer developed rights on the land and these rights were later legalized or legitimized to varying degrees by various States. You will need to examine carefully the exact right that the seller enjoys and whether you need consent from any other right holders to buy the same or transfer the said rights to you.
3. Investigate thoroughly if you as an urban person can buy the land. In case the land is agricultural, unless you are of an agricultural background and can prove the same, you will not be allowed to and so it is necessary for the seller to convert the land to Non Agricultural before you enter into an agreement to purchase the same.
4. Be careful of encroached land or Forest land. This is usually true in case the property borders forests or else the land is unusually forested or lush. In quite a few such cases owners own a certain portion of land and a certain portion is encroached forest land that they have been enjoying for maybe generations. I have seen instances where such encroached land is mentioned on official documents and have been sold and deeds registered. However, keep in mind that on Forest land, you will not be able to build or construct anything and essentially this land is useless in your purpose of building a farm house.
5. Right of Way. It is important that your property enjoys a clear path through which you can drive into your farm house. Try and ensure that the property borders a main road and you will be able to build a gate to access the same. In case you have to pass through someone else's property you may want to negotiate and buy a path as part of the same transaction or else buy right of way in a concrete agreement having paid consideration for the same.
6. Water Source. This is something I feel many people overlook and is one of the most important things to look for when buying land. It is worth the effort to get a diviner or a professional and evaluate for the depth of the water table within the property. If you are buying a property with a bore well or other water source already present then test the water for how potable it is. This will save you a lot of difficulty in the future.
7. Check rules related to FSI and construction in advance. In some parts the FSI is as bad as 0.2 This means that on a 1000sq. feet plot you can construct only 200sq. feet so in order to build a 3000sq. feet modest villa you will need 15,000sq. feet of land. In other parts there may be a restriction on how high you can build and the kind of electricity connection you can take.
8. Effects of different seasons. In India we have poor infrastructure in many aspects. Especially difficult are the monsoons and winters in some parts. Check the topography of the plot you are evaluating and foresee how it will be affected during the monsoons. You will need to evaluate whether roads to the property may get submerged - if the road has a bridge with a river or stream flowing below, if the adjoining properties are at a greater height- leading to water from there getting drained into your property, or in mountainous regions - if the region is susceptible to landslides. I personally like visiting the property in the most inclement seasons - these are usually when the sellers have limited buyers and the property prices tend to be lower.
9. Succession related issues. In case of succession, I feel it is best to buy property after significant time has passed since the death of the owner of the property. This is because time brings out differences and if there needs to be litigation, it would have happened. The last thing you want is to have paid one member of the family an advance and he is unable to consummate the transaction and does not have the means to return your money.
10. Plan for the economics. It is surprising how many of us buy land with a particular end use and yet buy land that is either too big(not such a big problem) or too small (a very big problem) for that purpose. I recommend doing a detailed analysis before you search for your dream plot - remember to budget for the house, garden, parking, sewage, water tank, as well as some space for a shed, external generator unit and maybe a caretakers room etc. If you are buying farm land, ensure you have worked out how much farm land you will be left with after you build your house and whether the produce for such activities will be meaningful to either your family or else for you to sell and earn a reasonable amount from for your hard work!!
11. Sea or River Touching Property. While such properties are very beautiful and we all love the beach, beware as India has very tough CRZ rules that prohibit construction anywhere close to the beach or the river. By close I mean about 200m for River properties and 500m for sea facing properties. This is very restrictive but does not seem to be going away anytime soon and so you must be aware that properties within this zone or likely to come under this zone in the near future must be avoided at all costs.
Lastly, my advice is to try and buy where a significant number of other people have bought property for similar end use. This will ensure some company and an overall alignment of interests. After all, you will need people to socialize with.
In closing, this article deals more with buying land independently. This is really the best option for those who want to build something unique and at the same time enjoy a certain degree of exclusivity and freedom on their own land. I have also gotten many queries from people about buying land within second home projects that are heavily marketed in most of the big cities. I personally feel this may be the best option for the young upper Middle Class Indian with limited time and resources in his hands. Most of these developers have also gone through the rigmarole of getting approved by banks etc. and so you may also get financing. I will go through the pros and cons and things to watch out for while buying in such gated communities shortly.


text:
Cephalcia alashanica is een vliesvleugelig insect uit de familie van de spinselbladwespen (Pamphiliidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1935 door Gussakovskij.

Spinselbladwespen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
How to make a pirate hat
Pirate dreams of becoming, every third boy. Now in stores sold pirate swords, hats and costumes. But the suit can take the ready, having him in a pirate theme. A hat can make yourself. Get no worse than the store and much cheaper.
How to make a pirate Tricorn
How to make a hat out of cardboard
The average density of the black cardboard the size of A2, red cardboard to the inside of the hat of A4 size, stiff cardboard for the execution of the framework (for example, a piece from a cardboard box), about 30 small feathers, thin and shiny ribbon, red ribbon a little wider for the logo, the gun with liquid nails, ruler, scissors, scriptorial and double sided tape.
