Hi, my name is Sandy Bear, and I'm from the Vermont Institute of Community and International Involvement, and we are pleased tonight to present this wonderful artist on architecture in Africa. And we have with us Diane Gayer, who was fortunate enough to bring her here to this town to exhibit her art and her film. And also with us is Eric Gagnaro, who is also from Vicky, and I'm going to allow you to introduce our guest, right? Thank you. Diane. Thank you, Sandy. So I met Amélie Essase through the International Women in Architecture organization. I think we said seven years ago. And Amélie's been a professional architect for over 20 years in the field of management, restoration, conservation, and valorization of African heritage. We had made a connection, and over time thought maybe, and she's, and I invited her to Vermont for a week to bring her film on women's work in construction and earthen architecture in three West African countries, the Nijel, the Cameroon, and I recall Spokena Faso. Spokena Faso. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm getting confused. And she especially went into earthen architecture because of working with the women in construction, and it very much inspired her research as she went forward as an architect. She's worked for 15 years with UNESCO World Heritage on some of these projects, and she's made several films as well as written books, especially for children, on what it means to create hands-on and architecture and earthen constructions. And so we're really happy to show the film. We've showed it at the University of Vermont this week, but this Vicki program is very special, and we're happy that CCTA has been offering us this space. And that's my introduction for Amélie. Do you want to say something before the film? No, you are good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And thank you for coming. Thank you. We're happy to show the film. We want to show the whole film, and then we'll have a discussion. Builders of Africa showcases and encourages the participation of women in construction, public works, engineering, town planning, rehabilitation, and the preservation of cultural heritage. The association helps promote women involved in building. Women builders has the goal of broadcasting their expertise and integrating them as partners in land planning. Our organization, Batir et Dévelopé, Build and Develop, proposes four programs of which one is women builders. This program's objective is to help enhance women's image in construction. It spreads the knowledge of and promotes their expertise in the context of transferring knowledge and of sustainable development. The African continent is full of exceptional architectural typologies changing along ethnic lines. Earthen architecture is differentiated according to various construction techniques that depend on local geography and climate. Monumental, urban or rural, or even minimalist architecture, vary along the lines of form, technique, and customs. Builders tell their stories through their expertise and their history. In the goal of bearing witness to these women's accomplishments, the Batir et Dévelopé team suggested setting up an educational construction site to renovate and decorate an earthen home. The objective is to know and transmit expertise and to research best practices for sustainability, preservation, maintenance, and the promotion of iconic earthen architecture. Our film will take you to three countries to meet three different groups of people in which the women sometimes practice the same skills, mostly without knowing of each other. Usually, the women organize the tasks within a building site or to renovate an earthen construction. The most senior woman manages logistics. Another woman will be the project manager, handling the requirements and sometimes also participating in the labor. Each knowledge expert has a specialty, for example, preparing binding agents, mud coating, paints with natural pigments, and drawing graphics that may include relief engraving. They are the main players and teach the younger people. This expertise is transmitted from generation to generation. It is an intergenerational building site. This video tells a story of female builders in specific locations in Cameroon, Niger, Borquina Faso. In each location, they got together for an educational construction site that week after week turned into a true adventure. The Musgoom live about 1,250 kilometers away from Yaoundé, Cameroon's capital, in Marois, in the far north province of the country, on the banks of the Lagoon River at the border with Chad. They created a spectacular type of architecture that resembles a mortar shell called a tuluc. The layout is a perfect circle. There is neither framework nor support of any type, nor a foundation. The shell is self-supporting. The tuluc's construction technique is that of clay and straw mortar architecture. Water is poured into earth, along with suksuki, a specific plant, and cow or goat dung. The mixture is needed until it has good plasticity.  The women who work on this building mold it like a pottery piece and prove their dexterity in the field of earthen construction. The decorative moldings are used as a clever scaffolding and water runoff system, as well as a buttress. It is architectural handwriting. Women transmitted this expertise to men. The self-supporting dome can reach a height of 15 meters. The granary is the centerpiece of the compound. Each living unit has a specific purpose, the unit of the family chief, the wife, initiation or hiding place, cattle space, kitchen. The grouping is enclosed by a perimeter wall, protecting it from external attacks. The compound is spacious. There is one single door in the shape of a warrior's shield and a zenithal opening, a sort of chimney covered with a straw hat. Inside, the telek is decorated by women. The furnishing is shaped and built in, along with the wall, alcoves, partitions, benches, beds, spaces for the cattle, and more. The Musgoom telek architecture is proof of a true artistic exploration, as well through the choice of placement in a natural location, as through its mastery of shape and the attention to detail. However, these Musgoom homes are threatened. Less and less of them are built, and the expertise is fast disappearing. What can we do to sustain these truly self-supporting units that can be up to 15 meters high? In western Niger, in the Tilaberi region, female builders work in the fourteen islands of the Niger River. They hail from a variety of ethnicities—Songai, Germa, Zarma, Wogo, Hausa, Tuareg, Pearls, and Bellas. Their architectural practice includes earthen coatings and decorations. Every island has its own identity, thanks to the coatings prepared by these women. On the Ayoru Gugum island, we set up another educational site. The local people decided to rehabilitate the earthen home of Jean Rouge, built in the 1970s. As elsewhere, construction tasks are distributed. Men handle the basic construction work, and the women apply the coating and the decor. They also rehabilitate when needed. Each woman knows which task is assigned to her. The younger group observes the elders and learns. The first task is to make the coating. The women bring mud from the river to ensure that the water genies will make it solid and protected. This river mud is mixed with dry earth from the soil, water, and manure. Those who know how to do it show the others how to knead the mixture. The mixture must rest an entire night. The next morning, more and more women, young girls and children, come either just to look on or to participate in the work. The island is crowded and the scene is colorful thanks to the various fabrics worn by the people. The mix of earth and manure, needed once more, is spread upon the house's facade. The women