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Let’s Map and Weave Local Safety Nets Ahead of Disasters

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Before the pandemic started in 2020, we had to run a Permaculture Design Course for grassroots leaders in disasters that we knew we could not help out during the Taal volcano relief. Thus, we gathered together different changemakers working for community kitchens, breast milk donations, mental health support, and humanitarian coordination to rapidly prototype scalable collaborations. Before we could implement them, a global pandemic started. Thankfully, the people of Taal were finally able to go home after alert levels were reduced. This experience made us realize our niche and identify, we are neither informal aid nor formal aid since we aim to go beyond aid by designing for resilience and regeneration. We are also not a humanitarian organization, but we are ecosystem enablers and weavers to support collaborations for impact through awareness-based systems change. 

In the last two years, we thought about how we could scale this experience for future disasters in the Philippines, where we face intensifying severe weather and even a rise in sea levels 3x faster than the global average due to climate emergencies. 

We are now giving birth to a mapping and matchmaking platform that weaves needs and offers across informal or mutual aid actors to bridge the gap that formal aid providers can’t meet. After repeated cycles and intensifying levels of response needed over the years, we aim to uplift the spirit of Bayanihan in the Philippines that fosters community-led and inclusive efforts to respond to emergencies. 

RELEAF.COMMUNITY is an online ecosystem that maps and weaves regenerative initiatives and communities fostering mutual aid collaborations as local safety nets in times of disruption. It is an online Mapping and Matchmaking Platform that weaves needs and offers across mutual (informal) aid actors to bridge the gap that formal aid providers can’t meet. It is a Design Lab for Resilience and Regeneration that brings together formal and informal humanitarian innovators addressing regenerative aid solutions as disaster response and preparedness to scale for systemic impact. It is an Ecosystem for Regeneration in the absence of emergencies, we wish to map regenerative efforts across the country to localize solutions and promote the shift from sustainable to regenerative development. Aside from serving as a database, it is a community of practice for regeneration in the country.

Here’s how you can collaborate:

If you have a NEED for assistance and support for communities affected. 

We request that you:

  1. 1. Are an SEC/CDA- Registered organization (or with business permits for social enterprises) in the Philippines
  2. 2. Have a landing page for direct donations to be channeled to your registered bank accounts or donation channels
  3. 3. Have partners or initiatives doing mutual aid on the ground 
  4. 4. Can receive and deliver donations on their behalf
  5. 5. Can report donations made within the next 3-6 months. 
  6. 6. Help us promote the platform through your network. 
  7. 7. Work with our team of volunteers who will be your support system to help map and match

Green Releaf Initiative, The Philippines

Green Releaf Initiative’s mission is to transform the narrative of disaster risk reduction (DRR) by “designing for resilience and regeneration”. We promote place-based learning by developing learning sites for ecosystem restoration using regenerative design. We weave ecosystems of collaborations across sectors and stakeholders in a landscape to lead together in designing and implementing their regeneration goals. We strive to restore and regenerate natural and human habitats through nature-based solutions that heal our relationship with the earth. We at Green Releaf believe that a whole-systems approach can bring about healing and transformation on the personal, collective, and planetary levels.

Cover picture credit: Jilson Tiu

Living in Anthropocene: Ethnographical Study of an Eco-Community in Rural Hong Kong

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Kootyin Chow lives in Nam Chung community, an eco-community in the northeastern part of Hong Kong. For her master’s studies, she did an ethnographic study in her community exploring the notion of sustainability using a multi-species perspective including villagers, plants, and animals.

Aerial view of Nam Chung Community

In the excerpt below, drawn from Kootyin’s recently finished thesis on the eco-community project, Kootyin writes about her encounter with a wild boar who accidentally broke into the territories of house-kept dogs in the village and got killed in this pig-dogging incident, and how this allowed her to reflect on her relationship with the animals, plants and other more-than-human beings in the neighborhood.

Loud roaring noises from my neighbour’s pack of twenty-five dogs woke me up on a late summer morning in Nam Chung. I scurried downstairs and went outdoors to see what was happening. On a grassy pitch outside my neighbours’ house, a small female wild boar was caught in a scuffle with four dogs; they launched themselves at the boar and bit its hind legs, whilst the rest of the dogs barked incessantly with excitement. The boar – not much bigger than an ordinary mongrel dog – was already badly hurt with open cuts all over its body and bleeding heavily when I got to the scene. This intruder had left the forests to find food around the village and was desperately caught in the fight. Gasping, whining, charging in all directions in an attempt to escape, the boar couldn’t outcompete the dogs. It was completely at the dogs’ mercy.

Wild boars around Nam Chung

As this happened, Al –who worked for my neighbour’s family – rushed out with a pickaxe. Surrounded by dogs, the boar could only run around in circles. Al grabbed every chance he could to approach the boar and struck heavy blows on its head with the pickaxe. With each blow, the boar whimpered; its squeals provoked the dogs to strike and attack even more. The boar collapsed finally with one last hit on the head; Al pressed his pickaxe against the boar’s head as it lay on the ground panting. Catching his breath, Al did not spare a moment and skilfully tied up the boar’s hoofs. It was then dragged across the grass pitch and the concrete floor of the front yard then tied down and settled on the kennel floor at the back of the house. The dogs followed, leaping enthusiastically, taking advantage of the now badly injured boar, still trying to attack it. Al shouted and the dogs backed off.

The boar was a young female barely one-year-old, Al said to me while deftly tying the ropes. ‘It is really unfortunate, yet it benefits the whole family, including the dogs!’ Upon saying this, Al went away; I continued to stand there and stare at the pig. I reached out to stroke its legs; its bristles were sharp and rough. There were more grunts from the boar: it was still alive, but it had stopped struggling. I knew the boar would soon become food for the family.