Our pirate hat is made up of 5 parts: front, back, and internal parts, fundamentals and logo. Draw a diagram of a pirate hat, according to his own taste or preferences of the child. Composable front from the back on the black cardboard and cut out. The corners of the parts of our hats are basically double-sided tape and glue the halves. Take the cardboard from the box and cut out base – bar size 2х58 cm (based on the volume of the head is 56 cm). Foundation put into a ring and glue. The inner part is cut out of red cardboard, the size – 10х30 see Glue and fasten to the base. She hat ready.
Let's embellishment. Liquid nails glue the feathers overlap, l is the center to the edges of the hat. Glue thin ribbon on the front and the back on the bottom of the hat.
Do emblem. Volume of gummed paper cut out a circle for the base of the logo and other details (skulls and crossbones or other picture to your taste). Double-sided tape to glue the Foundation to the rest of the logo, draw the small details of gel pen. The emblem is made. Left to attach it to the hat and the way the young pirate ready.
Liquid nails is very hot, they can get burned. Therefore, before you work with them practice and do not touch the hot drops with bare hands.
How to give money
Proven to get the amount of money - the desire of the majority of the...
Unique gifts for loved ones
Birthday in a marine style
Echoes of the past: whether to return to the days of paper letters?
5 unusual gifts for March 8!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


For rising young lawyer Cal Griffin, it's just another day in the Big City -- until the lights go off ... for good. Suddenly packs of pale crouched figures are stalking the darkened subways, monsters prowl Times Square, and the people all around Cal are ... changing. Similar weirdness is happening everywhere, from the dank, cold heart of a West Virginia coal mine to a remote lab in South Dakota -- where a team of government scientists has unwittingly invited something catastrophic into the world -- to the highest levels of power in Washington, D.C. And Cal Griffin is not the only one struggling to comprehend the surreal, devouring chaos surrounding him -- nor the only one who will be forced to accept a new role in this brave new world of nightmare and wonder. For the forces bled from the stilled machines are fueling a consciousness both newly born and ancient -- and more than one unlikely hero will be needed for the titanic battle between the darkness and the light.


For many of you who are, let's say, young, or perhaps into newer genres like Moombah, trap, digital cumbia, might have not ever heard about this man.
But I'm sure his music legacy will be around for a long time as he helped and played with a lot of people.
My Man, Ranvir Singh, passed away after a short but heavy battle with cancer.
Ranvir Singh Verma's Universal Taal Project experimented with breakbeats, electronics, dubstep, dnb, bhangra, Indian classical, bollywood, jazz, funk, soul, reggae, hip-hop, experimental and much more to bring always a unique sound that featured an array of artists.
He was always moving; never static, Universal Taal Project was a sound beyond limitations and definitions a journey beyond the mind.
The news come as a shock to me as I had just finished an edit of his new album, and he was very excited with the outcome; even though we had never spoken about releasing it officially now I feel at some point it should be released.
My deepest condolences to family and friends who knew him, fellow musicians and everyone in that community.
If anyone from his family or label needs the track, feel free to contact me.


text:
White House emails Trump Ukraine talking points around and—oops!— includes Democratic lawmakers
Xeni Jardin 2:06 pm Wed Sep 25, 2019
Today, Donald Trump's White House emailed around a bunch of proposed defense talking points for all the toadies who have to play clean-up on aisle Ukraine. Oh, and it seems they also sent it to a bunch of Democratic lawmakers and their staff.
Oops. Or, whatever. They're so pathetic.
The email was titled, "What you need to know: President Trump's call with President Zelenskyy," and some idiot quickly tried to "recall" it, which of course does not work.
The trump White House just accidentally sent our office their talking points for deflecting trump's treachery. They're complete Orwellian lies and toxic trash, but maybe you'd like to read them to appreciate their corruption! Hazmat ☢ suit possibly required. pic.twitter.com/twcYGkcO7h
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) September 25, 2019
I would like to thank @WhiteHouse for sending me their talking points on how best to spin the disastrous Trump/Zelensky call in Trump's favor. However, I will not be using their spin and will instead stick with the truth.
But thanks though.
— US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) September 25, 2019
Felicia Sonmez reporting in the Washington Post:
Several Democratic Hill staffers said they had received the talking points as well as a follow-up email recalling the message.
According to the rough transcript of the call, Trump repeatedly said Zelensky should work with Attorney General William P. Barr or Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani. Giuliani had separately pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate the conduct of former vice president Joe Biden.
Among the talking points distributed by the White House is the claim that there was no quid pro quo and that "what the President actually talked about was entirely proper."
The White House argues that Trump "did not mention Rudy Giuliani or Vice President Biden until after President Zelenskyy had raised Giuliani first." But the email glosses over the fact that Trump did mention Biden of his own accord.
