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Eco Caminhos is committed to the social mission of developing and training young Brazilian youth from low income or socially vulnerable backgrounds and, in light of this proposal, it administers the apprenticeship program. Two people currently live and work on the eco-farm as apprentices through this program: Marcelino and Cleiton.

These motivated apprentices are educated in different areas of the eco-farm, such as bio-construction, agroforestry, and organic agriculture. In addition to learning how to live in a community and following the fundamentals of permaculture, those who need to finish their studies are enrolled in school and balance their ongoing work and school responsibilities.

Experience & Learning

The program is comprehensive, not only as an opportunity for learning in these professional areas but also for personal growth. Cleiton had been on the farm before but was sent home due to his behavior and lack of motivation. He then asked for a second chance and now, determined to grow personally and professionally, he has perfected the knowledge acquired in his previous stay and even got a paid job as a bioconstruction assistant in a project designed by Eco Caminhos.

Learning to live with people from all over the world increases knowledge of other cultures; allows for a sense of community development, of being part of a team rather than just being focused on oneself; and develops responsibilities and skills for household tasks. Marcelino, for example, who has honed his skills in organic agriculture and studied how to implement an agroforest from scratch, has also learned how to cook for himself and others and has greatly improved his communication abilities from having lived with several different people.

Eco Caminhos believes in the personal development of those who come into direct contact with nature and in learning the importance of organic agriculture and natural construction. During the first six months of 2020, another person participated in the program and developed a lot in the areas of agroforestry and implementation of irrigation systems. They also grew their social skills and greatly improved their English-speaking abilities due to the English classes we have organized on the farm. However, it is essential that the young person be motivated and open to learning new things and, in the absence of these characteristics, we asked them to withdraw themselves from the farm.

More Program Benefits

The apprentices have accommodation, food, comprehensive training, and a R$400.00 allowance for helping family members, transportation, and their personal projects. Eco Caminhos encourages the personal and professional growth of people in need and believes that education is the best way to improve lives and create a more equal and secure society.

Members of Eco Caminhos show how life on a sustainable farm not only benefits those who live there, but also allows the possibility to help those who need it most in times of global crisis and instability. 

Life on an eco farm is one of constant motion and learning, both physical and mental. This lifestyle reveals to us the daily importance of cultivating your own food and construction projects, even during hard times.

Quarantine and other challenges brought on by COVID-19 enable us to reflect on what could be done to benefit eco farm residents and also how local communities could be helped. Bart Bijen, owner of Eco Caminhos, partnered with the campaign “SOS Favelas,” a collaborative project by Viva Rio and Academia Pérolas Negras, to achieve the donation of 50 basic food baskets for families in need in Cardinot.

In addition to the basic food baskets and personal hygiene products,  Eco Caminhos increased its production output so as to be able to contribute more organic foods like lettuce, chicoria, and mint to the campaign effort. Donations from other community members, including as chuchu and cauliflower, were also obtained.

“Besides the basic baskets, we also acquired a variety of vegetables, like cauliflower and lettuce, which are complementing the basic baskets. I would like to thank all the people who helped and participated in the campaign. We are very grateful for being able to help,” Bart said.

The delivery of food baskets was accomplished during the day, using previous records of families who receive benefits, personnel equipped with face masks, hand sanitizer made available to everyone, and planning a schedule aimed at preventing agglomerations.

To disseminate this solidary thought, the team at Eco Caminhos produced a video about the campaign:

 

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Eco Caminhos, a sustainable farm located in the mountains of Nova Friburgo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, receives volunteers from various countries and seeks to align community living with a lifestyle based in nature. The project unites people to learn about permaculture, bioconstruction, agroforestry, organic farming, and personal growth.

Eco Caminhos is an intentional community in Brazil with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. With the world in crisis, we decided to find a different approach to life. We, the Bijen Family (Hilaine, Bart and our children Nico and Lucas), bought a property near Nova Friburgo in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, about 6 years ago. I would like to share an alternative set up for communities and explain my reasons for why we decided on this approach.

Our experience living in a community prior to Eco Caminhos

My wife and I lived in a rural community orphanage project for 6 years in Brazil. The orphanage was a non-profit association with a board of directors. I was part of this board. A few families lived on the rural property where we received children. We shared a kitchen, an organic garden, and took care of 20 children. Big decisions were made democratically, but we were still dependent on donations. So I decided to start a Portuguese language school in Rio de Janeiro to generate income. The school recently became the largest Portuguese school for foreigners in Brazil.

The good/great things we experienced in the community

• Living simple and away from consumption makes one happier.
• Helping people in need is incredibly rewarding.
• Personal growth through community exposure.
• Realizing that organic farming is therapy and meditative for any human being.
• When we connected we achieved amazing things that would have been impossible to achieve as individuals.
• Age is not important. What matters is that you give into the community.