Thesis Abstract

Living in this Anthropocene, deepening ecological crises and associated political, social, cultural and economic problems are manifest across the globe. In the face of a doomed world, various forms of community-based, bottom-up social-ecological experiments emerge as a response to present-time environmental challenges. One of these attempts is the building of ecovillages (or eco-communities) as experimental sites for environmental regeneration and sustainable transitions.

Through an ethnographic study of an emerging eco-community in Hong Kong’s north-eastern New Territories, this thesis explores what sustainability entails within the context of this community and its many implications. Based on participant observation, in-depth interviews and oral history, I explore the perspectives of different co-inhabitants – including indigenous and non-indigenous villagers, as well as plants and animals – and seek to understand how they interact and coalesce to inform us of a complex understanding of sustainability. For members of this eco-community, sustainability is situated in their everyday practices – it continuously comes into being through their engagement with the environment and their entanglements with other humans and the more-than-human.

This study provides a glimpse into the process of creation of an ecovillage in the Hong Kong context, albeit it is still in its incipient stage. More importantly, I hope that these multispecies stories will remind us of the inherent responsibility of humans for the continued survival of the Earth and provide us with an alternative paradigm of how we can live with/in/beyond these Anthropocene times.

If you’d like to know more about this eco-community project in Hong Kong or read more of her writing, please contact Kootyin at kootyinchow@gmail.com.

Kootyin Chow. Nam Chung Community, Hong Kong

Kootyin Chow lives and works in an eco-community in Nam Chung, a small Hakka village located in Hong Kong’s far northeast New Territories neighbouring Shenzhen, China. Kootyin is involved in the PEACE (Partnership for Eco-Agriculture and Conservation of Earth) project in Nam Chung, Hong Kong. She’s currently a Mphil student in the Chinese University of Hong Kong anthropology department. She does gardening, cooking, stream walking, wild swimming and spotting insects all the time.

Planting Seeds of Hope in Qiandao Ecovillage

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From August 1st to August 15th 2022, a permaculture design certification course took place at Qiandao Lake Ecovillage which is located in the southwest of the Thousand Island (Qiandao) Lake Zhejiang Province, China. 44 Participants from different areas of China spent 15 days together learning permaculture principles. We worked in groups to design group projects and gained hands-on experiences making compost piles, natural buildings, and gardens. 

2022 PDC Participants at Qiandao Ecovillage

Qiandao Lake Ecovillage was founded in April 2014. In September 2013, Venerable Master Konghai was invited by the local county magistrate to serve as the consultant for a government-led project which intended to establish a learning center for traditional Chinese Culture. Master Konghai held deep care for the planet and asked the magistrate to consider making an ecovillage on Qiandao Lake. The local government responded swiftly in a few days and provided convenience for him to visit several possible locations. After evaluating all the places, Master Konghai decided to set a piece of land in a valley. The place was beautiful and quite secluded. 20 years ago, local villagers migrated out of nearby villages to cooperate with the government’s plan for building the Xin’anjiang Reservoir. Therefore, land here had been returned to nature for 20 years before a group of 20 young people came as pioneers for an ecovillage.

At first, there was no architecture except for a thatched shed which later became the ecovillage’s tool hut. 20 young ecovillagers lived in the shed which leaked rain on rainy days. They started growing food and created initial infrastructures for an ecovillage. The local government played a vital role in making electricity accessible, followed by an 800,000 yuan (approximately 112,000 USD) investment helping to build the road connecting the ecovillage to its nearby village.

“When you have a truly selfless intention to benefit the whole world, benevolent forces will synchronize together to support you”

Master Konghai
Dining hall structure with banana circle in front

Nowadays, around 25 regular residents dwell at Qiandao Lake Ecovillage. They carry out courses and workshops for making ecovillages, learning principles about the Tao, and practicing a lifestyle that is centered on spiritual growth. The place had been transforming its residents and visitors, incubating Earth Seeds that create eco projects all over the country. Core courses that took central place for residents and visitors included Mysteries of Dao De Jing Revealed, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, and Theory and Practices for Building Ecovillages. Such shared learnings brought all villagers together and provided them with resources for solving disagreements in their community.

Ecologically, Qiandao village had been practicing natural farming since its beginning. Experienced teachers of natural farming and permaculture were invited periodically to give courses. The village has also been storing rainwater, practicing a zero-waste lifestyle, using a banana circle to process grey water, and maintaining their composting toilets. In recent years, natural buildings have also become a key feature and strength. Several small self-circulating systems which consist of natural buildings, rainwater collectors, gardens, and animals had been created by residents near the ecovillage’s center region. The team is now planning an outdoor classroom for children’s education.

Qiandao Ecovillage plants seeds of hope by making itself an example of living in harmony with nature, which is the teaching of both permaculture and the Tao. We wish it to keep flourishing and transform more visitors who are nourished by this land. There’s no time like now that the planet urges us to observe its laws and come into alignment with the principles of Heaven and the Earth.

About the Author

Yuting Yin, University of California Davis

Yuting is a Ph.D. student of anthropology at the University of California Davis. She is an ecovillage researcher and focuses on studying ecovillages in China. She has studied mental health and organized support groups for people who struggle with eating disorders. Her interest in mind-body well-being leads her to explore ecovillages since 2016. After two years of living in a cooperative living community in Davis, California. Currently, her research journey is taking her to deepen her roots in her native cultural tradition and tap into the power of practicing what is learned along the way.

Joining the Dances of Universal Peace International Camp in Yalova, Turkey

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A few weeks ago, I had the wonderful chance to participate in the Dances of Universal Peace International Camp that was held in Yalova, Turkey. It was a 5-day camp where we did a lot of rounds of sacred dances, meditation, and workshops with participants coming from all over the world. And I’m thrilled to share that the dance is coming to Asia in the coming months.