White House mistakenly sends Trump-Ukraine talking points to Democrats [Washington Post]
[via @nick_ramsey]
Psychedelic beer served for political gain
The ancient Wari empire of Peru that ruled the Andes between 500 and 1100 CE likely served beer laced with ayahuasca to garner support and allegiance from other groups, according to new research. Archaeobotanists excavating at a small Wari outpost in Quilcapampa, far from the Wari's home region, found seeds from the vilca tree that… READ THE REST
Republican National Committee plans to stop its candidates' participation in presidential debates
The Republican National Committee is planning to require its presidential candidates to pledge not to participate in debates orchestrated by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Of course, that is the organization that has sponsored the presidential and vice-presidential debates for more than three decades. From the New York Times: The move by the R.N.C. was… READ THE REST
Russia sends troops into Kazakhstan
Russia's game of Crap Risk picked up steam Thursday with it sending troops into Kazakhstan, where the government is on the verge of collapse after killing dozens of protestors. The troops are there to "quell the unrest." Police said they killed dozens of rioters, and state television said that 13 security officers were killed —… READ THE REST


If you have ever dreamed of having luminescent, plumper, younger looking skin, then By Appointment Aesthetic Medicine can help you make that dream come true.
Skin boosting makes a dramatic difference to your skin, making it plumper, and smoother.
Over the last 10 years, I have tried many methods to help my clients improve their general skin condition. I am now tending to avoid those treatment methods that are destructive to the upper layers of the skin, such a chemical peels and lasers, as I feel that they are too harsh and disrupt the natural functioning of the skin.
They can also be associated with varying lengths of 'downtime', which can be a problem in our busy worlds.
I have turned instead to those methods that encourage a boosting of the skin's own natural production of and elastin, and now favour medical needling and mesotherapy type treatments.
Skin Needling – we know, it sounds awful! It is actually painless, and a course of treatments will stimulate your collagen and dramatically improve the appearance of fine wrinkles. This treatment also remodels skin – a course will effectively treat scars and acne scarring.
Medical needling is often called 'dermaroller' treatment, although I no longer use the rather crude prickly rollers that were common a few years ago, but use an electronic device that is virtually painless (and your skin will also be numbed beforehand).
Again, it is not uncomfortable as a local anaesthetic is used.
Both of these treatments work best when taken as a course of three treatments given at intervals – after the initial treatment, then a refresher treatment once or twice a year will keep your skin looking fabulous.
Prior to any treatment, you will have a detailed consultation with Sarah to discuss your individual requirements, the different options available for you, the procedures and the costs.


text:
Evangelicalism: Whence? Whither?
Are you an evangelical? For some folks, this is pretty easy to answer: "No!" For others, it's a bit more complicated. Even though it's used with great regularity and greater confidence by a great many people, figuring out just what it means remains a great mystery. Mind you, it's not that the folks using the term don't know what they're trying to say, nor is it that they're necessarily wrong when saying it. It's that there's more than one definition being bandied about, and not everyone is careful about which they intend. A few decades ago, saying you were an evangelical would mean something. Others might not like that you were, but at least they knew what you were. Now? Not so much. What began as a description of theological beliefs and practices flowing from a long history has (de)evolved into a sociological term pertaining to a specific era in a specific culture. It is this cultural aspect that is most often known to the popular mind, particularly as election cycles careen our way. By and large, journalists tend to ascribe the title "evangelical" to anyone who is Anglo-American, broadly Christian, and somehow conservative, at least in the minds of the pundits. So, everyone from the Wesboro Baptist crowd to Nadia Bolz-Weber gets christened an evangelical in the popular imagination. If such radically different folks are part of the same group, then something's askew. We also have to wonder why it is that African Americans are rarely called evangelicals in the press or academia, even when their beliefs about God and man are identical to their white brethren. Or again, media accounts refer to evangelical Christians in other parts of the world. But, if an evangelical is a white, American Protestant, then how are there evangelical politicians in Latin America, evangelical churches in China, and evangelical missionaries coming out of Africa? Now, we may say that the ethnic and national components differ, but the social and theological conservatism remains. In some cases, that's true. Generally speaking, evangelicals tend to support traditional family roles, to be suspicious of anything resembling collectivism, and, generally speaking, to support the State of Israel. The problem is that even this expanded definition isn't enough. Certainly, a great many self-described evangelicals share many of these characteristics, but significant numbers do not. It wouldn't be unusual to find two evangelicals whose views on central issues were mutually exclusive down the line. What is the point of a category to which no one can be sure who is in and who is out? A little history may be in order. The term itself is straight out of the Bible. The Greek word for "Gospel" or "Good News" is transliterated into English as "Evangel," and is often used by biblical writers as shorthand for the core message of the Scriptures. While all Christians would emphasize the centrality of this Evangel, evangelicals have made this a part of their self-definition to distinguish themselves from others. However, the phrase wasn't applied to a single group until relatively recently, and by "relatively," I mean the last half-millennium. Before being known as Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinists (oh my!), Protestants were sometimes known as "evangelicals," and in German this is often still the case. The origins of evangelicalism go back beyond that, however. Like any Christian group, they trace their source not to any historical moment but to the divine plan of God. Evangelicalism roots itself in the testimony of the Bible and, even though its adherents don't talk about it all that much, to the creeds and confessions of the Early Church. This is something to keep in mind. Evangelicalism isn't just a recent thing, or even an American thing. Its path winds further back than our immediate context. Like other branches of Christianity, evangelicalism is an attempt to live out the teachings of the Bible, but its particular journey moved along such landmarks as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, the Moravians and the Reformers, Puritanism and Pietism. By the middle of the 1700s, each of these elements came together in the Great Awakening. Moravian Christians influenced preachers like George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, who, in turn, initiated a transatlantic revival. They differed on some important issues, but