Hi friends, I’m Alex — the new ESC volunteer for Green School Village! And after an almost 2-week absence, I’m back in the mix with a whole lot of adventures to share in my very first, official volunteer blog post. While you may wonder why I was away, let me tell you, it was for an amazing reason. I got to travel to the beautiful Slovenia, where in a village called Svijnsko, me and over 25 other trainees got to be a part of the “Leader in Me” Erasmus+ Training, gracefully hosted by Kmetija Veles and our trainers, Petra and Jošt.
Starting with the location, it was absolutely beautiful as you can see in the photos above. As we were arriving and drawing closer and closer to the farm, all I could think of is that this is a scene out of a fairytale. But for nearly 2 weeks, it was absolutely our reality. Set in the beautiful Kmetija Veles permaculture farm, founded by Petra and Janis a long time ago, the course did a great job of combining sustainability with personal development. The farm is operating in a water-and-energy-preserving manner, which meant we used composting toilets, washed dishes with wheat flakes, bathed with solar or compost-heated water and so much more. We also ate food fresh from the garden, which made the experience even more authentic. Our hosts were super hospitable, welcoming us in their farm and introducing us to their ways of life. Not only did we help out around the farm outside of the daily lessons, but we also got half-a-day dedicated solely to helping out with tasks around the farm, such as separating seeds from the vegetables, picking onion and garlic, and de-cocooning beans. There were also a lot of cute animals, such as chickens, kittens, the trusty family dog Stella and the goats and sheep next-door. All in all, we were well entertained even if we count out the daily sessions, but they themselves were an amazing way to learn more about leadership!
In the photos above you can see some of the workshops we took part of, but honestly, there was so much more I can barely fit it into words. Our day started at 7:30am with breakfast (if we had to help prepare breakfast, that was 6:45am). Then, at 9:00am we started with our first exercise — the morning check-in and energiser. After we were all present and ready for the day, we would continue with two more sessions until it was time for our first break. Those varied greatly, from spending time in the session room to taking walks outside and meditating in nature. It was always a beautiful way to introspect and learn more about ourselves, and one another. After the break, we would have two more sessions before lunch time came at around 13:00 o’clock. But before lining up for food, we would do something extra to show our gratitude to our chef Lin — sing some gratitude songs. Everyone would gather up in a circle, hold hands and sing various songs — from the “We are circling, circling together” song to the classic “Thank you for the food” song in all of our languages. It was a really charming way to show gratitude and just seeing Lin’s face light up with joy made me feel happy and grateful. Her homemade cuisine was always made with natural ingredients, a lot of mindfulness for each of our preferences and a lot of care for the plants and the planet.
After lunch, we would have some time to rest (or do the dishes) before the next sessions. One of my favourite things to do if we had some fruit was to give my compost straight to the chickens, which were located with direct access to the compost bin. Turns out, their method of eating and going about was perfectly compatible with composting, since they dig and turn the compost themselves. This was just another amazing bit of knowledge I gathered and plan to implement in my future farming endeavours since I love, love, love chickens. So, before our next workshop, we got to hang out in the kitchen area and talk to the other participants. The following workshop would then start at 15:00 o’clock. Sometimes, we would be inside the workshop room but often, we would also go to the nearby meadows and even got to see a local river. One of the aspects I loved about this course was the introspection and alone time we got to have. To me, this links to the importance of understanding oneself in order to understand and be in tune with others. Only by knowing yourself can you release the barrier of knowing others. It also had a lot of emphasis on energy and being in control of yourself first and foremost. All in all, the exercises taught us how to be mindful of the way we approach things, listen closely and leave space for emptiness as the biggest inspiration of all.
And after a long day of working hard at our leadership skills, we would have dinner followed by a celebration, hosted by the Celebration team of that evening. Some of the great things we got to see was a massage and stargazing night, music around the fire night, ecstatic dancing and a Talent/No Talent show — all amazing ways to rest after a long day and bond with each other. I even managed to get out of my comfort zone and read one of my poems in front of everyone, which is a new challenge I’ve set up for myself to get myself out there. In the first few days, Petra and Jošt led our workshops, but by day 5 it was time for us to lead our own workshops in pairs. My workshop, together with my fellow trainee Jesús, had the topic of Public Speaking. It was a topic he needed practice with and I had a bit more experience in. However, since my voice was almost gone, it was still a challenge to make use of this circumstance and talk regardless of how funnily my voice cracked, using it as an opportunity to talk less and listen more overall. This was a wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to learning more about the next training course to be hosted in November, titled “Art of Facilitation”. If given the opportunity, I would love to join it as well, since it’s really helpful to be able to develop my facilitation abilities even further.
On the second-to-last day, we got to have a fire and play a game where people stand in the circle with their back towards the fire, get asked questions about other people from the group and reply by touching the people they choose as the answer. This is a beautiful capture, which makes it look almost magical in front of the background of the moon and stars. On the final day, we also got to play with some henna. One of the participants, Ece, thoughtfully brought henna from Turkey and marked us all with a symbol on our left (receiving) palm in order for us to take this experience with us. As I’m writing this, my left hand is still marked with the symbol of our shared experience and it’s lovely to see and think about. To be fair, I kind of miss the Farm Veles daily routine we had created as an international community. There will be a lot of learnings and lovely memories I’ll be taking home with me, and I’m incredibly grateful to Kmetija Veles, Green School Village and the Erasmus+ programme for providing me with this amazing opportunity for learning. In the end, I’m left with fond memories, lovely new acquaintances and friends, and the anticipation of hopefully joining the next training course in the Lider+ series.
Thank you for reading and see you next week!
