After a malaria infection from his last trip to Ghana, and four months in intensive care in his last home place in Brazil, Paulo Mellet died on June 23rd 2014. For all people who knew and cooperated with him it is very sad to have lost this amazing person, global peace worker and friend.
Together with “Slush” he supported a big network of change-makers all over the world, many of them connected to the Global Ecovillage Network. We still cannot fully comprehend yet that he has passed away.
He always felt so connected to the cosmos and to the other beings out there. We are sure he is warmly welcomed and embedded by them. Maybe he felt that he can be of greater support from this other dimension.
It was moving to see how Paulo was held by his wife Ruth Andrade and his family at the time of his long struggle between the worlds. May we find ways to stay connected and experience that he is still around. We are very grateful to have met and worked with Paulo, that we were part of his life and all the beautiful projects and actions that he gave birth to.
His work continues, as Ruth said so intensively and beautifully at the GEN Europe Conference. Ruth: “The times Paulo knocked at death’s door during the four months we were in hospital, I would get upset not about how much I was going to miss him, but about the great loss to the planet and its peoples that his passing would cause. He was like a pioneer tree in forest succession, casting many seeds, breaking up new ground, fertilising poor soil, being the first line of regeneration for others to follow, but also like pioneer trees, having a short lifespan as the forest evolves.
He has done his pioneering job and spread his many seeds, now it’s up to us to carry on his work and follow suit, allowing his fertile ideas, boundless love and inspiring vision to help us to continue the regeneration he started.
Paulo, may we help life flourish everywhere on your behalf. I love you.”
His boss, Lush´s co-founder Simon Constantine wrote these beautiful and inspiring words about Paulo and his work: https://www.lush.co.uk/article/man-behind-slush