smooth this first coating, which must be smooth and even. It is left to dry for 24 hours before adding a second identical coat. It must be diligently smoothed out so that it is uniform. Now it's time to decorate the walls. The experts bought natural pigments in the market to create the colors. Also need to make a perfectly white coating, symbol of purity and renewal. To obtain this pure white, they mix limestone, pureed wheat, ash, and the juice of slimy leaves. Once the house is covered in white, Zellie Amido, the decor specialist, draws geometric patterns and Suleiman does the animal and people drawings. The house is done in a festive atmosphere. It is positively shining. The Muzei Ruge Fu'o, or Jean Rouge House, is also called the White House. In just eight days, thanks to the women's collective work, the house has regained its previous splendor. In Kandaji, the electrical dam project will submerge these Niger River artistic islands. How can we preserve this expertise? In Bokina Faso, in the Kasena region, land of the Gurun Sea, a people located between the southern Bokina Faso border and northern Ghana. The fortified earthen architecture is exceptional. Tiebele is located 178 kilometers away from Ouagadougou, the country's capital in the Nahuri province. It is a rural town that is home to a royal court, representing the rich cultural heritage of the Kasena. Elements linked to history and intangible cultural aspects form part of this space. At the entrance, the sacred hill and the sacred red fig tree. Inside, the sacred Baobab tree, along with several areas of worship. The different architectural shapes, forms with double-lobed or triple-lobed forms, rectangles or cones, represent either living spaces or spaces with well-defined uses. The royal court is a true labyrinth. Low walls mark private spaces, partially open spaces, spaces open with codes known only to the court inhabitants. The relationship with the environment, the natural materials used, clay, laterite, binding agents, natural pigments, fibers, the presence of animals, the relationship with the ancestors, and the rituals form an important cultural space characteristic of this heritage. This can be called a link between heaven and earth. The Kasena have a unique and specific space for women. It's located to the west of the compound in order to respect the setting sun, symbolizing women as well as being associated with the moon. The home of a woman and her children is always spatially organized the same way, whatever the size. Its construction is usually circular, with round units with flat roofs, which are joined together by groupings of two or three. This is called a double-lobed or triple-lobed shape. The first room could be a multifunctional room for living or sleeping when there is no third room. Its small semi-elliptical door marks it, along with the low wall protecting the space from water runoff or animals. To enter the home, yikes, you have to bend down and walk on all fours. This shows the earth is due respect and thanks it for holding the home such symbolism. You also need to go down 20 centimeters so that the earth's coolness can spread to all the rooms. Such ingenuity. This area is lit through a zenithal light located above the millstone for crushing grains. This light illuminates the well-organized interior and the smooth decorated walls. There is a pantry and built-in furniture, a bench, bed piled up pottery. The second room is the kitchen, accessed through the first room, also through an elliptical door. The kitchen contains a hearth on two fixed legs and a movable one. In order to change its width according to the size of the pot, there is also a granary. Smoke escapes through an opening in the roof over the hearth and also plays the role of zenithal lighting. The terrace roof is also multifunctional. It is used to dry grain and spices or as an outdoor bedroom. You can reach it by a wooden or earthen staircase. These double or triple-lobed homes point towards an empty space, the interior courtyard. There is an external kitchen, built-in benches, chicken coop, small livestock. Other small courtyards extend the space of each housing unit. As for the men's space, the men's symbol is the east where the sun rises. This is the time when his workday starts outside of the compound. His home is a simple rectangular room with a flat roof furnished with an earthen built-in bed. It is located in his first wife's courtyard. The bachelor's housing is round with a straw roof. It also functions as guest housing. The granary is conical with a straw roof. The local earthen building techniques, there are two of them, cob style, clay and straw mortar, using hand-rolled balls of earth. This used to be used for everything but nowadays is used for the granaries, external kitchens and chicken coops. The adobe style technique is used for the housing units. However, some homes are deteriorating and in some cases they're completely destroyed. Technical and sustainable solutions are needed while preserving the expertise. As in Niger, the Cassina woman builders participate in the creation and application of coatings as well as the decorations which represent symbolic messaging. To start off, we decided to think about testing earthen coatings in an adobe building in the capital, Wagadugu. Some of our team members are bachelor's degree architecture students. We tried out several mixes, some of which contained lime in order to repair the cracks. We made three layers of coating. As we were satisfied with the results, we decided to share them with the Cassina women builders of the Thiebelie Royal Court. We jointly organized a workshop to exchange techniques and research. We discussed and decided on a course of action. We made a preliminary visit to the Royal Court in order to view the premises and to determine the location of the educational building site. They're very organized. The Cassina women builder experts show us their expertise. Thanks to their participation, we restored in several stages a wall as well as the decorative symbols. There is a judicious choice of natural materials and simple tools. The materials that are usually used are natural clay, ladderitic soil, black graphite earth, ash, cow dung, nere stalks, fibers and leaves. The usual tools used by the women are a flat pebble, a bouquet of guinea fowl feathers used as a paintbrush, brushes, a sieve, a long broom, pots and pestles. The implementation process for the protective coating follows the same stages as for meal preparation. And the general atmosphere is also similar to that of an outside meal preparation. Each type of ingredient represents one stage in the practice of the women builders. After removing and cleaning the wall's surface, several layers of coating are applied. The first coating is made of cow dung, water and gray clay. It is propelled onto the humidified wall and is then spread around by pressing it in with the palm of the hand and then smoothing it. The second coating is made of cow dung, ladderitic soil powder, applied by pressing it on and smoothed by using a moistened flat pebble. The reliefs engraving is traced finely and smoothed with the same pebble as previously. As for paints, black paint is made with black graphite powder, which is natural carbon, mixed with slimy leaves. It's applied using the guinea fowl feather bouquet, either on or between the grooves. White paint is made with moistened limestone powder, applied in chosen intervals between the areas painted in black. For waterproofing, Nere stocks are boiled and pressed to make a liquid, which is propelled onto the wall, thus waterproofing it. All the decorations are symbolic forms representing elements of Casena daily life. Casena women builders perpetuate an expertise, thus guaranteeing the Casena cultural identity. After