they agreed on the core message of the Evangel – God saved souls in Christ and was now working through His church to restore His world. It was here that the first meaningful connection to our use of "evangelical" became apparent: doctrinal fidelity, personal piety, and social activism. As the 1800s ended, divisions began to emerge, as they always do. Some evangelicals wanted to look to the wisdom of then-contemporary philosophy and science to bring Christianity into the modern world. Others saw the future in holding to the fundamentals of the faith. Where Modernists tended to emphasize the social activism of evangelicalism, Fundamentalists leaned toward piety and doctrine. By the 1920s, it was clear that the Modernists had won, at least for a time. By the 1940s, the term "evangelical" had notably fallen out of use, only to be picked up by the Neo-Evangelicals. Theologians like Harold J. Ockenga and Carl F. H. Henry began to use the term as a way to reinvigorate the somewhat isolated Fundamentalists and, perhaps, draw some from the doctrinally drifting Modernist camp. Like their fellow conservatives, they saw the centrality of holding to the doctrines of the Ancient Faith, but they challenged them engage the world. Being the church meant being both confrontational and winsome at the same time. Aided greatly by the evangelistic crusades of Billy Graham, these New Evangelicals worked to create new organizations, publishing houses, magazines, churches, and ministries which continued the work of those who had gone before them. By the 1970s, evangelicals had gone from the has-beens of American Christianity to becoming a key player in United States socio-political discourse. It was also in this time that this cultural definition of evangelicalism began to emerge. Part of this was simply a matter of becoming victims of their own success. They'd grown enough that being known as an evangelical didn't automatically mark you as a benighted outsider but as a begrudgingly respected member of the community. It became easy to be an evangelical. Innocently or not, more and more people who wouldn't have bothered to be associated with it before now found it advantageous. In many parts of the nation, not to be an evangelical would've put you in a bad position for business or politics. Sadly, with greater numbers came a diffusion of doctrinal integrity. Where the Modernists had downgraded the importance of doctrine in the quest to be successful, many evangelicals simply ignored it now that they were successful. The movement had also grown enough that factions could emerge, each with enough critical mass to compete with one another. Consequently came the affliction of hyper-hyphenation, as progressive-, feminist-, conservative-, and so on-evangelicals wanted to retain the association with the now-respected movement but also wanted to show that they weren't like those others. Being aligned with these wider cultural or philosophical factions began to take priority over the actual Evangel. Accordingly, many began to choose their battles more carefully. There had always been a prophetic element within the movement, and evangelicals were quite willing to speak truth to power, even if, early on, they were too small for the powerful to pay them much heed. What is more, they were fairly equitable in how they proclaimed this truth. While they were by and large conservative throughout the 20th century, there was no real sense that being an evangelical meant voting for a specific party. President Eisenhower had been a particular favorite of evangelicals, but Johnson was also admired. In 1976, the "year of the evangelical," Carter was elected as a born-again candidate, only to be abandoned four years later when Reagan came along. When there were enough evangelicals in voting booths for American elites to take notice, a new question emerged: What truth do we speak to which power? Many held true to their original intentions, but others increasingly began to pick and choose on the basis of cultural concerns, Left or Right. Doctrine as a guiding light dimmed when compared to short-term campaigns. Pressured by the intensity of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and Roe v. Wade, the movement bifurcated along socio-political lines in the 1970s. Where earlier evangelicals would could "walk and chew gum at the same time" by praising those elements across society worthy of honor while also calling attention to its more disreputable aspects, now a great many selected which issues mattered most and which could be safely put on the back-burner. Some, seeing the tyranny of Communism and doleful implications of the sexual revolution, skated too close to the siren of "God and Country." Others, seeing the injustice of America's racial legacy and the pain of those in poverty, danced to the tune of "God against Country." The former, being the majority, came to be seen by the rest of culture as evangelicals – white, right-wing, and steadfastly Republican. The latter, the decided minority, became as lockstep for the party of Jackson as their counterparts were for the party of Lincoln. Their choices were different, but their error was the same: the concerns of the moment trumped the priority of the Evangel. Although I often hesitate to use the term, I am an evangelical. And I mean this in both senses of the term. I am what the culture thinks I am – white, Protestant, and conservative. So far as it goes, that's just fine. There's neither extra virtue nor inordinate vice in being an Anglo, suburban male. But, I am also the other kind, someone who, however falteringly, strives to follow not the cultural quirks or political factions of the day but something higher. If ever the cultural definition becomes more important to me than the theological one, then I might as well abandon the pretense because I will have certainly abandoned the Evangel. This is a concern for us all. If we cannot distinguish between a cultural designation or position - Left-wing, Right-wing, or upside-down-wing - and the truth of the Bible, then it doesn't matter what we call ourselves. Whatever we are then, we won't be following the truth. If our willingness to speak out for truth, to confront sin, to stand up for justice is determined by how much it affects the socio-political balance, if we feel more in common with a political ally in the fray than with our co-heir with Christ, if we cannot distinguish between demands of the Gospel and the exigencies of an election, then we might as well drop the Evangel from our name. We're just another tribal faction in the zero-sum game of identity politics. It doesn't have to be this way. We can proclaim that no political party can be assured of our votes based solely on the rhetoric of campaign promises. We can call out evil in this world according to our biblically-centered consciences while not ignoring the moral failings of those on our own "side." We can recognize that one group may be right about one thing but wrong about another. We can refuse to put our hope solely in any movement, nation, party, or person, but only in the gospel of God. It's not about getting a place at the table or throwing our weight around. It's about centering our lives and our missions on the eternal Word of God and inviting the watching world to join us at His table. If evangelicals are ever to recover the great hope that so many had in the 20th century as they climbed up from obscurity to proclaim the truth to an uninterested world, then they will have to recover the basis of what gave them that hope. All Christians, evangelical and otherwise, must recover the Evangel.
