Ecovillage (STEPS) (ESP-16)


Type: Environmental/Green Projects: Ecologically friendly agriculture - Country: Spain

Brief description and main aims

The project is an ecovillage in which people with diverse backgrounds can cohabit in harmony and freedom in a natural environment, with projects centred around five key points: sustainability and ecology, rearing animals, gender and health, drug addiction and economic exclusion. 

The ecovillage is supported and sustained by a network of people and collectives who all contribute their own experiences, knowledge and altruistic collaboration. It is thanks to them that we can support peple who have nothing. 

This is a drug-free community space, where anyone who has suffered drug addiction or other forms of exclusion can join in on projects that foster empowerment, mutual support, shared and autonomous life, and a close relationship with nature. The volunteer will work with a group of people from this group. There is also a group of women who work independently in the community.

Main Activities

The project is an ecovillage in which people with diverse backgrounds can cohabit in harmony and freedom in a natural environment, with projects centred around five key points:
  1. sustainability and ecology
  2. rearing animals
  3. gender and health
  4. drug addiction 
  5. economic exclusion

Volunteer tasks

The volunteer's tasks include helping with the different activities at Ecovillage:

  • gardening (normal and vegetable gardening)
  • animal care (feeding and cleaning them out, etc.)
  • maintenance of facilities and grounds (building works)
The volunteer will also be taking part in the community activities, such as cooking, cleaning etc.
They can participate in our other activities, which include meditation, workshops, etc.

Location

The project is located in Madrid (Ciempozuelos).

Duration

This is a short term project, maximum 3 months. 

Hosting Situation (Board and Lodging)

The volunteer will sleep in a four-bed room, which may or may not be shared with other volunteers. The bathrooms and showers are shared. 
 
We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Meals are vegetarian and are almost always made from ingredients sourced from our eco-friendly estate. If you have any dietary requirements or allergies, please let us know before coming so that we can prepare. We kindly ask that you clean up after yourself after the meal. We would like to organise work groups to make cleaning the kitchen easy.
 
This is not a hostel, but a community, so it is everyone’s responsibility to keep everything clean and tidy for the use of other groups and collectives.

More Information

Please keep in mind:

  • The building has 24-hour photo-voltaic electricity, but it might not be able to withstand highvoltage appliances such as hairdryers, so please do not bring them. Other areas of the estate, paths and other buildings do not have light, so we recommend you bring a torch/lantern
  • There is a swimming pool and we will have sunny weather, so you can bring your swimsuit.
  • There is Internet, but it is limited to only certain areas.
  • There will be running water in certain time slots which we can adjust to fit your needs, but it will not be available all day. It also depends on how many hours of sunlight we get and on the generator which powers the pump. We have several showers with hot water that you can use during these time slots. Outside of these slots and overnight you can get buckets of water from a water drum by the front entrance.
Please make sure to bring your own towels and toiletries, preferably eco-friendly ones: the drain unfortunately runs directly into the River Tajuña. We have recently built a dry toilet (one that does not drain or flush) to minimise the impact of fecal matter in the river and we prefer that you use this one to the conventional toilets.
 
We do not recommend drinking the tap water as it is very chalky and might be contaminated from non-eco-friendly farming in the area. There will be jugs of drinking water available that we collect from nearby.
 
Please respect our no-drugs policy. This means no drugs or alcohol, just tobacco. You can have a drink in the closest village, which is a 30-minute walk away. There are pets at the place (dogs and cats), but they are not allowed to enter the building, so please make sure to close all doors behind you.

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