this process, we suggested testing new mixes with materials such as lime, gum arabic, and Nere juice. Several tests were carried out. Thanks to the results, we have several promising avenues to follow. During our research workshop in the Royal Court, 100 young girls from 10 Tiabele Rural District High Schools also came to learn, alongside the Casena female builders, thanks to a competition called Dora, organized by the Desenidani Association of Tiabele. The entire Tiabele Rural Court was filled with educational activities, transmitting expertise and methods for creating earthen coatings and decorations using natural pigments. It was a true intergenerational transmittal, interrelational and humanistic in a folkloric atmosphere. Traditional songs and dances accompanied the entire process. We continue our research on solutions for coatings using local materials in the goal of preserving this earth architecture heritage. The restored walls respect the expertise of the women builders. They would like to continue working with us in the search for solutions to better preserve this site from the effects of climatic and anthropogenic changes. We are but at the beginning of a wonderful human and heritage related adventure. The expertise of women builders deserves to be known, promoted and supported. It proves their ingenuity and their creativity as much in research as in transmittal of knowledge. It contributes to safeguard heritage that is material as well as intangible. I'm going to start with with our panel in terms of questions. I have no question. Yeah, so are we ready? I'm trying to shake. Go ahead. OK, OK, Sandy. Yes, please. I had the similar question when this film was presented at the University of Vermont. Two questions. One, is this a structure that is more conducive to a rural space rather than an urban space? Or is it architecture and structure that could be adapted to an urban space? I'm going to continue. OK, so as an architecture, can we adapt to urbanization or is it mainly for rural landscapes? No, it's the two of them. We can very well adapt this architecture in the city because there is still this type of architecture in the city. A little less today. When I met Agadougou 20 years ago, he had all these architectures in the city. And so this village is a royal court. At the time, 20 years ago, when we entered the village, we still saw a lot of houses. Today, with the advent of urbanization and especially the cement materials, because we have always said that the land was not good for construction. People have more and more abandoned this architectural practice to make modern architecture but which is not at all adapted. And we come back 25 years today to this architecture that can be adapted very easily in the city. I'm going to continue. OK, so there was a lot explained. But yes, the existing cities 20 years ago had more of this architecture still intact within the cities. And it's been the loss of that. That's also been part of the loss of the heritage of the heritage. But the part of the point of the film is to show the heritage and to learn from that so that it can be adapted into urbanized situations. And especially because the competition is concrete structures, this is a lot safer construction in terms of adapting to climate and a much better situation. But over these recent years, of course, with urbanization, the pressure has been to do other things than this. And so the old structures have fallen down a little bit and been abandoned in certain cases. This also is a problem of having a conversation between the two worlds. These are ancient techniques that have been preserved in a rural area for most of them and then in the beginning of urbanization in Africa. But if you have seen in the movies, they were student architects, meaning that they are also open to new techniques. So there is a need for a conversation between the two. But most of the countries were under colonization. So the problem is, for a long time, those techniques were considered not modern and had that idea of an awkward world from the past. And then everybody went into concrete. But everybody went also into concrete because the French companies, when it comes to the French colonial empire, the English companies were there also to sell everything that is around concrete. So for a long time, architecture was only about the ways built in the western world and looking at your own ways of building as something that is not acceptable. Now we hope that the new generation of architects will bring these materials that were there also because if you live in those houses, there is no need for an air conditioning system. Exactly. And that's the shifting world that we're all having to fight and work with. You had another question? My other question was, it seems that this is more like communal space and architecture for a community rather than, for instance, in this country, architecture is often based on housing and villages are based on private property, a single house for a single family rather than an extended family. So is this more like a communal, the building of a real community or communal space rather than the kind of western tradition of everybody in their own house and in their own space and a nuclear family structure rather than an extended family structure? You understand a little the question. Yes. And also if it's not only communal, as in the beginning, in practice, but in comparison to modern architecture where basically everybody is very private. So in the villages today, the community exists, that's for sure, but we tend to become also individualists today. So we have our own house, even if it's open, there is an open semi-open. I mean, with the development of the cities, each one has its own house, the big barrier and we close it. So maybe a security point. As I said earlier, I knew my village, which had become a big popular district in Adwala, Cameroon, and 20 years ago, we didn't have the barriers. We came back from one house to another, etc. We went to Tonton and the cities, the populations came, the cities developed and today we have the barriers. But it's our village, even though it's popular, for us it's our village, but it's a popular district today. And that's what's happening. I lost the thread. So 20 years ago, for example, where Emily lived, there weren't any barriers, there weren't any walls, there weren't any separations and you could go next door, you could go in and out of your familial zone as well as your greater neighborhood zone. And now, of course, all that privatization has come in and there are many reasons for it, but there is that push towards individuality that's taken hold as well. And you can continue. Why did it come a little like that? Well, there was urbanization that was there, but I always crossed the street to go to my grandfather and in the family, in the grandfather's house, we have generations, we have the uncles, we have the children, my cousins, etc. So there is still the family cell that is still there. Even if we are in life, we still have this family cell that was there because we are self-employed. Why this work is to say that in a lot of architecture schools, I did my studies in France and we didn't have the opportunity to discuss with this architecture as a young student. And I needed to know the construction techniques to be able to go towards a sustainable, identity, social and cultural architecture and that this African city is also representative of its heritage. At one point, in terms of the proximity of her family nucleus was very intact in the relationship with grandparents and so forth. But as she went and studied in France, architectural studies aren't based on this kind of heritage and you lose your identity when you enter into another system and it's all about that and as an architect I do know that myself that you're trained a certain way and while you're in school you can't really question that training.  