Timothy D. Padgett, PhD, is the Managing Editor of BreakPoint and the author of Swords and Plowshares: American Evangelicals on War, 1937-1973
Timothy D Padgett
Are you an evangelical? For some folks, this is pretty easy to answer: "No!" For others, it's a bit more complicated.
Even though it's used with great regularity and greater confidence by a great many people, figuring out just what it means remains a great mystery. Mind you, it's not that the folks using the term don't know what they're trying to say, nor is it that they're necessarily wrong when saying it. It's that there's more than one definition being bandied about, and not everyone is careful about which they intend.
A few decades ago, saying you were an evangelical would mean something. Others might not like that you were, but at least they knew what you were. Now? Not so much. What began as a description of theological beliefs and practices flowing from a long history has (de)evolved into a sociological term pertaining to a specific era in a specific culture.
It is this cultural aspect that is most often known to the popular mind, particularly as election cycles careen our way. By and large, journalists tend to ascribe the title "evangelical" to anyone who is Anglo-American, broadly Christian, and somehow conservative, at least in the minds of the pundits. So, everyone from the Wesboro Baptist crowd to Nadia Bolz-Weber gets christened an evangelical in the popular imagination. If such radically different folks are part of the same group, then something's askew.
We also have to wonder why it is that African Americans are rarely called evangelicals in the press or academia, even when their beliefs about God and man are identical to their white brethren. Or again, media accounts refer to evangelical Christians in other parts of the world. But, if an evangelical is a white, American Protestant, then how are there evangelical politicians in Latin America, evangelical churches in China, and evangelical missionaries coming out of Africa?
Now, we may say that the ethnic and national components differ, but the social and theological conservatism remains. In some cases, that's true. Generally speaking, evangelicals tend to support traditional family roles, to be suspicious of anything resembling collectivism, and, generally speaking, to support the State of Israel.
The problem is that even this expanded definition isn't enough. Certainly, a great many self-described evangelicals share many of these characteristics, but significant numbers do not. It wouldn't be unusual to find two evangelicals whose views on central issues were mutually exclusive down the line. What is the point of a category to which no one can be sure who is in and who is out?
The term itself is straight out of the Bible. The Greek word for "Gospel" or "Good News" is transliterated into English as "Evangel," and is often used by biblical writers as shorthand for the core message of the Scriptures. While all Christians would emphasize the centrality of this Evangel, evangelicals have made this a part of their self-definition to distinguish themselves from others.
A little history may be in order. The term itself is straight out of the Bible. The Greek word for "Gospel" or "Good News" is transliterated into English as "Evangel," and is often used by biblical writers as shorthand for the core message of the Scriptures. While all Christians would emphasize the centrality of this Evangel, evangelicals have made this a part of their self-definition to distinguish themselves from others.
However, the phrase wasn't applied to a single group until relatively recently, and by "relatively," I mean the last half-millennium. Before being known as Anglicans, Lutherans, and Calvinists (oh my!), Protestants were sometimes known as "evangelicals," and in German this is often still the case. The origins of evangelicalism go back beyond that, however.
Like any Christian group, they trace their source not to any historical moment but to the divine plan of God. Evangelicalism roots itself in the testimony of the Bible and, even though its adherents don't talk about it all that much, to the creeds and confessions of the Early Church.
This is something to keep in mind. Evangelicalism isn't just a recent thing, or even an American thing. Its path winds further back than our immediate context. Like other branches of Christianity, evangelicalism is an attempt to live out the teachings of the Bible, but its particular journey moved along such landmarks as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, the Moravians and the Reformers, Puritanism and Pietism.
By the middle of the 1700s, each of these elements came together in the Great Awakening. Moravian Christians influenced preachers like George Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, who, in turn, initiated a transatlantic revival. They differed on some important issues, but they agreed on the core message of the Evangel – God saved souls in Christ and was now working through His church to restore His world. It was here that the first meaningful connection to our use of "evangelical" became apparent: doctrinal fidelity, personal piety, and social activism.
