It•'s July 2012, and YL volunteers and readers chipin to facilitate an encounter between Nassamou,chief of the Puelh Wodaabe and YL Magazine•'s EricSchneider. One week later, they have met. Thisaccount is the prequel to adding a new, unprece­dented chapter to a 5,000 year long story.

•are the opening lines of ‘Herdsmen of the Sun’, anexceptional ethnographic documentary by WernerHerzog. The NYTimes calls it•

Their travel routes stretch for thousands of miles, fromsouthern Niger, through northern Nigeria, north-eastern Cameroon, and the western region of the CentralAfrican Republic…

relates an elder who recently passed on (5min40) and he goes ontelling about the experience of the cataclysmic drought,unprecedented in their thousands of years of history, that strucktheir world towards the end of the past century, how it forcedthem off their traditional paths, only having to return when nohope was found elsewhere. Their rich herds of cows died, to befollowed by countless tribesmen and women. "We were perishing".

This was a few years before Werner Herzog visited them andcaptured their world on celluloid. Their story. Their men. Theirwomen. Their animals. Their dance. The Gerewol celebration,Beautiful people in the pounding heat, the desert stretchingendless, the water gone. But their inner strength never breaking,enduring, staying in the place they call home. And their nationhas survived.

And the very men, women and children you see in this film are the neighbours of the people that WE are meeting.Isn't this amazing? What a fateful coincidence. You Cannot Imagine their world! Watch the film here.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6496997289561369407

After years of witnessing that the change ofclimate has made their traditional livelihoodimpossible, they have taken the decision to strikea balance. That part of their tribe settled, to givetheir young generation the opportunity to go toschool, and broaden their opportunities of choicefor the future. The other half, the elderly andvery young – still travel the Sahara.

This was in 2001. There is a village now, of tenthouses well crafted from wood and tapestry.Some clay houses. Around three hundred andfifty families live in Foudouk. That’s around fivehundred to one thousand people, depending ontheir movement.

Grounding “mil”, a cereal and basic food sourceof the Wodaabe

More droughts. In twelve years, not much haschanged. Still, no water. The well, seventy metresdeep, has run dry. The camels are gone. Again,the cows have died. The three months of rainyseason have not picked up enough to getlivestock through nine months of 40+ degreeheat.

Back in the days, it was not uncommon for aherdsman to own a hundred cows. Today, theyare lucky to have two. Many have none. But twochicken, giving nine and twelve eggs per month.

“Has it been a hard decision?”

“No. We decided it has to bedone.”

“Do you miss travelling?

What do you do all day long?”

“The children go to school. Thewomen do crafts.”

“And the men?”

“The men - don’t really do much."

“Do you feel good in the village? Are you at peace?”

“Yes, we feel good. Wedecided to do it.”

Women pounding "mil", a cereal,the Wodaabe's basic food source.

And still, some things have changed. In Foudouk, ninety-onestudents visit the elementary school. First, one teacher joinedthe village to live there.

Today, there are four. They feel good, the people are veryhospitable.

Today, thirty-four youth visit the college in Agades.

When I hear of them, and writing these lines, I see what hopeand potential they represent for the future.

Thirty-four teenagers, who go to a residential college.

Their residence? UNICEF tents, 500 meters from school.Agades is one hundred and seventeen kilometers away- and the villagehas no car.

From time to time, a guarded government convoy comes to visit. Theycome to check on options for drilling a new well, and a promising spothas been made out. It would be one hundred metres deep, and should hiton sufficient water to support the village and start some agriculture.Agriculture, here, is modest. It means growing grass, so the goats havesomething to bite.

Some folks have really come up with miracles. One is the automobile, somereally amazing workhorse.

The Frenchman, struck by the experience, set out to get the regionan ambulance car. In a matter of months, together with Christine,they founded Yaadal, - “Let’s work together” as a charity in France.

Their first project was the car.Think ‘desert and basics’, - anything would do. So here’s theambulance! At a cost of 3,422 Euros. If you think of a high schoolof one thousand students, that’s the cost of a big ice cream ora burger and fries per student. I’d forgo that to invest in anambulance.

Next, think dirt road. Our favourite new workhorse friend,the little car, has trouble there. It’s not his best territory,you see? But they’re managing.