Yes. I think all civilizations, even the western border, gone through different stages. Of course. In Europe or in Asia, if you go to Greece you still have these houses that take you back in time but everywhere people have had the luxury to decide how to evolve. I would not say everywhere. I mean somehow. Somehow. Like in Africa this discussion between the past and the future or today has not been made because at some point there was an accident which was colonization which came. An accident? All the friends that I've had who are architects have learned the way you built today but they were not given the chance to take these ancient techniques and to go to the modern world. It's not that Africa wants only to build this way. We want to build the modern way but using these techniques, using these materials freely. Or the knowledge. Without being told that you are a bank of savages who are in the past and just using mud or clay we could build a new city that is in between. It's a mix of all the techniques that we learned today freely. It's a matter of sovereignty. It's important in developing your own city. So Eric, let me. We have that situation with other examples and I want to also see if any audience questions but like I think of Paolo Solari in the southwestern desert of the U.S. he too isn't accepted and he was trying to build a future called an arcology and using new techniques, old techniques it's not accepted in the west just as it's not accepted. So I think that pushback is valid but it engages all of us. Because people in the west including in the United States have not been allowed either to form their own structures or their own communities. Essentially the rich... I shouldn't say that. I suppose our economic system has shaped how we live and that's an economic system that also shapes people in the west as much as people not as much probably as people in Africa because Africa is loaded down with colonialization but it's not like western peoples have been allowed to develop their own architecture or community either. The economic system. Exactly, that's what I'm saying. So it's a brutal situation for any architecture school or writing or everything to emerge. Right, okay. So... I wanted to add too it's also the focus with women because it's important. In my training I did civil engineering I built before so I did technical training and when I did my bacc in my first year I couldn't go in a field because I was a woman and we're in France, we're not in Africa and when I left Burkina Faso I saw the organization the men... in this case in Burkina in the construction of the population what I also wanted to say is that Africa has 44 countries black Africa, south Africa and austral Africa so we need to know that in one region the structural typology is not the same as the other so we can't centralize Burkina it's Africa, no it's not possible it's like I said the United States it's the Vermont so we also need to accept that Africa has a lot of countries and that it's not a country and so this region which is the Kassena of Burkina Faso I'll translate So as a reminder Africa is a continent and it has 49 countries and it's like saying that Vermont is the same as Southern California and most of us know that that's not true and we're states and we're not even different countries and the regional climatic differences and cultural differences across a continent are huge but to circle back for a minute Emily in 1989 it was there that you couldn't go to the border it was before that but at some point during her studies in France because she was a woman she wasn't allowed to do field work, site work on a and she was also first in engineering before architecture and that's part of the reason why coming back to the women that she met doing earthen construction was relevant is because they were women working on site working with materials working in building and so she learned from that a very different modality than was being pushed in France Also because I didn't learn African architecture in Africa or in an architecture school in Europe but in any case for me it was important it was my question if I go back to Africa in one of the countries what type of architecture would I do who am I as an architect African woman and who loves materials and so for me I had to know who I was and through this exchange with the populations that were formed at the beginning on earthen architecture bamboo architecture and ecological architecture I was able to have this conversation with African architecture in any case what type the techniques the earth bamboo, leaves in the south of Cameroon were built with banana leaves so I am also learning I hope a little so why so as an architect she had to reclaim I needed to go to know the architectural typologies the know-how to be able to have the conversation with modern architecture today and to learn to do research on the different typologies of architecture within different regions of Africa allowed her to have the conversation with modern architecture and what might be adaptable what might be relevant to the future within urbanization in Africa but I offer in other parts of the world too and you did a special presentation back earlier this year the southwest Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos and had very intense conversations about those materials with the materials that you knew and the diversity of materials that you knew it's interesting talking about the southwest we have Beth that is asking is that you have more good French Beth is that you have more these architectural techniques in the United States I'm impressed that you can read that from here Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Beth Sax Bell She presented her film piece Albuquerque and had a great reception of the film and people were very keen on the workshop too and you had people mixing the adobe and also the bools Cobb except for technique But they didn't have time for the decorations. But she did bring Gamma Arabic to mix with different colors and create the skim, what would you call it, the finish? And yet they didn't actually apply that entirely. Yeah. More info. Joan, do you have a question? Do you have a comment? I know I have admiration. Oh, we have it. I love your question. Yeah, another? No, no. It's like the same. But my question is how do you now move forward?  How can we use it? How can we bring it in our new world? And how can the conversation be, as you said, not only a conversation among Africans, but a conversation like around the world, and how these techniques can be used for to adapt to climate change? Yes. You know, there's a third of the population in the world who live in an ecological house on Earth. So, a third of the world already lives in earth and climate-adapted construction. A third? A third. It's true. But it's very... It's mostly developing countries, correct? Yes. It's around, I'll just add, it's around the Mediterranean basin. It's in one of the plateaus in China. This is something that I did a lot of studies on, so I followed it, and it's surprising how much of it exists, but we just don't see it. And we don't see it in our, you know, magazines and illustrations, and certainly, we really don't see any of the adapted, sustainable ways of living in any of our movies. That's not in the media. Yes, but today, we're starting because it's been about ten years, and there's a lot of construction on Earth that's being done, in any case, in France that I know. A lot of the 2024 Olympic Games present this, a lot of studies on the architecture of Earth in Europe, particularly in Africa, in France that I know. And it's quite interesting because it's been twenty years, I did a project, a bi-biotech in-term, twenty-five years ago, my diploma, we said, no, it's not possible, it's not possible because it is Earth architecture, it's not, we have... So, France has been experimenting, and I know that even from the seventies, with Rammed Earth, but she did a project twenty-five years ago for a library in France with Rammed Earth. Yeah, in Bocchina first, with two of us. Oh, sorry. Okay. In Africa or France? In Africa, in Bocchina first. But I... But we do see this different places, it's just not changing the landscape of what we know. Yes. Oh, yeah. So I think that's why this is interesting is because it's bringing it forward as a conversation to affect our expectations and as currently a way to rethink what we're doing in terms of climate. Right. So we have just a couple of minutes left. Do we have any other questions from... That's okay.  