EDE France 2021 | Écovillage Sainte Camelle

• Date: 4 October – 4 November 2021
• Location: Ecovillage Sainte Camelle, Lieu-dit Sainte-Camelle, Saint Victor Rouzaud, 09100, France
• Language:
  French
• Run by:
  • Gabriel Lechemin
  • Michael Gauthier
  • Cedric Mabilotte
  • Lou Salomon
  • Vanessa Languasco
• Areas:
  Alliance BuildingContextualised DesignIntervention & TransformationLeading from the FuturePrototyping & FeedbackRank & PrivilegeStakeholder EngagementWhole Systems ThinkingArt & CelebrationDefend & ProtectMindfulness & Self ReflectionNature ConnectionVision & PurposeWisdom & InnovationBanking & ExchangeEquitable OwnershipPlanetary BoundariesResponsible ConsumptionSharing & CollaborationSocial EntrepreneurshipConflict ResolutionDiversity & CohesionHealth & HealingLeadership & GovernanceLifelong EducationTrust & CommunicationEcosystem RestorationGreen BuildingRenewable Energy & TransportSeeds, Food & SoilWater CyclesZero Waste
• Context:
  Recurring events
• Categories:
  Community experienceGatheringTraining

We had to wait 2021, against all odds, to see the very first French EDE. How come it was only the 1st? Why never before? Well, we know why. FHF. This is why making an EDE in France was a tough challenge to take on. And yes, we did it!

• The group of participants we had for this EDE was so diverse that no clan emerged. It is quite usual that people gather by affinity in small groups but here, the entire group stuck together no matter what. The glue was really strong. Some personalities were more extraverted of course, but with a real care for other’s presence and voice. To the extent to become a real counter-power: if we made any facilitation mistake, if we failed to propose in the most careful way and if it felt like we were imposing anything, we would be immediately in trouble. We knew it came from a childhood school trauma for these people, who were very open about it. It was an amazing journey to navigate the facilitation process with such awareness. This context led to something incredible during week two: a very quiet voice, Pauline, protested against the fact that they had agreed to community agreements on the first day but now, she said, they had to review them by themselves and check if it reflects who they really are. We, as EDE crew members, opened a space in the program for them to take the time to do it. They used Sociometry, a tool taught to them before, to assess the agreements. They counted in percentage who agreed or not for each topic. They even discussed about the structure of the program and finally approved it. It was a very beautiful real-life example of self-empowerment.

• One of the most iconic moment of this EDE was the Derdian roleplay in which they completely immersed themselves for three hours. The participants playing the indigenous Derdians went in the forest and created another set of social rules to add to the existing 10 social rules, making it even harder for the engineers to understand them. However, the richness of this creation went beyond any expectation: they were able to completely be in control of the situation as a group. They were able to make all their decisions as a group, and they never betrayed their tribe. On the other side, the engineers came with such an open heart to meet the Derdians. It looked like a movie scene, or a true encounter between two civilisations. The Derdians conducted a welcome ritual for the engineers who had to completely let go of their expectations and dive into another culture. When they started to negotiate the terms of their objective, the Derdians let them go gracefully and rejected them from the tribe’s circle by letting go of their hand and closing the circle back behind them. After many attempts, the Derdians finally accepted to build the bridge, with their own conditions. And it was a win-win for everyone. After the roleplay, everyone was exhausted and there was a lot of frustration and past conditioning to let go.

• Finally, we had an elephant in the room: the departure of one participant in the first days of the EDE was hard to endure for some participants who felt that the EDE facilitators had not been transparent enough. So, the subject blew up during a session and we had to respond to their accusations. After we all spoke about why, and how we had to let this participant go, the hard feelings went away definitely. The elephant in the room came back on the very last day: we spoke our hearts one last time altogether before the Certification ceremony, and the talking stick took unpredictably the form of a big beautiful elephant plush! Full circle and a lot of laughter and healing.

For more information, please visit the event website.