All of the dance leaders, musicians and participants of the camp

The Dances of Universal Peace is a practice developed by Sufi teacher and Zen master Samuel L. Lewis. It is a transformational practice that invokes an embodied sense of unity, presence and compassion and touches the spiritual essence within ourselves through reciting sacred phrases, music and dance from various wisdom traditions of the world. This practice can be done by a group of people anywhere from five to hundreds, even thousands of people creating powerful resonance and harmonic vibration. You can learn more about the dances at dancesofuniversalpeace.org. 

The whole experience of participating in the dances has been really heart-opening for me. In the beginning, we didn’t really know each other, we simply shared our presence without much connection. In a session, we did a number of dances one after another. And by the end of the first session, it felt to me that all of these people (there were a little more than a hundred of us) that I don’t know before are my brothers and sisters. We all come from different cultures and backgrounds (there were 27 countries represented from South America, North America, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, and Asia), yet it was so easy for us to feel connected, and develop care and love with each other. As a result, talking and getting to know each other at a deep level during meals and between sessions became a very effortless process.

We were lucky to have very experienced dance leaders that have been doing this for decades – some even for 50 years! They guided us on how to utter sacred words (mantras or dzikrs), sing the melodies, and also the dance movements. After five to ten minutes of instructions, suddenly one hundred people are all dancing and chanting together in beautiful harmony. It is magical to see how I can move in rhythm and sing very firmly despite not having much experience dancing and singing. I think everyone regardless of their dancing or singing skills can easily in these dances.

Listening to the instructions from the dance leader

The focal point of the dances is participation rather than performance. It is totally okay to make mistakes and forget the sequence from time to time as the most important aspect of it is how much involvement and devotion we give when chanting and dancing. I tried to give my utmost involvement during the dances and invoke as much devotion as I can within myself. As the sessions go by, I felt that my heart opened up like the petals of a flower in the morning. Opening up to receive as much light from the sun and fully express the beauty within, not being worried about anything that’s coming – the breeze of the wind or the rain. Living in contemporary modern society, I feel the need to shut myself and numb myself from the pain that arises from witnessing all the things that don’t feel right like people taking advantage of others, wasting resources, violence, slaughtering of animals, deforestation, pollution, etc. I’m grateful that through practice that is done collectively in a safe atmosphere, I learned how to open up my heart and put aside the protection when I feel it’s safe to do so. It is an inner skill that I think will be vital for my growth as a person.

The Dances are coming to Asia!

Having experienced the effect of the dances myself, I am really thrilled that GENOA is collaborating with DUP International to hold several workshops in Asia and have more connections with the dances. It is a beautiful and powerful collective tool to build connection, community, and awareness. Something that perhaps the ecovillage movement in Asia could really find fitting. I also think that this can be something easy to overlook as from the outside it looks like we’re just a group of people dancing, not doing anything tangible for the world. But I believe the transformation that is happening within each person through the dances will find diverse and beautiful ways to tangibly manifest in the future. I can already feel this possibility within myself. 

We invite you to experience this wonderful tool of unity with us. Please feel free to extend this invitation to your friends and family that might be interested to come along. You can see the dates below. More info will be announced soon, so please stay tuned to our social media channels.

See the Event Page and Fill out the Interest Form

Remember, anyone regardless of age, gender, race, religion, belief, dance, and singing skills can participate in this practice. Let’s build connections and recharge each other with energies of compassion, unity, and harmony. See you all there!

We came together beaconing unity, love, peace, and harmony

About the Author

Luvian Iskandar, Communications Coordinator at GENOA

Luvian has just completed his studies when he joined GENOA as communications coordinator. As he became aware of the social and environmental degradation in the world, he resonated with the holistic approach within the ecovillage movement in regenerating social and environmental systems. He chose to study the early development stage of ecovillages for his master’s program, thinking that he might be involved in such a project in his home country, Indonesia, in the future. He feels that building bridges across divides is one of the most relevant works today as we need an understanding of unity to overcome the global issues we are facing as humanity. He hopes to contribute to such a cause through his role in GENOA.

Story of the TUI Community Being – An Invitation for Resilience

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This article was written by Robina McCurdy from TUI Community, Aotearoa – New Zealand

Tui is a 35-resident community in the Golden Bay bioregion of the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand.  It is situated in a relatively remote rural area, adjoining the Abel Tasman National Park.  The land is owned by a Charitable Trust, administered by the Trustees who have gone through the steps of becoming a resident, then Prospective Member, then a full member of the Trust.  This is a caretaking stewardship role of the land, its resources, and people the who occupy it. Trustees do not own land or shares but have the ‘Right to Occupy’ in perpetuity.  Members design, build and own their own houses.  Tui Community is the main project of the Trust.  The first of eight objectives of our Trust Deed, states:

‘To promote education within New Zealand on the role and function of sustainable communities, by establishing a living, working example of an intentional community that combines the essential principles of spiritual awareness, earthcare, connection with nature and appropriate lifestyle, where residents and visitors can participate in a variety of educational and spiritual practices’.

trust deed of tui trust

Our community’s broad mission statement is:  ‘As a community, we are seeking wholeness in relationship with ourselves, each other, and the planet.’  In many ways, Tui is a social experiment.  We are dedicated to personal growth and supporting the wellbeing of others, and we have a learned lot of tools to do this, the most current being ‘Possibility Management’.  We create our culture from ancient, contemporary and original practices, trying out ways that feel right and endorse ‘earth-based spirituality’.  We review and change our systems as they no longer seem to serve us.  We all contribute our labour voluntarily to an ‘energy input system’ as well as working bees, that run the practicalities of the place.  We have a successful community business that employs more than half of the community.  Tui features a community house, craft workshop, farm machinery sheds, members’ houses, communal orchard, vegetable gardens, farm, Tui Balms co-operative business, and the Outdoor Events Field (hired to the public as well as Tui members, as a venue for educational and cultural events). 