As the 1800s ended, divisions began to emerge, as they always do. Some evangelicals wanted to look to the wisdom of then-contemporary philosophy and science to bring Christianity into the modern world. Others saw the future in holding to the fundamentals of the faith. Where Modernists tended to emphasize the social activism of evangelicalism, Fundamentalists leaned toward piety and doctrine. By the 1920s, it was clear that the Modernists had won, at least for a time.
By the 1940s, the term "evangelical" had notably fallen out of use, only to be picked up by the Neo-Evangelicals. Theologians like Harold J. Ockenga and Carl F. H. Henry began to use the term as a way to reinvigorate the somewhat isolated Fundamentalists and, perhaps, draw some from the doctrinally drifting Modernist camp. Like their fellow conservatives, they saw the centrality of holding to the doctrines of the Ancient Faith, but they challenged them engage the world. Being the church meant being both confrontational and winsome at the same time.
Aided greatly by the evangelistic crusades of Billy Graham, these New Evangelicals worked to create new organizations, publishing houses, magazines, churches, and ministries which continued the work of those who had gone before them. By the 1970s, evangelicals had gone from the has-beens of American Christianity to becoming a key player in United States socio-political discourse. It was also in this time that this cultural definition of evangelicalism began to emerge.
Part of this was simply a matter of becoming victims of their own success. They'd grown enough that being known as an evangelical didn't automatically mark you as a benighted outsider but as a begrudgingly respected member of the community. It became easy to be an evangelical.
Innocently or not, more and more people who wouldn't have bothered to be associated with it before now found it advantageous. In many parts of the nation, not to be an evangelical would've put you in a bad position for business or politics. Sadly, with greater numbers came a diffusion of doctrinal integrity. Where the Modernists had downgraded the importance of doctrine in the quest to be successful, many evangelicals simply ignored it now that they were successful.
The movement had also grown enough that factions could emerge, each with enough critical mass to compete with one another. Consequently came the affliction of hyper-hyphenation, as progressive-, feminist-, conservative-, and so on-evangelicals wanted to retain the association with the now-respected movement but also wanted to show that they weren't like those others. Being aligned with these wider cultural or philosophical factions began to take priority over the actual Evangel.
Accordingly, many began to choose their battles more carefully. There had always been a prophetic element within the movement, and evangelicals were quite willing to speak truth to power, even if, early on, they were too small for the powerful to pay them much heed. What is more, they were fairly equitable in how they proclaimed this truth.
If our willingness to speak out for truth, to confront sin, to stand up for justice is determined by how much it affects the socio-political balance, if we feel more in common with a political ally in the fray than with our co-heir with Christ, if we cannot distinguish between demands of the Gospel and the exigencies of an election, then we might as well drop the Evangel from our name. We're just another tribal faction in the zero-sum game of identity politics.
While they were by and large conservative throughout the 20th century, there was no real sense that being an evangelical meant voting for a specific party. President Eisenhower had been a particular favorite of evangelicals, but Johnson was also admired. In 1976, the "year of the evangelical," Carter was elected as a born-again candidate, only to be abandoned four years later when Reagan came along.
When there were enough evangelicals in voting booths for American elites to take notice, a new question emerged: What truth do we speak to which power? Many held true to their original intentions, but others increasingly began to pick and choose on the basis of cultural concerns, Left or Right. Doctrine as a guiding light dimmed when compared to short-term campaigns.
Pressured by the intensity of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and Roe v. Wade, the movement bifurcated along socio-political lines in the 1970s. Where earlier evangelicals would could "walk and chew gum at the same time" by praising those elements across society worthy of honor while also calling attention to its more disreputable aspects, now a great many selected which issues mattered most and which could be safely put on the back-burner.
Some, seeing the tyranny of Communism and doleful implications of the sexual revolution, skated too close to the siren of "God and Country." Others, seeing the injustice of America's racial legacy and the pain of those in poverty, danced to the tune of "God against Country." The former, being the majority, came to be seen by the rest of culture as evangelicals – white, right-wing, and steadfastly Republican. The latter, the decided minority, became as lockstep for the party of Jackson as their counterparts were for the party of Lincoln. Their choices were different, but their error was the same: the concerns of the moment trumped the priority of the Evangel.
Although I often hesitate to use the term, I am an evangelical. And I mean this in both senses of the term. I am what the culture thinks I am – white, Protestant, and conservative. So far as it goes, that's just fine. There's neither extra virtue nor inordinate vice in being an Anglo, suburban male.
But, I am also the other kind, someone who, however falteringly, strives to follow not the cultural quirks or political factions of the day but something higher. If ever the cultural definition becomes more important to me than the theological one, then I might as well abandon the pretense because I will have certainly abandoned the Evangel.
This is a concern for us all. If we cannot distinguish between a cultural designation or position – Left-wing, Right-wing, or upside-down-wing – and the truth of the Bible, then it doesn't matter what we call ourselves. Whatever we are then, we won't be following the truth.
