Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart”)

With the acquaintance of Palmer Parker’s quote that, we are deeply an interconnected species, who need to embrace the simple fact that we are dependent on and accountable to the ecosphere, members of Lavigerie House embrace the simple premise of being part of a whole and seeing the whole in part of themselves. This inspiration lies behind the creation of a splendid environment. The flowers that blossom with grace in front of the chapel, the flowers of new respire in front the apartments and the verdant foliage of green grass and green trees disseminate the compound with peace, love and sustenance of its beauty. The beauty personified in our compound serves to offer impressive meditations, and thus a journey to the beautiful.

The aptitude of caring for, taming or interrelating finely with our ecosystem is expressible in:

• We do gardening; where we plant vegetables for our consumption.
• We also plant fruits such as pawpaws, oranges and guavas.
• We plant and water our flowers like roses. Flowers are spread all over our compound.
• We do the compound clean-ups on Mondays and Thursdays. The cut grass is used as manure.
• We have a compost pit for decay of manure. We have a metal pit and some materials are burnt. This means we do not buy fertilizers, but we do create our own manure from the cut grass and decomposable materials.
• We take care of animals and birds like goats, rabbits, chicken, ducks and turkeys.
• We also do water collecting; Lavigerie House has six tanks of 5000 litres each, which are used for harvesting of rain water.
• We tap solar energy for boiling our water for washing (washing cutlery and bathing)

Seven pines stand up in beauty to augment the compound, embellished with palm and classic trees, all cloaked with a coppice of green enclosure. Our compound is ornamented with fruits such as pawpaws, oranges, avocadoes, jack fruits, guavas, mangoes and bananas. 

This intelligence induces harmony and unanimity with the environment, and so our actions echo responsibility and attentiveness to the gift of creation. The transforming and pacifying energies ingrained in our complex are a recipe for freshness, magnificence and ardor during meditation. Listening to the birds chirrup and exhort the stunning melodies has found articulation every time with peace and calm in the trees. Wild birds such as doves find our compound a calm habitat, where no threat is posed to their existence.

Etigu Kenneth