Tui Annual Apple Harvest

At Tui we have four kinds of meetings:  Trust Board meeting, Heartshare (both monthly), Community meeting (fortnightly), and a Tuki (stands for Tui Community Integration), which happens 3 – 4 times per year over a weekend. 

The Tuki is essential to our community’s wellbeing. It’s a retreat when we gather together to address a vital theme that has been emerging through our meetings, which is either too contentious, ongoingly emotionally charged and philosophically deep. A Tuki typically facilitates a paradigm shift within the community, with a resultant change in policy and/or operating systems. Dates are scheduled around a year in advance so that everyone can prioritise attending, and we hire an external cook and childcare person to enable all residents to be fully present.  

The main part of our Tuki format and process is modeled on the Heartshare culture of all indigenous peoples. This is deep listening to each other, giving full attention to the one holding the talking stick/stone/object, who is speaking from his/her heart space and belly feelings in relation to the theme’s issues and aspirations. In this way, underlying unspoken emotions and feelings can be expressed, and spaciousness for accessing spiritual wisdom opens up. Through this, a clear collective forward direction emerges. Our Tuki generally has two parts:  the first day being various exercises building connection with each other, with a Heartshare for most of the day. The second day is in the style of stocktaking, analysis, and strategic planning arising out of the Heartshare, so that we complete the Tuki with tangible action held by small groups.

‘Creating a Structure’ Activity at Tuki

‘Growing Resilience from Where We Are’ was the theme of our last Tuki – addressing resilience physically, socially, economically, and environmentally. Early in Day 2, we did a ‘Fishbowl’ process to draw out the informational facts and statistics our residents knew about the state of the world, so we could build up a collective knowledge pool and bring urgency into the room. Then in pairs, we shared these questions:  What do you see?  What do you feel?  What do you hope for?  What do you want to do?

Following this, we brainstormed the vulnerability of our community in the context of global events, trends, and crises (eg climate catastrophe, unreliability and scarcity of supplies, financial collapse) and how we could buffer ourselves to the best of our abilities.  We looked at the proneness of our land areas close to sea level, the slips of some hilly areas, flooding potential, earthquake impact, geographical remoteness, and the challenges to growing sufficient food. We did an inventory of resources and people skills so we collectively knew what we had to draw on as well as what the gaps were. We divided into ‘hubs’ to come up with mitigating strategies, forward planning, and accountable action steps. 

We punctuated these serious topics with a fun outdoor activity that engendered cooperation as well as challenging teams to use minimal resources to create something functional and aesthetic within a minimal timeframe. Each of the randomly selected three groups was given the same equipment – 12 long bamboo pieces, a bucket, a rope, some decorations, etc. Then there was a ‘show and tell’ with lots of laughter, and we voted on which was the most interesting and the most functional and why. At Tui, we find it most beneficial when a diversity of captivating processes are used to engage and sustain group energy, especially when dealing with serious topics needing resolve. 

Co-creating the “Tui Being”

On the first day of this Tuki we used a new creative process devised by Aralyn and Inna, to look deeply into our group characteristics and psyche, making visible our brilliance, blocks, and functionality. This was entitled: ‘Where we are Now – Mapping of the Tui Being’. It took the form of brainstorming, onto a huge paper in the center of the room, on which was drawn the outline of a person, with their body parts, including their internal organs. Each person had several little papers to write what qualities were represented by the parts of the anatomy they chose, then stood up to verbally name that, sticking down their paper on that place. The question was: “What are the vital parts of our Tui being? What is collectively alive?” 

Next came the topic: ‘Myself in the Now & beyond’ as part of/in relation to the Tui Being.’ This was facilitated in the form of contemplative questions, shared together in pairs  Each person needed to consider these questions: Where do I put my energy – emotionally, mentally, energetically, physically? Consciously and unconsciously? How do I feel in Tui? What am I angry about? Scared about? Sad about? Glad about? What energizes me at Tui when I involve myself?  Given the state of the world, how might I want to evolve my place in Tui from here? Where do I want to put my energy consciously? 

This primed everyone for a deep heartsharing as a whole group, on the topic: ‘Myself in the Now & Growing Resilience beyond’.  Each individual picked up three stones and placed them on the qualities that had been identified, based on what they could relate to most strongly.  As they placed each of their stones down, people spoke to this, with the group listening attentively.   

We know that sharing feelings in an open transparent provides a connected foundation for daily living together, managing the land, undertaking new projects, and braving the crises our world is facing and will face even more severely in the future. 

About the Author and Community

Robina McCurdy, Aotearoa – New Zealand

Robina is co founder/resident/trustee of Tui Land Trust and its 37 year old Tui Community, founder of the Institute for Earthcare Education Aotearoa, and SEED (Schools Environmental Education & Development). She is also a graduate of GEN’s ‘Training of Trainers’ course, and an ongoing keen participant in GENOA’s on-line education and networking platforms. Globally, for the past 30 years, she has been engaged in permaculture education and community development in various forms – including social permaculture, mentoring new ecovillage initiatives, squatter settlement re-development and strengthening community culture within existing organizations. She has produced a range of community resilience resources focusing on participatory processes for decision-making and collective action Her strongest passion is the application of Permaculture at the Bioregional scale, which she has trained hundreds of community leaders in, through Earthcare’s ‘Localising Food Project’.

Tui Community, Aotearoa – New Zealand

Tui Community is located in Wainui Bay, Golden Bay, in the North-West of the South Island of Aotearoa. Original members established Tui in 1984 after purchasing 50 hectares of farmland on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. Their aim was to create an intentional community. Over the years, our community, people, and processes have evolved – and we are open to you finding out more about us by visiting our website.

Two Women’s Journey to Intentional Community

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Hi from Scilla and Sharyn. We are deep friends.  We are also members of Narara Ecovillage in New South Wales, Australia. Our ecovillage website, https://nararaecovillage.com is a mine of information – so go dig! We met 7 years ago when the ecovillage site had been purchased but no building of new homes had begun. Scilla and her partner were in transit towards a shared life, leaving their separate homes in Tasmania and Sydney while Sharyn was in the process of selling her beautiful home of 25 years in order to live at Narara.

