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Refugee Aid by Ecovillages – The Journey of a Refugee from Syria
Wars, climate change, economic and social injustices, have made millions of people refugees, with thousands dying, stranded on the borders of Europe, or the United States. At the recent GEN Summit in Dakar, Africa it was re-iterated that ecovillages are an effective alternative to migration, especially for young people. However, ecovillages of the Global North can also assist directly, by providing new opportunities for refugees. This is the story of Fayez Karimeh, from Syria - however, similar … Read more
Editorial GEN Newsletter Giving Birth in Community
Is there a more crucial, more powerful and more challenging moment in a lifetime than giving birth? The way that we are born into this world, the way our parents conceive, give birth, and raise us, forms and influences us our whole lives. In previous times, women passed the knowledge about midwifery from generation to generation. However, the knowledge and the right to choose the way to give birth was taken from women a long time ago. In the name of 'modernization' and 'security', it was felt … Read more
Regaining Lost Power The Parents and Birth School in Tamera
Birth-giving is about opening. And opening is a process of trust. In Tamera, some mothers have founded a school for parents in order to use knowledge, transparency, awareness and experience to strengthen the forces of trust of parents, children and the community. Leila Dregger spoke with two midwives, and a young mother, on the art of regaining of lost power - and while she was writing the article, a new child was born to the community and the happy parents. "There is nothing greater and more … Read more
Three “Organized Urban Neighborhood” Urban Ecovillages in North America
Diana Leafe Christian reports about intentional communities in North American cities. She believes creating community in your existing neighborhood is a growing trend. In a few years we may have more organized-neighborhood projects to report on. … Read more
Urban Ecovillages USA Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage, Cincinnati, Ohio
Like L.A. Eco-Village, Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage (www.enrightecovillage.org) in Cincinnati, Ohio, was also created by neighbors in an already-existing neighborhood. Enright Avenue has 80 one-story to two-and three-story older houses and with 10 rental units along both sides of a three-quarter-mile-long narrow cul-de-sac street in a working class neighborhood. The homes range from small one-story dwellings to two-and three-story houses, most built in the late 1800s through about 1915. … Read more
USA: Urban Ecovillages N St. Cohousing, Central Valley, California
Another similar urban project is N St. Cohousing (http://www.ic.org/directory/n-street-cohousing) in Davis, a college town in California’s Central Valley. Unlike the urban examples described above, N St. neighbors live on all sides of a city block in a shady residential area, and each owns or rents their own house and lot. (While N St. is a cohousing community rather than an ecovillage, I include it because of it has many of the same sustainability aspects as an urban ecovillage.) Even though … Read more
The Natural Miracle of Birth-Giving In the Ecovillage Arca Verde, Brazil
Bruna Barella is part of the Ecovillage Arca Verde (Green Ark), since 2005, and in this time she became a mother and midwife. In their rural community, 11 women have gone into labor and 10 babies have been born. Countless female, personal, family and community rebirths have been witnessed at the ecovillage. They consider childbirth to be a natural miracle, a spiritual event that promotes deep healing on all levels. Translated by Cristina Mattos from CASA Brazil. My son was born at home by … Read more
Birth of a New Woman Giving Birth in the Holy Land
Nothing is holy in the Holy Land. Dina Awwad has learnt this early. As a Palestinian woman in the Westbank, she faced the two layers of occupation: from Israel and - as a woman - from the patriarchal society. In the age of 30, she married a Palestinian from Israel, and moved to the other side of the separation wall. With her marriage not fully accepted by the authorities, without permission to work, to drive a car or to study she found herself to be "only" a housewife. However, Dina discovered … Read more
Sieben Linden: Sport is Fun! Fitness and Games for a Healthy and Happy Lifestyle in Ecovillages.
Sieben Linden ecovillage (Germany), can be proud of the number of inhabitants practicing a healthy and active lifestyle, starting with yoga and finishing with barefoot jogging, and hard-core fitness. Yet, there is a great space for improvement in terms of community infrastructure and awareness levels. In this article, Arturs Polis and Nadine Koch are interviewing Nadine Koch, in order to explore the importance of a physically active lifestyle in the ecovillage context, drawing from the … Read more
Putting a Footstep into a New Era. Middle East: Birth-giving in the Global Community
Soraya El Hag from Egypt compares the transition process in the Middle East with the birth-giving of a baby. The principles needed during these, often, painful times of change are the same that are applied in the founding process of an ecovillage. Birth-giving is composed of two words. Birth, which is the time when a baby comes out from the womb of its mother. So, it is the beginning, or origins, of something. Having a series of revolutions in the Middle East that started in the beginning of … Read more