Learning techniques for irritation to growmeadows of grass and planting food crops isa new goal. It will get the men occupied andprovide for the village. It’s a challenge, too.“We have never done this.” For nomads, thisis not much different from your next-doorfarmer going to settle in the Sahara and gettingstarted. With hatchets. With no clue. And it’shot. That’s why the Wodaabe have a muchbetter start. So, once there is water, it shouldwork.

Because there’s you. Us folks from abroadwho care about travelling herdsmen. This issomething new, in the twenty-first century.

Back in the Nineties, one or two decades afterthe drought literally brought traditionalhistory to an end, the region was much visitedby tourists. There was trade. There wereethnographers, photographers, there wasWerner Herzog. There was peace.

There was a Frenchman, who made friendsand witnessed how Nassamou’s wife entereddifficulty in delivering her fourth child-difficulty that required medical assistance, ahospital. Put yourself in her position. The nexthospital is in Agades, one hundred seventeenkilometers away. Now put yourself inNassamou’s position. And there was no car.By the time he got to Agades, to get a car, andback, and back to Agades again… it’s dawningon you … his wife and her child had died.

Also, Yaadal has financed two water tanks, pulled by donkeys,to carry large amounts of water from the next well, which istwo and a half kilometres away, to Foudouk. This water coverstheir needs, but is not enough to start agriculture.

Their latest contribution is fuel-powered mills for groundingthe “mil”, a kind of cereal and their basic food source. Themills even had priority over water, so their women are relievedfrom spending a great part of the day grounding the “mil”.

The bonding bridge between our two worlds may be tiny, butit is solid. It is the typical kind of citizens-make-friends-with-a-tribe model. A handful of people, with much potential formore. It’s open for good people to join in. And that’s wherewe come in, a thriving global network of youth leaders.

So, here we are in Christine’s Paris apartment, sharing“who we are”.

You’ve heard their part. When I was to say what I actually do, andwhy I think I have some helpful ideas to share, it took me a whileto decide where to begin. I went all the way back to 1995, to theinitiation to Australia and falling in love with the planet.

I shared my 1996/7 journey with my first native American teacherand the growing appreciation of traditional cultures, to buildingbridges between industrial city youth and tribal environments fordialogue, visits and cooperation, to expo2000 knowledge ofsustainability solutions of all sorts, to today’s thriving online-based cooperation networks, YL’s endless list of content partnersand to the option for long-term school partnerships, to our evolvingalliance programs and our coming special edition on Africa Rising.

I shared the story of 14 year old William Kamkwambe buildinga windmill from trash to bring electricity to his village. Of his TEDTalks, of a TED director who started an initiative that allowscitizens to donate for the construction of windmills, some as cheapas three hundred dollars. That’s not even half a ball of ice creamper student at my favourite example, “a 1,000 people high school”.

I mentioned “The Man who stopped the Desert” by digging dripirrigation holes with a stick. And the Japanese artist who taughtKenyan villagers to grow a forest in the Savannah by putting seedsinto a ball of clay, - so the seedling was nourished with enoughwater to grow strong enough to withstand the heat. For a desertplant, the water in a ball of mud can be plenty.

Just like for these people of the desert.

They need just a tiny little bit to thrive.

A tine little bit.

I mentioned their love and care for their youthbefore. The students wish for electric light intheir tent camp. Can you imagine? It’s notavailable. They wish for some, so they can studyaround the clock. Night falls at 6pm. Starlightor firelight aren’t exactly helpful for studying.Also, they wish for a place for themselves. Ahome, like a house. And they have already foundan option.

There exist large 4 room houses with two bigrooms, one for the boys, one for the girls, anotherone for studies, plus kitchen and bathrooms.Buying such a house is 13,000 Euros. That’s toomuch for me, but with four partner schools,that’s only three balls of ice-cream per student.I know a medium sized German high school whoraise 25,000 € in a single day, every year.

So we can improve this situation.

Tent camp... in the city.

Our coming Superstars - the BOYZ.

And the Superstar GRRRLZ.Agree, it would be good to enhance the study situation a little.What do you think? And those 13, 000 € ... it can be done.

“What do you wish?” “There shall be cattle.”

This is neat. They are the centre of all. Like theBuffalo for the Native American plains tribes.