Both energetic, socially committed and somewhat rebellious ‘Maga’ women in our rich Autumn stage of life, we found much in common, despite birth places literally ‘poles apart’: Scilla was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and Sharyn grew up in the heart of Sydney. We both chose paths quite early in life that deviated from the norms expected by our families, we both lived in an ‘intentional community’ with our young children and we both found our greatest personal and professional satisfaction in the spheres of inner growth, conflict resolution, and therapeutic support.   

Sharyn was one of the ‘pioneer’ members of Narara. Inspired by the determination of Lyndall Parris, Narara Ecovillage founder, she joined around 20 other visionary contributors pooling resources to buy this glorious valley property. Narara Ecovillage Cooperative is now the steward of 170 acres nestled between the deep peace of Strickland State Forest and the suburb of Narara. Intercity rail links give us easy access to both Sydney and Newcastle.

Narara Ecovillage was legally constituted as a trading Cooperative with all memberships holding an equal shareholding. Membership is a prerequisite to buying a plot of land and building a house at the ecovillage. The commitment and courage of the early members to the vision of building an inspiring, sustainable ‘demonstration’ ecovillage was remarkable and Sharyn was a critical catalyst in the manifestation of this dream. 

Sharyn designed and built her ‘hippy’ home of 17 years living in a community in the northern New South Wales rainforest. After many years of more suburban life, Narara gave her the opportunity to revel in the design and construction of her beautiful natural build home.  Drawing on her talents as a painter, aspiring glass artist, budding sculptor, and accomplished clothing creator she offered specialist builders and artisans the scope to demonstrate their skilled craftsmanship in working with natural and recycled materials of all kinds.

Laying down the ‘social foundations of community is arguably more important than the physical infrastructure and Sharyn stepped early on into the role of community catalyst by setting up the Wellbeing Circle and facilitating monthly Members Meeting for many years. She enriched early policies and procedures with insight from her decades of training and practice in mediation, conflict resolution, and crisis counseling as well as her own inner work. When talking to prospective members of the ecovillage, she cheerfully affirms that ‘living in community is the toughest personal development course you’ll ever take’! She knows this from personal experience!

Scilla came across ‘intentional communities’ while studying in California in the ’70s on a scholarship from her Scottish university. The trauma of war veterans she met in classes, the courage of social changemakers, and the commitment of environmental activists defending our fragile planet Earth as well as disillusionment with the economic and social consequences of actions by the dominant Global North helped to plant seeds for her life of ‘active pacifism’. Her areas of work included practice and policy in child protection and juvenile justice, teaching, disability support, journalism, and an ongoing reverence for the healing power in the space between people and horses.

While Sharyn’s earlier ‘community’ (and her mothering) experiences were set in the remote rainforest of Eastern Australia, Scilla found herself the parent of two small boys living in a large shared property with a volatile group of young people living as long-term WWOOFers in a 19th century English country house under renovation. This was a fascinating and tough introduction to stepping outside the norm of Western family homes and taught her a great deal about what was wonderful as well as what does not work in a community. In particular, the unilateral power held by a founder/leader can spell disaster when the going gets tough.

Having encountered Quaker communities in her earlier overseas exchange experience, a year of traveling with 2 small children a decade later connected her with the worldwide intentional peace-building community’ of Servas https://www.servas.org.au.  This strengthened Scilla’s commitment to conscious ethics-based community building and moving to live in Tasmania in the late 1980s presented the opportunity to explore place-based intentional community once again.

She became involved in at least eight aspiring or emergent ecovillage projects in that time … most failed to materialize due to legal, planning, or finance impediments or did not meet her needs and expectations at the time. Factors that deterred her included insufficient clarity around a shared vision, remote physical location, lack of inclusive decision-making, damaging inequity in resources, or incompatibility of personalities in key leadership roles.

However, this time in Tasmania also introduced Scilla to inspiring organizations and catalysts to creating healthy sustainable communities – be they for purpose or place-based. These included GEN, Pachamama Alliance, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), Conflict Resolution Network (CRN), Alternatives to Violence (AVP), and Permaculture, including a focus on Social Permaculture.  A powerful and enduring sense of community formed around her rural property where she offered equine-assisted growth and learning experiences.

Meeting one another, with tapestries of life weaving in so many similar threads, felt like a ’knitting together’ at a soul level.  We laugh a lot and cried a fair bit too!  While occasionally treasuring silence – especially in forest walks, we have shared many rowdy dinners and countless discussions as co-leaders of our Community Circle.  We enthusiastically deepen our practice of Sociocracy and are currently exploring the application of the Prosocial ‘lens’ to strengthen collaboration in our community and honestly accompany people interested in considering membership on their ‘Journey to Joining’ Narara Ecovillage.  

We feel blessed to be here and grateful for our capacity to continue to grow and learn. Above all, we are enlivened by the opportunity offered by this ecovillage – and the international movement it is part of – to contribute to shaping a peaceable world for our grandchildren’s grandchildren and all Life. 

You can find more information about Narara Ecovillage on their website here.

About the Authors

Sharyn Wilson. Narara Ecovillage, Australia

Sharyn is a pioneer member of Narara Ecovillage. Born in Sydney, she has led an adventurous and creative life. She built her home in the rainforest of northern New South Wales, raised her son, and lived with self-sufficiency and personal growth as her intentions. She has pursued a lifelong journey of learning and practicing conflict resolution, mediation, and personal development as well as art, travel, and a commitment to the community. Returning to the North Shore area of Sydney she found and later re-designed her beautiful Avalon home while continuing to help others through crisis counseling work. Drawn back to the quest for a more intentional community, she attended a gathering at the critical decision-making point in the purchase of Narara and said YES in no uncertain terms by joining the early investors. She has been at the heart of the Community Circle, is a member of the ecovillage Steering Circle, and facilitated the monthly Members’ Meetings throughout the early years, and is deeply committed to the practice of Sociocracy (and now the introduction of Prosocial) at Narara Ecovillage. 