I think I may have heard my name mentioned. Was there a question? But, you know, we don't, you know, we actually, you know, we thought about you, just thinking about you. Yeah. Okay. So, the last word before it's finished. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And the project... I don't know if it's difficult here. It's lost my words. Yeah. I'm very emotional and emotional. I would like to thank the people who welcomed me and all those who helped me because this film is made with little hands and no subvention at all. I want to continue because that's also to be with you, to continue to work on this theme that is world-wide, today's architecture, change of climate, preservation of a heritage, but also people in good living conditions, and the economy, because we can't preserve a heritage without thinking about the economy, that people eat it. And so that's all. And I think of this continent that is wonderful and that I also show the beauty of the continent. So bringing beauty back into things which we tend to forget to do, especially when we're worried about economic things or transfer of technologies. But the beauty of Africa is critical to know because it's very vibrant and it's part of its spiritual existence, which we've talked about a lot, the spiritual existence of some of this making of earth and architecture. But all of that goes to a very critical thinking by Emily of the women, the peoples that she worked with through these projects and over this time, because without them this wouldn't exist. And as much as thanking everyone in Vermont that she's met, it's really about the women that she worked with. And what the film represents is many, many hands coming together to make it. There was no support for making the film. It was really done by individuals coming together and Emily's talent and courage. And we really thank you for being here with us and hope you come back soon. I'm very proud to have an architect also coming from Africa because we tend to think that Africa only provides refugees and people that are plagued by war. We have people that want to participate in the universal, in the global debate. It is time now that we stop militarism and then we start discussing as brothers and sisters because we have a fantastic, it's urgent, but we have a fantastic opportunity to do that. It's how to battle climate change, how to bring back peace. It's important that we open that discussion. And also Vicki hopes to do that, correct? The Vermont Institute of Community and International Involvement really thanks you for coming. This is a wonderful presentation. Thank you so much. And our little Vicki will be back soon with other interesting and presentations about beauty. So join us soon. Thank you.


I'm naked. I'm like naked. There isn't a man behind me These are my hands Why you want me to be naked? I don't you think you're thinking ruffalo put your clothes on to be honest I wish I could Cover my hands with my boobs, but here we are. I'm here to talk to you about voting Did you know that ballots could be naked and if you don't do exactly what I tell you your ballot could get thrown out This is that my ballot just glad it first of all when your ballot comes you're supposed to read the instructions read and Follow the instructions that come with your ballot if they say to use a black pen use a black pen I know that's like literally the least sexy thing a completely naked person could say but But I have crumb like kind of Pepsi this problem number two in some states like Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsylvania there are two envelopes you have to stuff your ballot in otherwise It's called a naked ballot naked ballots And you don't want to have one of those number three Mail your ballot in as soon as you can don't sit on them get those things out ASAP like now do it Get it in as soon as you can I gotta get my ballot to the mother Okay post office. Let's go. Please vote.  Please vote America needs you


Welcome to today's Aloha United We Stand show and I am Carol Monly, your host for today and I'm very pleased to have as our special guest Gerald Shintaku from the Hawaii Food Bank. Welcome Gerald. Welcome. Oh thank you very much and happy holidays to you. Thank you. It is. It's a really important time I'm sure for the Food Bank. Sure is. It sure is. Yeah now how long have you been with the Food Bank? I know you're president. Yes I was fortunate to join the Food Bank on staff December 1st so I'm coming up on 11 months now. I was on the board for about 14 years prior to that in my previous career so I was on the board, watched all the good activities that you know was occurring at the Food Bank. I had a chance to retire from my previous position with Kraft Foods last August and I was retired and playing a lot of golf and relaxing and kind of getting a little bored and got the call from the Food Bank and when they asked me to join the Food Bank on staff. Yes well it's a really important organization for our community. Yes so tell us what's happening what's new at the Food Bank? Well there's always a lot of things going on Carol you know we we have to deal with about 287,000 people that have a need for our services or one of our partner agency services throughout the year. That's about one in five people in the state of Hawaii so there's a huge number of people that we serve. So is that on all islands? That's including all islands and children as well as children we have about 43,000 keiki and about 45,000 kupuna that are also serviced as part of that number so yeah we touch a lot of people you know with our services and what are your services? Well we primarily what we do at the Food Bank is we actually we receive donations of product and then some product we actually purchase then we warehouse it and we also check product that's being donated to make sure it's safe edible make sure it's not you know the cans aren't rusty or or leaking and any of that make sure it's safe to go back out. We inventory it inventory it and we work with about 225 agencies here in Oahu that actually come to us on a daily basis that comes to pick up food so we don't actually have the needy coming to our warehouse in Mapuna Puna but we have a great partnership with these agencies throughout the island of Oahu and Kauai that come to our location they either pick up food our top 20 our 20 largest agencies actually get a delivery from us depending on when they're servicing their needy people it could be once or twice a week it could be once a month it could be every two weeks just depends on how often they service their people these include food pantries and churches and rehabilitation groups so we deal with a lot of people that actually help us get the food the people that need the food. Right so you mentioned your partners so I know you're of course a member of Aloha United Way so are your partners also members of you know Aloha United Way? Most of them are yes absolutely they are you know Aloha United Way helps us in many ways you know one of the big ways is through the donor designated donations so you know it's a very popular program for people that are employed you know you take it right off the paycheck and they direct their monies to the food bank we also have they also allocate some of their monies to the safety net program so about a hundred thousand dollars of it that Aloha United Way allocates to various major causes like medical people that need housing you know in emergency situations they also. So the safety net program is an AUW program? Yes I'm sorry yes it's an AUW program. And so how is that linked with the food bank? They've allocated about a hundred thousand dollars in case there's a need emergency need for food. So you benefit from those donations that are allocated to the safety net? Yes exactly exactly every year you get a hundred thousand dollars. That's about about that about that much every year. What is your general budget?  