“Okay, what do we need for cows?" “First ofall, we need a well. This well will help growgrass. This grass will feed the cows.”Without a well, the cows would be gone afterthe next hot season. This well will help growfood, too.

There’s a government program for Niger,which should provide for their well. That’swhy the government people visited, and if Ihave well understood, the materials are evenavailable, somewhere nearby. But when itwill happen is unclear. Considering the waygovernment works in many places, it maynever happen. And the responsible peoplewon’t tell you, because they don’t want tolose face, which is ok.

So, we should see if we can come with aproposal saying “Look, we got some funds,and some folks to drill the well. Just join us,and we’ll get it done.” If we got the numbersright, the costs can be less than 5,000 Euros.That’s awesome, considering the impact on

Micro development knowledge on either side,campaigning, English, French and Wolof language,recipes, arts and crafts, the dance festival,especially the connection of Stone Age and StarTrek, - I mean, any school that’s talkingintercultural or sustainability education and notjoining is really losing out big!

Imagine a couple of high school teenagers takingtheir summer vacation in Foudouk anddocumenting the trip back at home? You’ll gethalf a page in any local newspaper of a city of300,000! That’s 300,000 balls of ice-cream.

Wanna go?

the village development.

In the meantime, we can also introduce solarstuff and other devices. There’s plenty of peopleto involve and things to do over the period ofbuilding a well.

I told them about my favourite model ofconnecting to schools, worldwide. Not only arethey a resource of one-time donations, but theyare also long-time partners. They are partnersfor more than one well. If we can get theWodaabe College students involved, we can offerthem a most powerful learning experience ofmultimedia dialogue with their global peers,with win-wins on both sides!

Okay, I learned that we cannot send school students. Not evenyou. Because this is the real thing. And in the past three years,there’s some errant folks caught in lunatic Al Qaeda fantasies,terrorising the region, abducting and killing city people.

That’s why the convoy or cars visiting Foudouk for exploringthe well construction is armed. Anyway, we cannot go for thetime being. But they can move. And times change.

So here they are - in Paris!

No electricity in their village, speaking four languages, plusFrench, but illiterate, beaming through Paris by metro, follo­wing lines on the map, which they cannot read, pressing thegreen button on the cell phone so voices start squeaking,learning which archaic symbol (number) to press when takingthe lift in the code-protected apartment building where allcorridors and doors look alike … to get back to Christine.

They’re even taking hikes through France to sell their amazingjewellery and crafts on markets.

Obviously much of this is new to them, more bizarre than mewaking up in China or Saudi Arabia, everybody talking in a“secret language”. They haven’t even seen Europe on TV before.

So, I guess it’s more like Star Trek. I have no idea how theyperceive this “trip”, - the funny thing is that to me they appearas if they had grown up here. And we’re having a lot of funtogether.

Nassamou, chief of the village of Foudouk.

They have their vision. They have trust in cooperation. Theyknow the world. They have a base. They are in good spirits.Their village is a strong community. They want cows, again.They can have a well in their village. They are ready to learnirrigation techniques, like their neighbours use, to learn togrow food. They have started digging irrigation lines for growinggrass.

They have brilliant youth in a city of 100,000, where internetaccess is possible. They want to create an own home base inthe city for their youth, so they can live and learn properly,with kitchen, bathrooms, learning area, separate dorm for girlsand boys. They have an adult on site for their protection andsupport.

The youth know what they want, and they start learning howto handle computers and the internet. In their own house, thecomputers will be safe from dust and heat, - it’s the desert, -my desktop is already slowing down on this warm Paris summerday, already, - and they can have fast cable internet. Thesituation on-site is utterly serious, yet is also simple.

We have YL Magazine, Monthly Actions, a global communityof enthusiastic youth and young-at-heart adults, Africa Risingand other works attracting a global public. That’s plenty!

There is so much in this project.

It touches on everything around making a sustainable living in the desert.And this teaches us an incredible amount about what matters for a GoodLife. It focuses on the essential and strips away all the superfluous, thewaste, distractions, short: the unsustainable.