Scilla Sayer. Narara Ecovillage, Australia

Scilla was born in Scotland and grew up with a deep sense of commitment to place-based community.  She discovered ‘intentional community’ while on an overseas scholarship year at the University of California in the early 1970’s. Scilla found work as an editor and art correspondent in London before moving to join a small community in Norfolk. Life circumstances and a need to escape Thatcherism in the UK led to a radical life shift in the 1980s.  She and her husband traveled for a year with 2 small children and moved to Tasmania. Her lifelong connection with horses and deep appreciation for the transformative power of the relationship between them and humans led her to explore equine-assisted therapy. She trained in New Zealand, the USA, UK, and Australia, establishing ‘Chiron Horse Programs’ in Tasmania. This flourished for nearly 20 years. All this time she was involved with a number of ecovillage development projects before she felt the draw to Narara Ecovillage. Now living there full-time and deeply involved with supporting social sustainability, she balances this intensity with meeting a growing interest from ecovillagers and others who wish to explore the magic and the learning that exists ‘in the space between people and horses’. You can reach her at scilla.sayer@gmail.com.

Making the Rainiest Place in India Wet and Green Again!

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In October 2020 Sadhana Forest started its reforestation effort in Meghalaya, a state in northeast India, which is known for its hilly terrain and extremely high rainfall.

When we first came to Meghalaya we thought that our experience in water conservation and reforestation was not relevant. Then we started traveling the state and witnessed first-hand the massive deforestation, soil degradation, and the great challenges with the water supply. After a few more visits and a deeper understanding of the ground reality, we started working with the Government of Meghalaya on training local communities and demonstrating different water conservation and tree planting techniques. 

Our solar-powered deforestation bus

Two old wooden buses were turned into a mobile reforestation unit. They were fitted with a small kitchen, bathroom, and solar panels on top to meet the electrical needs of the team. With these buses our team of long-term volunteers drove across the state for one and a half years, working in 25 different villages.

Conducting training with local villagers

The focus of the team was on water conservation (swales proved to be very helpful on the sloped terrain), reforestation (using only native species), soil regeneration (using legumes that were chopped and dropped), and training. In every village, local people were trained in the aforementioned techniques. We planted only indigenous, food-bearing tree species, with the aim of improving food security in the area.

Our team lived very simply, staying in the villages, cooking for themselves, and sleeping in the buses and in tents. This made them very accessible to the local villagers, who welcomed them with open arms. The trainings were met with great enthusiasm, and in every village motivated volunteers stood up to continue the ecological restoration work after the departure of our team. The project was a great success and the Government has asked us to establish three permanent immersion centers in the state, one in each of the tribal regions: Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia hills. These centers will enable an immersive experience in nature and sustainable living and will provide training in water conservation and reforestation. A team from Sadhana Forest will live in each one of the centers and will interact with the local people and provide training.

Digging swales as a part of our water conservation work

If you are interested in making a long-term commitment and getting involved, you can email us at india@sadhanaforest.org. 

About the Author

Sadhana Forest is an international reforestation and water conservation volunteering organization. Sadhana Forest welcomes 1,500 volunteers per year that come and stay on sustainable vegan off-grid community campuses. It was founded in 2003 by Yorit and Aviram Rozin in India and later expanded to Haiti and Kenya, working on food security with local people living in drought-prone rural areas planting indigenous food-bearing trees. In 2020 a new project was started in Meghalaya, northeast India. Find out more about them on their website sadhanaforest.org.

Grounding: A Reflection After 20 Months of Living in Sun Clover Ecovillage

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This article was written by Luvian Iskandar.

When I first discovered the idea of ecovillages and saw existing ecovillage communities in various countries, I was instantly captivated. I became fascinated with how people choose to live together while intentionally and holistically designing their way of living upon shared values of regenerative living. I saw a community of people that understands the global socio-environmental problems (climate change, inequalities, etc.) we are facing and choose to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for change to come.

For my master’s program, I wanted to study the development process of ecovillages as I had the feeling that I might be involved with one in the future. After looking around for feasible study sites around me (I was studying at National Dong Hwa University on the East Coast of Taiwan), I was introduced to a new ecovillage initiative called Sun Clover Ecovillage which was only two hours away from my campus. It is a community started by a husband and wife who moved to rural Taiwan from the city to build a space where people can live a more healthy lifestyle while cultivating a strong connection with each other and nature. For my research, I got the opportunity to join the initiative as a participant observer for eight months, being involved in all of the daily activities. 

Through my immersion there, I learned and experienced a lot about the things that happen in the initial stage of an ecovillage community and also developed a deep relationship with the Sun Clover family. In fact, I enjoyed my experience so much that I ended up back in Sun Clover and became a resident there for a year after I completed my studies. During that year, I feel that I grew and healed a lot as a human being. I feel more connected with myself, people, and the environment around me. I have just recently moved back home to Indonesia, so I thought it was a good time for me to share some of my experiences and reflections from the 20 months I spent in Sun Clover Ecovillage.

daily activities in Sun Clover include farming rice, food processing, cooking, eating, taking care of the baby, tidying up the house, taking care of our garden and chickens, building projects, and much more.

When I first came to Sun Clover, I came as an ecovillage enthusiast whose idea and experience of ecovillage came solely from articles, books, and videos I found online. I brought along with me my interpretation and imagination of how life would be completely different in an ecovillage from the way of living in the mainstream: how people live a very low impact lifestyle through living simply and intentionally, having a deep connection with nature, living in natural structures that mimic their surroundings, having food grown from our very own multi-variety gardens, living with a community of people that supports each other, practicing nonviolent communication all the time. My imagined version of an ecovillage definitely falls into the utopian side of the spectrum (not that that’s a bad thing) but with it, I also have this mentality “if I just go to an ecovillage, all of the world’s problems -as well as my own- will disappear!”.

