World garden outreach?

[Zeedman]

On the Bean Thread, @flowerbug posted something that I thought deserved more attention on a separate thread:

and as a side note this article about beans and Brazil makes me wonder where the South American bean people are at as we've not had any post here in the bean threads that i know of... hmmm... if you are reading and not posting that's ok, but saying hello is always appreciated.

I've often wondered that too. Do those in South American nations have connections to our internet, or our search engines? (If anyone knows a recent immigrant from South America, it might be an interesting question to ask.) Occasionally people from African nations have posted on garden forums... but I don't remember ever seeing a poster from any country in South America (or from India, Japan, or China). While internet access may vary from nation to nation, it is probably a question of language barriers. When I visited Rio 30 years ago, communication was difficult. Outside of the beaches & tourist stops, very few spoke English. I carried a Portuguese pocket guide to help translate when necessary.

So it may be that garden conversations are taking place - just not on English-speaking forums. In truth, it is probably egotistical & unrealistic for us to expect non-English speakers to converse on an English platform. But we can certainly hope for & encourage such outreach, because there is much we could learn from those diverse cultures - and online translator programs make cross-cultural communication much easier now.

We are truly blessed on this forum to already have such a large, active international membership. It would be wonderful, educational, and fulfilling if that international presence could be further encouraged, and expanded.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On the sister chicken forum which is a lot more active than this forum there are members from Africa, South America, and several parts of Asia, including India. I remember one specific person from Kazahkstan. It's called the World Wide Web for a reason. Some countries restrict access to the internet, politics gets into everything, so there may be some restrictions on some. But I think it is factors other than pure availability.

 

[flowerbug]

i do recall someone from India posting not too long ago, but i don't think they've stuck around.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

On BYC I’ve seen several active users from India, Kenya, and I think 1 each from Japan and South America. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a poster from China or the Middle East on either site though. Those are also prime spots for internet restrictions though. I’ve also seen a surprising number of people from Germany and the Netherlands. I’ve also seen Greece and New Zealand. Several of not most of these have popped in the garden threads on BYC at some point.

 

[flowerbug]

speaking of New Zealand i wonder how @Trish Stretton is doing with her winter weather there...