It's fantastic for school activities on Intercultural Learning. Development.Africa. Indigenous People. Sustainability. Youth Empowerment. Adopt-A-Village. ICT for Development. Fair Trade. Micro-Solutions…

We even have the Werner Herzog documentary as the most splendidcultural medium imaginable for the intercultural part of the “lesson plan”.I mean, this is not a 2 pager with 3 images, this is a fat one hour film byone of the best directors on the planet, whom French cinema godfatherFrancois Truffaut calls French cinema godfather Francois Truffaut calls"the most important film director alive". Ha!

Can you tell me ANY partner project that has such a rich catalogue oflearning topics and opportunities? Tell me, I’d like to feature them in YLMagazine!

On top, it’s all in the beginning! Everyone joining in can really see thetransition and big changes. This is so exciting!

And I know some day we, you, me, anyone will be able to go there, again.And join them on a camel train. This adds Eco-Cultural Travel andVolunteering to the list.

What an educational project! It’s guaranteed that students’ reports makewaves in local newspapers. I am convinced we can do it.

What do you think?

At this point, I wish to thank Helmut (Toronto), Ruhallah(Toronto), Payal (Pune), Jasmin (New York), Jasbir (Pune)and myself (Berlin) to have made this encounter possible bydonating to the travel costs. Also to my French Berlin neighbourGilles, who is managing the rental of my apartment, to myauntie Odile, who has given me the golden key to her apartmentso I have a place to stay whenever life takes me to Paris, toAlexandra who has guided me to Paris in the first place, to myson Leo and my cats Goldi and Pando who grant me thefreedom to travel.

Furthermore to Christine, Nassamou and his friends for trustingme from the start. And – the good guiding spirits.

A little anecdote on the flow of things.

On my trip to Christine’s apartment I took a train in the wrongdirection, - I may not be illiterate but confused – and when Ihopped back in at “Stalingrad”, in the right direction, rightthere, around me, in my metro wagon, were three guys that Iidentified as Tuareg.

I opened a conversation, finding out they were not Tuareg.When they said they were looking for development help, Iexchanged cards and emails. And when I found out whichdistrict they stayed, I said “Man, that’s where my chief lives,too! Maybe we can meet and do something together. My friendChristine has an NGO.” “But it’s us! You are Eric?!”

LOL!!!

… to be continued.

We should go see these Beautiful People.

Five thousand years. A new chapter.You can have a part in it.

Get your Ticket here.www.youth-leader.org/alliances.html

“Despised by all neighbouringpeople, who call them Bororos,

something like ‘herdsman intatters’, they call themselves

Wodaabe, ‘those underthe taboo of purity’.

They consider themselves the mostbeautiful people on this Earth.”

~ Herdsmen of the Sun

I meet with the group, once again. This time,also with Doula Mokao, the president of theAssociation of Herders, another formidablecharacter.

I learn that in these times, the price for "mil"is double the normal price.

I also learn that they predict the region willsoon be peaceful again.

Yesterday, one of our friends' cows died. heonly had three left, anyway. Also, Assamoulost one of his three remaining cows has died.An outgrown cow is worth 350 Euros. Theyare worried. How are their families coping.

In a few days they will be leaving for Switzer­land. Will their journey to Europe be successful?

They are really glad about the perspective forinternational cooperation. They understandthe win-win for both their youth and schoolsworldwide. They will do everything they canto realise this program.

They will return to Foudouk in mid-September.

The Guerewol Festival takes place around the finalweek of September.

After this, the college students will once again leavefor Agades. From October until June, for 9 months.

For this time, they wish them to have a SAFE PLACE.They wish to acquire a house. Once, there is a house,it can be equipped with stable internet.

I ask them about skype. They respond that this wasrather for their youth, they themselves were too oldto learn the internet things. Well... with three clicks,I give them a quick skype demonstration. There weare "live" via video, with our friend Andrea of NoticiasPositivas, in Argentina.

Wow. Imagine the cheers. They know they can handlethis. And it's going to be really helpful.

The plan is set. For October, we wish to worktowards 13,000 Euros. Then, soon, you can connect"live" via video with the Wodaabe youth to share,learn and bring water, energy and cows to Foudouk.

Do you feel the call to support the deve­lopment or our YL Alliance?

Are you intrigued to open this opportunityto your friends, to school students?

Everyone can help!As a youth, as a citizen, as business col­leagues, as a journalist, as a foundation...