Rice farming using natural farming methods

My experience of living in Sun Clover is very different from this imagined version. Being a new ecovillage initiative, Sun Clover is more like a family rather than a community of people. There were only the two co-founders and their baby when I first came (I was the first person who lived with them for an extended time). We were living in a regular concrete house that the family rented. We were farming rice using more eco-friendly methods of natural farming and selling our rice online, but we didn’t have a garden where we grew our own food. Instead, we purchased all of our groceries from the market. 

At times, I was wrestling in my head with the mismatch between my imagination and the reality I was experiencing. It took me a while to realize and accept that even though the ecovillage that I imagined was similar to where Sun Clover is moving towards, we’ve got to start somewhere and the mismatch is simply a part of the journey. 

Living in Sun Clover made me realize a lot of the practicalities of starting an ecovillage. For example, one of the reasons we were not growing our own food (although we do have space for a garden) is because we simply didn’t have the time and energy to do it. Our natural farming rice farm requires a lot of our time and energy as we do a lot of the work manually and we need to take care of orders and delivery. There are regular chores like cooking and cleaning, and on top of all of that, we have a baby to take care of. We only have three people to do all that work, and we were busy bees a lot of the time and often a day went by just like the flick of a hand. 

Ah-Hsu with our first cabbage harvest

Towards the end of my stay there, I was already able to see the progress we made. One more person joined to live full-time with us, which made us 5 people (including the baby) and it already felt a little bit more like a community. We started our garden and within a few months started to eat the vegetables we grew. We built a few rooms for people to stay, in and built an irrigation channel using natural materials. It’s really nice to see how we have made a few baby steps towards our ecovillage vision.

Through this experience, I learned that developing an ecovillage is not as simple as I naively thought before, especially in the beginning phase. It tied my dreams and visions of an ecovillage into the ground and taught me how to use the dreams and vision as my north star while starting with the realities of being on the ground where my feet are. 

My admiration and appreciation towards people who are building, developing, and living in ecovillages have only grown and multiplied since I first came to Sun Clover as I witnessed the commitment, actions, thoughts, heart, love, patience, and life energy that are compassionately poured in every step of the way towards manifesting “the more beautiful world.” 

I’m utterly grateful for being able to be in Sun Clover in its nascence, witnessing and being a part of this very interesting stage full of mysteries, possibilities, and uncertainties. It has been such a rich experience the past year.  Although I only shared about how it has been grounding in this piece, the time I spent in Sun Clover has been healing and nourishing too. But that’s another story for another time 😉.  

Sun Clover family and some of my friends during a gathering before I left

I have endless gratitude for the family in Sun Clover. Jensen and Michiko, the co-founders, for letting me in although both of them weren’t ready for having an extra member when I first came (I learned about it later), and for the love, care, and guidance that both of them give all the time. Ah-Hsu for joining us, anchoring us with his calmness and his deep and genuine care for everything. And, of course, Sarasa (the baby) for the unbearable sweetness, cuteness, and chaos that adds so much flavor to our daily life. Cheers to all the times spent together and all the things to come!

About the Author

Luvian Iskandar, Indonesia

Luvian works with GENOA as a communications coordinator. When he became aware of the social and environmental degradation in the world, he found out about the holistic approach within the ecovillage movement to regenerating social and environmental systems and resonated with it. He chose to study the early development stage of ecovillages for his master’s program, thinking that he might be involved in such a project in his home country, Indonesia, in the future. Upon graduation, he lived and worked in an aspiring ecovillage community in Hualien, Taiwan for a year before moving back to his home country, Indonesia, where he now resides.

Joining the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week at Gaia Ashram

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This article was written by Lila Sahj.

Simple but profound, the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week was humbling, soul-nourishing, and inspiring. My intention for the week was to listen deeply and learn, to be humbler and appreciate my life & nature, to open and feel more love in my heart, and to apply the knowledge I gain to my life, and then share it with others. 

We were guided by the wise & wild Om (whose stories could fill books), on a journey through the 4 Dimensions of Sustainability: Social, Economic, Ecological, and Cultural. 

I was expecting it to be very community and nature-oriented, so I was surprised at how central personal awareness and growth was to the process, which I deeply appreciated. We all reflected on our lifestyles & designed them anew, inspired by the mind-expanding questions we were given. I like this personal approach because I believe that to change the world, it needs to come from within – culture shift in ourselves & the collective. Being in an environment where we feel connected to all of life and take the time to explore true heart’s desires facilitates the emergence of a holistic mindset; one that values all life, including oneself. I wish for every young person to do this program. 

If I had to place my bets on which topic would be the most emotional, economics would have been the last topic I would have bet on. But answering the questions of “What is wealth to me?”, “What do I want in my life?” “What makes me feel alive?”, and “What makes life worth living for me?” were the most powerful questions asked so far, and I questioned what I truly needed and wanted in order to flourish. I found that I most value joy, fun, and playfulness; freedom and the resources to take my time & space to relax and do what I love; being with people I love; the ability to flourish – to grow and learn in ways that feel aligned to me; a sense of safety and security in a grounded, comfortable home, and of course, beautiful food (and an outdoor shower would be fantastic, too). 

Questions like this aren’t asked in “normal” environments. Having the space to reflect on life and design it holistically is a fantastic experience, which I would recommend to everyone looking for a fresh start, hope for a better future, and some peace and connection with what is truly real: others & nature!