Our operating budget's about five million dollars a year. And where does that all come from? The bulk of it the revenue side comes in from individuals that donate funds to us you know we have different vehicles for them to do that you know primarily to our direct mail our newsletters our email callouts and then we have events throughout the year that we have a really good community support on where people come in and participate whether that's a food drive we have an event at the food bank itself called great chefs where we kind of open up our warehouse and we invite chefs to come in and cook up some food and then we also have a golf tournament so we have a few events throughout the year to help us you know just publicize what we do and to get people to donate. I think many of us are familiar with the donation of cans right at work yes so that brings up a question of past due or as you say your inventory and stock your warehouse so do people are carefully not bringing you cans or anything that are past due dates are those is that an issue yeah we take a look at it and the main thing is it's not rusty or leaking or just severely dented yeah as long as it's not in one of those states we categorize we box it up and we do it allow the people to take it the agencies to take it along with them okay so now go back and give back to your events these are great events that you have a lot three or four times a year yes did you just have one recently are you having one in the next before the year and let's see right now we have a program with the supermarkets called check out hunger aha yep so that's a big one and is that a regular program you do every year and we've had this we've been fortunate to have this run for about 23 years and of the 23 years craft foods kind of underwrote some of our expenses for the last 13 years where you go to various supermarkets across the islands and you'll see a little point of sale thing by the check stand that has different tickets for consumers can actually donate money right at the check stand right so is that different than what I've seen at my safe way is there's a bag that's actually been filled with food yes and then one can pay and I guess choose which size is that different than yes it's different so each of the retailers you know support us in different ways and safely has that program and does that go to the food yes it does actually does so whatever you do with that program also comes to the food bank and so does the check out hunger I see okay so do we have something to show on the check out hunger there we go why don't you tell us a little bit about sure actually so you'll see this at the at various supermarkets across the state the participating stores are the safeway stores on the big island we have kta superstores and choice mark on oahu and maui we have time supermarkets shimas on oahu we have big save on kawai don kihote and for the first time this year we have marokai participating here on oahu also on oahu we have tomora supermarket in wine eye along with the tomora's markets and fine wines and liquors all over oahu and maui so we've got an abundance of support from a lot of local supermarkets yeah I see what about the mainland chains I noticed we have safeway but what about whole foods what times is a local supermarket oh well right right now we have safeway and whole foods and some of the other retailers support us in different ways how do they support you in various ways they do donations throughout the year and actually whole foods has a program now where they actually just donated a bunch of turkeys to us for Thanksgiving which is really nice in fact there's a promotion tied into that with uber and I believe it's free turkey with a ride if you need a ride to kahalamol to shop uber will give you a special prize and there's a donation to the food bank of a turkey I believe that's the program itself so it's a really nice program that we have a lot of these programs that we do have are available to you know for more details on our website www.hawaiifoodbank.org so you can probably get more details on that right and so about how much do you expect to receive in donations from you mentioned your five million dollar budget so yes what if that comes from these types of donations yeah so like in last year checkout hunger raised about two hundred eighty eight thousand dollars the overall program did now a portion of that does go to the islands that it that was raised on so for people on that are watching on maui the funds that are raised on maui through the supermarkets there will go to the maui food bank the people that are watching on the big island the money they're raised through kta and the stores there will go to the food basket and they have a branch in hilo and one in kona so it's food basket different than food bank um it's just a different name but the primary purpose is about the same so we don't have oversight over the maui food bank or the big island food baskets but we do work in partnership to make sure that we've got you know we have an overabundance of food here and it's a particular item we'll ship product to the maui food bank or to the big island and vice versa I see so you have to pay to ship yes right now we do have to pay so there is a cost involved with that and so we have to do run you know we do run fundraising events right to help offset those shipping costs sure wouldn't it does it ever come up up that perhaps it's better to buy the food on the neighbor islands and stock your your uh yeah I think it depends on what the item is like the big island there's an abundance of produce farmers there right papaya yeah papaya and just various types of fruits and vegetables so rather than let it go to waste from time to time they'll ship it to oahu or to maui so again we can share in some of that and we're always looking for you know produce fresher foods right you know I think the the connotation of a food bank is probably a lot of canned goods yeah whether it's fruits or vegetables or meats but one of our emphasis areas have been this past year and in the last couple years has been to try to provide more produce and fresh foods to the people oh that's wonderful what about on kawaii didn't you yes we have a branch on kawaii so you know check out hunger if you shop on kawaii again those month that those dollars will go to our hawaii food bank kawaii branch and we also ship you know a good amount of food from oahu to kawaii to help supplement what they're able to get there you know with kawaii they don't have as many businesses or suppliers that we have here on oahu so they have really good participation from the the businesses there but we also have to supplement with a product going from oahu there to help the people