You can support through donations, funding,sponsoring, fundraising or networking – forexample into schools, or to media for mobi­lising support and finance for the collegeyouth camp, a village well and other thingsof value to 21st Century Herdsmen, or evensuggest other alliances, drop a line toalliances@youth-leader.org, or to me,to eric@youth-leader.org.

You can also find out more about ourYouth & Heroes / Youth Go Tribal YL Allianceprogram atwww.youth-leader.org/alliances.html

The Time is Now.We wish to see them succeed!

We are making this Alliance a YL magazinepriority throug August, September andOctober 2012.

We are going to activate our YL Clans &Tribes program with school youth, world­wide, with this Alliance.

Are you joining us for this endeavour?

We need your help, and we wish to makeit an exciting experience for everyone!

Upcoming. You have what you need: thefilm, the article, wikipedia. Do you needtips for fundraising? You can have some.We can also meet to discuss action. Sub­scribe to our Newsletter to follow updates.

PhotographyCOLOUR PHOTOS: www.yaadal.fr

BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY: Ronald Vriesema.Copyright Permission PENDING.Incredible Flickr Photostream athttp://www.flickr.com/photos/57597477@N03/6826344590/in/photostream/

Mysterious LinksYaadal: http://yaadal.fr/

Herdsmen of the Sun:On YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVaoTKZV9Nshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodaabe_%E2%80%93_Herdsmen_of_the_Sun

Werner Herzog:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzoghttp://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog

The Wodaabe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodaabe

The Fula: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fula_people

The Gerewol Festival:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerewol

Star Trek Stufffor Desert PeopleBiochar. Terra PretaThe miracle mix from charcoal, food waste and soil that can raiseproductivity of deleted soils by up to 1,000%. It has to be testedand attuned to local grounds, but definitely something to explore.www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

The Man Who Stopped The Desertwww.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/the-man-who-stopped-the-desert-how-one-man-saved-the-soil-video.html

Clayball Afforestationwww.pnyv.org/index.php?id=34&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=912&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=553&cHash=a06bf3f7c3

Plastic Tarp Covers to Catch Soil Humidity in Dry Regions

Solar Lamps- bring light to places without electricity- provide stable lighting for reading. Dancing fire doesn’t help.

Solar LED Lampsrequire very little energy to provide very bright light.In greenhouses, they reduce energy consumption by 98%!They only cost 3% of many solar lamps on the market!

"Open Source Solar Technology” Moritz von Buttlar,Germany. Take a playing card sized solar panel, add an emptysoda, an LED light, some wire, there’s your solar lamp. Theycost 2.50 Euros and can be assembled by children. Here’s animage of the guy doing it in Berlin. The trick is that he buys theneeded parts in bulk, and you can order them cheap. It takes5 minutes to assemble. It only takes a 5 dollar thingy to melt

and connect the contacts. Every mechanic has that.So, for little money, the college kids can have a funafternoon and begift their entire UNICEF camp withround the clock lighting. Plus their village. Seewww.opensource-solar.org

Wood Stove to USB ElectricitySounds crazy but says it all.http://www.blueeconomy.eu/m/news/view/USB-Power-from-Fire-Wood

Solar CookersMake a Google Image Search. They come at all prices.

Solar Water Cookers. 50$. www.solarexergy.com

Solar Modules. Like Grameen Shakti in Bangladeshwww.global1.youth-leader.org/2011/10/grameen-shaktisolar-muhammad-yunus-shares-grameen-success-stories/

The Solar devices reduce the need for wood, whichcan become a scarce resource for a thousand personvillage.

They also reduce the time needed for collecting wood,for cooking… it’s not about changing their ways, butsome modern stuff can be handy. If the solar cookerscan be connected to the USB electricity device, theycould have plenty of power in the village. Be it fortools used for crafts, for computers … also in theirschool building.

ComputersI met an amazing guy, Dirk Fließner, who works with a socialbusiness oriented “used computers” company. He has beenworking in village development from water to housing to computerswith Uzbekistan and Pakistan. He must have done all sorts ofamazing things, because there are films about him on the internet.He knows he looks like an everyday sales guy, and that’s whatI thought, but he is a jack of all trades with a planet-size heart,who does magic. I’ll talk to him.