I witnessed and experienced tears of gratitude, liberation in movement and body through the 5 Elements Dance, deep peace in meditation and connection with nature, feeling seen by others, having a deeper connection with myself, and being part of a small and tight-knit community with lots of fun moments throughout. Other experiences included creating a skit, documentary night, yoga, and being led around the farm by a partner with my eyes closed, exploring all my senses – one of the most pleasurable and peaceful things I have ever done. 

I love living and being in ecovillages. Magic happens in these places that don’t happen anywhere else. It’s the influence of great souls who share their thoughts and way of life. It’s the entire new culture and system which honors all of life, including your own hopes, dreams, and talents – waiting to empower you so you can flourish! It’s the nature, the fact that I wasn’t in a single closed room with 4 walls. Everything is open, connected – it’s reflected in the architecture of the place. I love the simplicity of life here. I love the food (too much haha), I love the fact that I can go and switch the water on every day at 17:30, watching the sprinklers go from small to tall towers of water. I love the satisfaction and peace of sitting there witnessing the seeds I planted sprout and grow. I love watching the sky change color, seeing the sun peak gold through the clouds, hints of pink and lilac coloring the sky as the day turns into night. And of course, being barefoot as much as possible! I find myself taking off my shoes as soon as the ground is soft enough to bear. It just feels better. 

This week has shown me the power of deep listening to others and reflecting back on people’s strengths. There is a magic created when another person’s eyes are shining as you tell them the light that you see in them. It is a gift we can all give to others, going deeper than the average compliment. It requires observation of the other, curiosity, listening, remembering, and compassion. This way of communicating leaves everyone around feeling better 😊 as we remember we are all celebrations of diversity. We learned during the topic of ecology that diversity is resilience. Without diversity, the soil dries up, erodes, the leaves get bitten away, and the yields are less. Our differences are what we can use to work together to create a new system that nourishes all life. The meaning we each give to our lives and our willingness to be open-minded and compassionate is what helps this bloom. 

It was beautiful to see the intentions everyone set at the beginning of the week blossom into fulfilled wishes and more, as seen during our final sharing moment around a bonfire. Pleng played the drums, Sin’s awesome dance music filled the air, Simon kept the fire burning, Niki held loving space, and Ben presented his beautiful art. The course ended synchronistically with the full moon and we ended our evening playing a fierce game of Ninja under its glow, a symbol of completion, the waning moon an invitation to internalize the teachings that resonated most and to share them with whoever is curious. 

I leave this week feeling much more grounded and connected to nature, something that I had been missing for a long time. I experienced the deeply humbling feeling of asking nature for permission before I sit in the company of its trees, shrubs, spiders, and crawling ants, well aware that this is not only my home, but theirs too, and theirs first. 

I was aware and committed to my life’s purpose before this week, but the tools and knowledge parted to me during the program have grounded and deepened my plans and what I want to express. Gaia Ashram is a place to go when you want to connect back to yourself, other people, and nature, in an authentic and peaceful way, without the stresses of “normal life”. 

Paraphrasing Om, this is not a place to escape from your life. This is a place to learn, to expand, and to empower yourself with awareness of your own strengths, skills, and talents, putting them into practice in the community so you leave (if you do 😛) being, even more, yourself, knowing what you love and what you find important – which I believe is exactly your purpose & medicine for the world 😊. 

Thank you, Om and Tom, for holding the space and for your wisdom, and thank you, everyone, in the course and others living in Gaia Ashram. It is wonderful being part of this community, our hearts united in the mission of life honoring life. 

Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu,

May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all. 

—

Read Om Sunisa Jamwiset Deiters’s (co-founder of Gaia Ashram) article about the Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week here.

About the Author

Lila Sahj

Lila is a 21-year-old Project Management student & a coach. She has been researching and experiencing ecovillage and holistic living since 17 years old and found a deep love for community and natural living. She has undergone her own spiritual and self-healing journey, and she now holds space for others to go through their own journeys. Her coaching focuses on empowering the other to reconnect with and trust their own intuition, heart, and body so that they can live authentically and share their medicine for the world. The concepts of systems thinking, the permaculture principles, the 4 Dimensions of Sustainability, and regeneration are key to her coaching and project management style. She holds a Belgian passport but was born in Singapore and has lived in Myanmar, Indonesia, Malawi, Thailand, the Netherlands, Cambodia, and Spain. You can find more about her on her Instagram page @divine.play.coaching.

GENOA Annual General Meeting 2022

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On March 11th, the GENOA Council and Office Team came together to hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM). In this meeting, the office team reported and celebrated the activities and achievements we had in 2021to the GENOA council. We also proposed, discussed, and consolidated our plan for this year of 2022.

You can read the meeting notes, see the presentation slides and watch the video recording below which includes the highlights of our activities, financial report, and also future plans.

For this year of 2022, our office team is planning to turn inwards to clarify our purpose as a network and organization, and also find and install structures in place that match our values and context to be able to fulfill our purpose of existence as a network and organization. We will also be looking for funding and support for our activities in the coming year in the latter half of the year.

The process of turning inwards and clarifying our purpose will be done through an internal project called Metamorph Project in which we will dive in and engage with the different stakeholders of the network to clarify our purpose, understand what has worked and what are the things we are lacking in our current structures and how we work. The outcomes of this project will be brought into discussion with the council and members of the network to be discussed and implemented. You can find more info about it by looking at the project proposal below.

GENOA Metamorph – Project Proposal

Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions about this project. During this project, we will be engaging in conversations with some of you as stakeholders of the network. If you are keen to share your perspective, experience, and hopes about GENOA please let us know by writing to us at genoa@ecovillage.org and we will make sure to include you in the conversation. If you are keen to join in this process with us by volunteering, offering coaching, or consultancy, please kindly write to the same email address. 

Thank you so much for your continued support. We are excited to embark on this journey inwards and look forward to engaging with you, dearest stakeholders, to co-create in this evolutionary process of the GENOA Network.

Please note that as we engage in this project, the office team will lower the volume of our activities (such as community calls).