there on kawaii I see and so in terms of staff do you have how many staff do you have at the food bank do you have a separate group here in Honolulu and then on the neighbor islands yes we do in total we have about 40 staff people with both at food both food banks on the kawaii side we have about I think it's five five people that actually do that paid employees right we have a huge amount of volunteers so the volunteers that we have here on oahu and on kawaii really helps us get the the message out really helps us fulfill the cause that we need to so on an annual basis in fact on a daily basis you'll see you know a dozen or so volunteers at our food banks you'll see on the weekends specific weekends of the month you'll in fact this coming weekend we have about 100 volunteers coming in you know some for the military and businesses support us tremendously so actually first Hawaiian bank is coming in this weekend and what are they going to do they're going to we have various tasks we actually have a a senior feeding program that we do it's a federally federal grant that we receive and what we have to do is we buy the components of this box of this feeding box we buy the components in pallets it comes in what are in the components dried milk we have juice typically some kind of peanut butter maybe a canned vegetable or canned fruit and then we give them a bag of cheese but we bring in that product in bulk and then the volunteers come in and help us actually assemble it so we actually have a huge assembly line in our parking lot it's tented so they're protected from the sun we have one on one end they're creating boxes they're making actually boxes and it goes down the assembly line and all the volunteers are putting in the different components in till the very end yeah but it's a program we started about a year ago and we're up to 2400 so on a monthly basis we're helping about 2400 seniors here on Oahu get some food and the box is pretty heavy it's about 30 32 pounds worth of product that we're able to give them so it's it's nice to see their their their smiles on their face you know when they receive it because it just helps them make it you know through the month of course well on that note we're going to hold take a brief break uh and be right back this is carol manly with my guest Gerald Shintapu who is the president of the hawaii food bank we'll be right back hi i'm chris leetham with the economy and you and i'd like to invite you each week to come watch my show each wednesday at three p.m for a very healthy summer watch viva hawaii we're giving you the best tips and with our best health coach here so viva health coach viva la comida saludable aloha my name is justine espiritu and i am the co-host of hawaii farmers series this is my co-host matthew johnson and we are live with you every thursday at four p.m at thinktech hawaii dot com and our show focuses on hawaii's local food community we feature not only the farmers that are producing our food but we also feature the supporters and other folks involved in the community that are trying to promote local agriculture hi welcome back this is carol manly and i'm very pleased to have our guest Gerald Shintaku who is the president of a u w one of a u w beneficiaries the hawaii food bank on a organization that's very important and dear to our hearts here in our community so okay so we were just talking about these wonderful boxes that you make for our kopuna and so about in general how many pounds do you distribute a year is that a good question to figure out how you measure absolutely most people are just so surprised you know when they come to the mapuna punar warehouse here on oahu as well as kawaii we actually distribute about a million pounds of food a month a month that comes out of our warehouse and goes to these agencies that we work with to give to the needy so it's it's if you do the math it's about 50 000 pounds a day of food goes out it's a million pounds a month and throughout the course of the year last year i think we did about 13.1 13.2 million pounds of food went out to the people that need more more than a million a month oh yes absolutely so you know we have a staff of about 40 fine people they work really hard they're very passionate about the cause and then the volunteers that i mentioned earlier we have tremendous amount of support from the community with volunteerism and so they all help us get this out to the people that need it so have you found that um of course the recession was almost eight years ago uh and i'm sure the need was very high then has the need changed as the economy has improved um no it really hasn't you know it really hasn't actually when the economy turned down what we used to depend on in the past in numbers of our pounds of donations of food switched over to the amount amount of food now we have to purchase so because when the economy turned down a lot of the you know the the suppliers that we had had to you know sharpen their pencil up because we have to make sure they stay in business um so they sharpen their pencils in terms of their ordering patterns and so on and so forth so now we find ourselves actually having to purchase more food and so with that said you know people think of the food bank and they think of bringing canned goods which is wonderful but we also appreciate uh you know any kind of cash or funding um uh supplies uh surplus um uh some cash donations donations yeah exactly that plays a big part what percentage do you think what is cash donations what percentage uh are cans people saving or office drives and what percentage is maybe grants and other other ways that you raise that's a good question well right now um i think we get about 66 percent of our food between the supermarkets that are here in the islands as well as the manufacturers and the farms the wholesalers the the producers here and then the rest of it comes about 15 percent of it comes to food purchases so that number 15 percent actually has doubled over the last 10 years so it was a lot smaller you know but now it's up to 15 percent and so in terms of number dollars how much is that um you know i don't have that number off the top of my head but we donate well i think last year we probably spent about 400 thousand dollars maybe a little bit more than that to just purchase food purchase food purchasing cans and extra yes exactly yeah we're affiliated with a national organization called Feeding America and it's an affiliation of food banks across the country and so this this affiliation with that group allows us to tap into food sources of food suppliers across the country that have an over inventory or surplus of maybe manufactured goods that maybe didn't quite sell and so we get a good discount off of it they ship them to hawaii oh yes we actually we can purchase it so we have a there's a website that we can look at and find out where these pockets of foods are including some grade b foods so they could be canned goods but maybe the the peas or the corn or whatever is in there might not be graded grade a where we buy stuff from the supermarkets with may not be all the same size yeah small issues but are very edible and very nutritious so we also have a source to find out where those inventories are and we're able to purchase it and bring it to the west coast and we have a good partnership with the two big shipping lines here that ship product to hawaii and so they help us bring it over to to the food bank wow very complicated yeah you know we talked a little bit earlier um as i attend different functions bank wits programs and there are there's always a wonderful spread buffet but there always seems to be a lot of leftovers yes and we talked about one of your partners and how how does that get reused or at least not wasted yeah so yeah we're at