As a Palestinian, coming from a Bedouine family in Israel, Aida Shibli has had the role of bridging cultures from early age. As a peace worker, Aida has been involved with the Peace Research Village initiative, and the initiative to found GEN Middle East, for many years. By Leila Dregger … Read more
General
With Huge Help from my Friends My Ecovillage Homebirth Experience
The Danish ECO-village, Fri og Fro, was established in Egebjerg in 2004, and the plots contain 16 very different houses as well as a common house. The houses are constructed from sustainable materials such as recycled wood, straw, clay and shells. The village also has its own willow, wastewater treatment. This is the place where single mother, Poula-Line Schmidt, experienced the help of her community. I had reached the first month of my pregnancy when my partner and I split up. The last thing … Read more
Italy: Giving Birth in Damanhur The Community as a Social-Spiritual Uterus
Birthing is a challenging process that can take a woman out of her physical and psychological balance. The capacity to hold her in this condition, and be her 'social-spiritual uterus', is a valuable skill that communities can develop. Damanhur is composed of about 20 so called 'Nucleos', core families of 10-30 people. Capra Carruba gave birth to her first daughter 6 years ago, and now she waits for her second child to be born. My daughter was born seven years ago in our communal living room. … Read more
USA: The Farm Midwives 30 Years of Teaching Natural Births
The Farm in Tennessee, USA, is one of the oldest and most famous ecovillages worldwide. Even before there was a place called The Farm, the seeds of community began to grow when the first babies were brought into the world by the women - later to become known as The Farm Midwives. The babies who were born on the road during the long journey from California to Tennessee, brought forth a wave of energy, which established a bond, not only to their immediate family, but to the group as a whole. The … Read more
Japan: Spirituality of Birth Giving Spiritual Birth-Giving in the Konohana Family
In the ecovillage Konohana Family, in Japan, women give birth to children in their homes, in maternity centers, or in the hospital at the Konohana Family, depending on their wishes, physical condition, and advice from other members. As there are many experienced parents at Konohana Family, mothers-to-be are able to learn and master how to become parents very naturally. Members of Konohana Family consider all the children as their own and raise them as the children of the society. Yoko Oki shares … Read more
Conscious Birthgiving in Chile The Ecology of Birth - in the Hurricane of Hormones
A fundamental part of a peaceful culture is to have peaceful women, peaceful wombs and peaceful births. The “Círculo Matríztico” is a large women’s network in Chile - and the World - that was founded by women who wanted to celebrate being connected to the feminine power of the moon. It began as a space for women to meet, gather and sing as sisters, seeking a connection with the feminine energy, and the importance of giving birth. This song and prayer echoed out and was heard and repeated in … Read more
Be blessed, Paulo Mellett GEN´s Friend and Cooperation Partner Paulo Mellett Changes Dimension
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 … Read more
News from NextGEN Youth projects are Flourishing and Taking Shape
The process that started with the NextGEN-Europe Conference of 2014, has been moving forward ever since, leading to the development of multiple new project ideas. It has been a repeated pattern in our group that, after being highly inspired in events such as the amazing NextGEN-Europe Conference, the level of inspiration and commitment then slowly decreases over time after the young people return to the reality of their daily lives . However, so far it seems that this time we have crossed the … Read more
Erigiendo Dipam Consideraciones sobre el lugar y una edificacion central
Terrain: * Water: The first priority is to find a terrain near a freshwater cause (a river, stream, ect) or otherwise a freshwater well (in Corrientes freshwater is easily achievable in Chaco presents more difficulty, but it's not insurmountable). * Power lines: if there are any laying around, that will facilitate the construction of the eco-village, although Dipam aspires to be independent later on, the possibility of having a nearby power line network allows a faster start and an … Read more
Micro Biogas Systems for Ecovillages The Community Biogas Wave - an Offer to European Ecovillages by Thomas Culhane
In 2012, Thomas Culhane – who prefers to be called TH – was invited to Tamera to teach the building of small scale biogas digesters to participants of the Global Campus. Since then, the digester in Tamera has been used throughout the years, to provide energy every day for cooking for a large part of the community. The enthusiasm for biogas has spread to other places such as: Favela da Paz (Sao Paulo), the Peace Community San José de Apartadó in Colombia, and OTEPIC (Kenya). During … Read more