If our willingness to speak out for truth, to confront sin, to stand up for justice is determined by how much it affects the socio-political balance, if we feel more in common with a political ally in the fray than with our co-heir with Christ, if we cannot distinguish between demands of the Gospel and the exigencies of an election, then we might as well drop the Evangel from our name. We're just another tribal faction in the zero-sum game of identity politics.
It doesn't have to be this way. We can proclaim that no political party can be assured of our votes based solely on the rhetoric of campaign promises. We can call out evil in this world according to our biblically-centered consciences while not ignoring the moral failings of those on our own "side." We can recognize that one group may be right about one thing but wrong about another. We can refuse to put our hope solely in any movement, nation, party, or person, but only in the gospel of God.
It's not about getting a place at the table or throwing our weight around. It's about centering our lives and our missions on the eternal Word of God and inviting the watching world to join us at His table. If evangelicals are ever to recover the great hope that so many had in the 20th century as they climbed up from obscurity to proclaim the truth to an uninterested world, then they will have to recover the basis of what gave them that hope. All Christians, evangelical and otherwise, must recover the Evangel.
American Christianity
← The Point: Boston Bars the Christian Flag
Weekly Review →


text:
PARTNERS IN SCIENCE: How the People Who Should Benefit from Research Are Increasingly Shaping How It Is Done
Home › Learn › Articles › PARTNERS IN SCIENCE: How the People Who Should Benefit from Research Are Increasingly Shaping How It Is Done
Submitted by Christina Daszkiewicz | published 18th Dec 2019 | last updated 5th Jan 2022
Community-based participatory research has been gaining traction for the past two decades. It has become particularly important for research that involves indigenous and other populations who have been mistreated by scientists in the past.
Research on marginalized groups can be fraught, and working with tribal communities is especially complicated. A history of research abuses has left many Native Americans mistrustful of the scientific enterprise. In the past, investigators have used tribal members as unwitting participants in unethical and dangerous experiments.
Community participation has become the norm. The goal of such efforts is the co-production of research, in which the stakeholders who are supposed to benefit from a strand of research become active partners in conducting it. Read more about the principles of transdisciplinarity, co-production and co-exploration here. You can also read this guide on how to establish transdisciplinary learning processes and co-production of knowledge. Scientists from disciplines as varied as archaeology, public health and climate change have embraced the approach, working with community members on many different aspects, from formulating study questions and design, to doing experiments and analysing and reporting results.
Nature talked to three groups that have built successful co-produced projects. Their experiences reveal the challenges and rewards that come with the open and collaborative exchange of ideas. The work veers away from the standard outputs of science, such as talks and papers, and expands the idea of what it means to be a scientist and a collaborator.
Click here to read the full article* This article was written by Cassandra Willyard, Megan Scudellari, and Linda Nordling, and published in Nature. weADAPT hosts a range of articles relating to the co-production of climate information, which can be accessed below:
Building resilience in southern African cities,
Receptivity and judgement,
Co-producing climate knowledge,
Co-producing climate information for Windhoek decision making.
*The key messages from the document are provided below. See the full text for much more detail.
Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands in Lusaka
Sub-Saharan Africa's urban population is projected to double in the next 25 years. And climate change is expected to hit the continent particularly hard. But although most African governments are aware of climate change, many efforts to inject climate science into city planning have had limited success. If they could just get more accurate information, they could better prepare for what lies ahead.
"solving climate-related challenges in developing countries requires more than just climate predictions" - Chris Jack, climate modeller at the University of Cape Town
FRACTAL and knowledge co-production
The Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) programme is a co-production effort designed to improve the alignment of research and policymaking in nine southern African cities. It:
tries to address this alignment by setting out to understand what cities actually need;
works with city planners and local scientists to co-produce the missing knowledge;
hosts 'learning labs', a gathering of city planners, policymakers and climate scientists intended to improve climate-related decision-making in the country. These happen in each city every six months and have produced a list of burning issues that residents of each area are most concerned about.
also studies how decisions are made in the cities.
its stakeholders have produced climate-risk narratives for each of the cities, based on different climate-change scenarios described by international models.
helps people around the region to share knowledge and experience.
The case of Lusaka
In Lusaka, the burning issues include flooding and the unregulated use of groundwater, as well as poor sanitation, waste management and erratic water supplies.
The Lusaka scenarios all involve a warmer city, but the rainfall varies: in one scenario it is drier than now; in another, the rainfall is unchanged; and in a third, there is greater variability in rainfall, with prolonged periods of drought and heavier downpours. These are all increasing diaster risk in the city.
Maputo in Mozambique is participating in the climate-resilience research project, FRACTAL, from Nature, vol 562, pp. 28. Credit: James Oatway/Panos
Decisions that influence cities' climate resilience often fall outside the remit of local legislators.
Investments in large infrastructure projects in Africa, such as power stations and water pipelines, are sometimes made by development banks and global agencies, meaning that city authorities have limited involvement.
The difficulty also lies in finding ways to capture and communicate the knowledge being produced by the project.
"The end product of co-production done well is almost in the intangible," says Jack. "It's in the fact that you have connected people and started those discussions."