the hawaii food bank we're not equipped to to make those pickups you know typically it's after a buffet line or some kind of a big party as you mentioned Carol so there's another organization in town called aloha harvest and their function or their main charge is to um you know go and and tap in and find these sources you know of food that are available so they're also a uw i believe so yes organization exactly and how do they partner with you do they partner with you um not right right not right now but we're working towards that you know because again at the end of the day it's all about feeding the needy feeding the hungry and um so we're looking for opportunities right now to do that so do you keep statistics on the number of hungry people you mentioned the 200 plus thousand are they all being fed and or are we also seeing some problems because they you can't reach them all yeah the one thing with hunger it's not very visible you know when you talk about homeless it's pretty apparent when you you know drive to the streets where the homeless camps are the homeless people are but with food it could be anybody and it couldn't it doesn't necessarily have to be for a whole year or for years it could be you or i you know for some reason um during a certain month we had some kind of a uh unexpected medical expenditure or you know our car broke down or something that affected us and so you know when you rent a place you have to pay your rent and you have to pay your utilities right so the money goes there and then kind of what's left over is your food budget right but if something you know dramatic happens and you just don't have enough to buy yourself the food that you need for the month then um then you have to make certain adjustments and so those are the people that you don't see they're living in an apartment or wherever but you don't see them but they also are you know taking advantage of our services and as you say through your partners right as opposed to coming down to your Mapuna Puna warehouse they will use one of your 20 plus partners yes we have over 200 agencies across Oahu we have another i think 30 on kawaii and again they're located throughout the you know throughout the north shore out on the leeward side out on the east side a lot here you know in the central part of Oahu but they're located all over the place so it's from a convenience standpoint it allows people to not have to travel far distance to get food or have a car or have a car exactly yeah exactly how do we find out the names of those by going to your website yep you can come to our website you know hawaiifoodbank.org and you can look it up um and um yeah we'll be happy to you know i think the reference is there okay so do you have some more numbers for us um no i think you know just uh you know the the the neat thing you know i came from a craft foods and i'm now working for the food bank and one thing that i do know is uh many nonprofits you know they're very good in terms of um you know how they're able to stretch their dollars so at the food bank you know for every ten dollars that you donate we can buy 25 meals for somebody that needs it yeah so and part of it is due to what i talked about earlier in terms of being able to source this food on the mainland again it might not be grade a could be grade b which is very edible um but you know again ten dollars equates to 25 meals and if you think about it i mean that's a lot of impact you have wait really yeah so this program to check out hunger program that we have is um you know last year generated about 288 thousand um 288 thousand dollars for us and so with that said you know i mean if you do the math on it i think it comes out to somewhere around um look at my figures so i get it right here about 720 thousand meals wow was it we were able to generate from this checkout hunger program and it runs from now through january 17 right i can see it for two dollars and 81 cents you can feed a child breakfast for a week yes and for 1243 you can feed a senior lunch for a month right it's amazing and for 16 dollars and 84 cents you can actually feed a family dinner for a week exactly again that's through the efficiencies of what we're able to purchase plus all the donations that we get from the community um you know so when you go through those participating supermarkets that i did mention earlier you'll see this uh stand by the check stand and so very simple as you're buying your groceries you just pick off the denomination you want to donate and they scan it in it gets added to your food bill right no pain most people won't feel it at all exactly exactly if you think about it you know um you know whether it's a drink of you know a cup of coffee or whatever it is it's um or less it's a cup of coffee is more than two dollars and 81 cents yeah maybe nowadays yeah so yeah add it to the food bill and if you need a record for your taxes you can do that too and look what we have here on the screen this is a letter from a child do you know anything about this um you know we get um so many letters from uh people across the state let me look at it take it it says dear food bank of hawaii thank you for the food and we appreciate that you give us food oh okay and it is so good yeah so this looks like it's from a very grateful child yes yeah we do have a with this painting that was included thank you for the food yeah we just recently got a message from a child through one of our programs that helps one of the really underprivileged elementary schools here on oahu and uh it's a called a backpack program so we pack up these little backpacks for the children so they can take it home on fridays because if you're underprivileged or needy you get breakfast and lunch at school so throughout the week they're taken care of but when you go home on the weekends if your family doesn't have the resources then you go hungry so we pack up a little backpack of food for them to take home for the weekend and not only to feed the family that basically what it comes down to so it the intent is to take care of the child we had a nice little note a few months ago from a child thanking us basically she said um thank you for the backpack because now grandma can have some soup oh and so you know you know the child is sharing with the family and that we're taking care of everybody or as many people as we can in the house right but yeah we have letters like that all the time oh that's wonderful well we have one minute left Gerald and I'd like you too if you would address our camera and um tell us what you would like our community to hear about the Hawaii food bank sure absolutely well besides the checkout hunger program that we talked about today you know this is so we're getting into the season of giving with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up so we have a lot of businesses that support us with food drives and monetary donations but I just like to reach out to individuals out there as you are looking at your planning for year-end if you can continue to keep the Hawaii food bank uh or give us consideration um you know as again you're making your year-end um you know financial arrangements and and donations and such um all your food goes out to a worthy cause 95 cents of every dollar actually goes back to providing services to the needy so we're a very efficient organization we have got a great bunch of passionate people and I'm so fortunate to be able to be associated with them so thank you Carol thank you so much Gerald this is such an important organization for our community to help keep all of us strong and we appreciate the good work that you and the Hawaii food bank thank you very much for letting us share our message today thank you so for us today at Hawaii Big Tech Hawaii aloha and we'll see you next time