Food Resource Equity and Sustainability for Health with the Osage Nation
Fresh fruit and vegetables are hard to come by in Osage County. Since the 1970s, the Osage people have increasingly relied on canned and processed foods that are high in salt, fat and sugar.
Red Corn and other tribal leaders hoped that providing locally grown fresh foods would yield obvious health benefits, but they weren't equipped to measure those benefits themselves. So, they reached out to Jernigan at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, who is a member of the Choctaw Nation.
Pilot Study
As a first step, Jernigan proposed launching a pilot study to work out what the community actually wanted:
The team surveyed everyone from community members to leadership.
People seemed most interested in the idea of community gardening.
People also wanted to increase the desire for healthy foods.
Jernigan worked with the Osage to design a community programme aimed at getting young children and their families to eat more fruit and vegetables.
Food Resource Equity and Sustainability for Health, or FRESH, launched in January.
Raymond Red Corn (centre) of the Osage Nation studies the impact of food sovereignty on his community, from Nature, vol 562, pp. 26. Credit: Nick Oxford for Nature
FRESH Study
The team came up with new, healthier menus for a programme that provides care for children aged 3–5 from low-income backgrounds.
The researchers also provided the schools with demonstration gardens.
Each week, the teachers spend 90 minutes telling stories about food, working with the children in the garden, and conducting a simple cooking lesson.
On Fridays, the children take home a healthy meal kit to prepare with their families.
Their parents take part in a 15-week online workshop.
The FRESH study will look at: whether the interventions actually increase children's consumption of fruit and vegetables, their willingness to try them, health measures, such as body mass index and blood pressure, in the families.
The cultural elements are important.
Parents are encouraged to attend a monthly family night, where they talk about:
foods they remember eating when they were young,
what they eat now,
where it comes from
and why they choose certain foods.
There's a lot of realization about the connections between language, identity and indigeneity.
Jernigan often has to strike a balance between scientific best practice and the community's needs and desires. The researchers couldn't use a true control group. It wouldn't be ethical to deny some of the participants the resources that the study provides. Instead, the team adopted a 'wait-list control' design.
The Morombe Archaeological Project with Vezo, Masikoro, and Mikea communities
Douglass directs the Morombe Archaeological Project (MAP), which is reconstructing the impact of human settlement on the Velondriake area. With the MAP team, Douglass asks members to participate in almost every aspect of research: experimental design, fieldwork, sorting and analysing material, interpretation and presentation. A region's citizens can and should have a choice about how their area is represented and what research is valuable to them. For Douglass, including locals in research was a priority:
In the team
Besides Douglass, others are members of the region's five ancestral clans, and hail from three local communities: Vezo fishers, Masikoro farmers and herders, and Mikea foragers.
Few have completed secondary school, and many cannot read or write.
Yet Douglass considers them the experts, "and great field researchers", she says.
Leading the daily operations for many of the MAP projects is George 'Bic' Manahira. Manahira is from Morombe and speaks five languages.
In the method
The intensive, co-production research effort exemplified by MAP also makes for better science. The Velondriake women, for example, have local ways of describing taxonomic relationships between animals. Prompted by that knowledge, MAP now includes a project exploring how the classification system affects the ways in which locals choose to harvest species or leave them alone.
"We go in with our own biases when we're not open to learning from community members."
In co-authorship and publication
This is the next step in building this collaboration. Several of Dougless' published papers acknowledge team members and their unique experience, they do not list them as co-authors.
According to criteria for a journal, certain people should not be put on a publication as an author.
Team members do not have regular Internet access.
Douglass lacks the funds to fly them to Pennsylvania to work in person.
Such funds would be hard to obtain: grant reviewers commented that Douglass's project budget for paying locals — about US$200 per month, a living wage in the area — was unreasonably high.
This article was writtem by Cassandra Willyard, Megan Scudellari, and Linda Nordling, and published in Nature, vol 562, pp. 24-28.
Willyard, C., Scudellari, M., and Nordling, L., Partners in Science. Nature 562, 24–28 (2018).
FRACTAL: Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands
FRACTAL website
Improved Waste Management through Public-Private Partnerships in Lusaka
Building Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the City of Lusaka, Zambia
Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change: Emerging Research on Traditional Knowledge and Livelihoods
Co-producing climate knowledge – Great in theory, but how about practice?
A compilation of good practices, tools and available data collection initiatives for the use of local, indigenous and ...
Inspiring Climate Action in African Cities
The Tandem framework: a holistic approach to co-designing climate services
The CARIAA Research-into-Use (RiU) Learning Guide
Transdisciplinarity, co-production, and co-exploration
A guide to Effective Collaboration and Learning in Consortia
Building resilience in southern African cities
Receptivity and judgement
Christina Daszkiewicz
IOM MECC Project Officer at IOM
zambia Lusaka Madagascar United States of America ethnic minorities Indigenous communities indigenous knowledge knowledge sharing knowledge co-production multi-stakeholder participation participatory approaches research into use Co-explore and understand the context
Community Based Adaptation
This theme aims to support and connect people working to empower communities to adapt to climate change and features monthly collaborative learning CBA forums.
Adaptation Decision Making
Sharing methods, tools and approaches for adaptation decision-making.