The community challenges we experienced

• It is really hard to live together with lots of people with different ideas and backgrounds.
• There are people who do a lot and there are people who do little or nothing, yet decision-making is democratic. This can feel unjust and cause tensions.
• Making decisions democratically is very slow.
• Depending on donations is impossible in a country like Brazil.
• I felt like our ecovillage was separated from the local community.
• We were entirely dependent on donations.
• Everybody wanted to decide on where to invest and spend money, but few were prepared to raise funds.

After 6 incredible years, we decided to leave as we were not able to overcome most challenges. If you realize how challenging it is to keep your marriage united and strong, just imagine doing so while living together with several families and their children, dogs, and cats. I realized we were simply not evolved enough yet to face such challenges. We went back to the Netherlands to spend time with family and to rethink our future. Meanwhile, our 2 sons were born.

Two years later we came to the conclusion that the capitalistic world was not for us and we decided to develop a different approach to ecovillage building – one that uses the best of both worlds.

So how does this alternative ecovillage set up work?

It is not, in fact, that complex. Take a normal rural village. Everyone has their own property and house with their own rules and privacy. In our plan, the big difference is that we try to collaborate more, share the permaculture philosophy, exchange knowledge, share resources, grow, and learn together. We also stimulate people with this view to join the neighborhood. There will be neighbors from the local community, of course, who will not want to be involved at all, while others some will want to be only somewhat involved, and still some will want to get really involved. And that is all fine.

We currently have 3 established families who came to live in the neighborhood to join our organization. We work together and exchange knowledge on permaculture, agroforestry and bioconstruction. We help each other, have events, do horseback riding trips, go hiking, and even share simple picnics. Everyone can benefit from the tourism program which offers a wide variety of accommodation, knowledge, and activity options.
Now, the success of this ecovillage will depend on the level of involvement of the community – stepping away from the “competitive society” into a more “collaborative society”. We have a good relationship with the local community as we contract people to work on our property, preserve nature, rent their horses, and accommodate tourists at their homes.

Income generation “a sensitive but necessary topic”

This is a sensitive topic if you follow permaculture and ecovillage social media groups. There exists this feeling that ecovillages are only for the elite. In some ways, these critics are right. As a foreigner in Brazil, I am considered elite. Still, people tend to forget how hard we’ve worked to get to where we are today at Eco Caminhos.
Some suggest that ecovillages should allow everybody to join without criteria. In my view this simply does not work. The same goes for people who say they want to live off-grid and do not want a capitalistic view. You can’t avoid the fact that we have basic needs and we are not capable of going back to live in the forest without any basic comfort and resources.

Here at Eco Caminhos we believe we should use the existing capitalistic system in a more conscious way. We generate income but reinvest socially, ecologically, and culturally. To achieve this there should be a balance between people who have the capacity to generate income for the ecovillage and people who contribute technically (permaculture, agroforestry, bioconstruction), socially, and culturally.

So far, 30% of our income has been generated through ecotourism, 60% through paid volunteer programs, and 10% through rehabilitation programs. This year, however, 30% will be generated through a contracted bioconstruction project we will do in the region. Our income is reinvested in improving the infrastructure, buying tools, seeds, seedlings, energy, food, etc.

Social Responsibility

Eco Caminho’s main goal is to offer learning opportunities for those who need and are motivated to learn. Eco Caminhos invests part of its income and time in a social program for apprentices (currently we have 3). We also received a couple of refugees from Venezuela. We offer accommodation, food, training in agroforestry and bioconstruction, English classes, school support, and a stipend.
The staff we hire are paid above average, get 8 weeks of holidays per year, food at work and some even get accommodation. We want to improve these conditions over time.

Of course we can not satisfy everyone. Volunteer programs, especially, are challenging because of the high turnover rate. This constant come and go of people makes it difficult to set a stable culture. With the recently hired staff, however, our programs are becoming more and more stable.

We allow people to be part of the farm and the community. And people are happy to see that their money is well invested ecologically and socially. This results in satisfied tourists who recommend us to their family and friends and give good reviews on Google and Tripadvisor. This results in increased interest in our programs. We are not profitable yet. Only last year were we able to cover all of our operational costs. This year was looking even better until the corona virus popped up.

The good / great things we experience in our intentional eco village.

• There is zero pressure; collaboration happens naturally.
• There is a feeling of independence and zero conflict on household matters.
• Decision-making is fast as each family has autonomy on their property.
• More families are joining us which feels like a confirmation of our community strategy.
• There are more income-generating possibilities allowing more community members to benefit and guarantee their incomes.
• The local community is benefiting from our presence. Besides preserving the environment, we contract local workers, attract eco tourism, rent horses, and train the youth.
• The best case scenario is a thriving eco community. The worst case scenario is that everyone has their own property to live on or sell.
• People who want to join can start off as volunteers (paid or unpaid programs) and experience before investing.

The challenges

• Setting up an eco village is an incredible challenge which requires determination and persistence.
• The independence requires people to generate their own income. For people who lack resources and entrepreneurial skills, this is hard.
• We have not reached a mature ecovillage status yet. All families are still structuring their own properties. The real challenges for developing our ecovillage are still to come.

 

Want to join our intentional ecovillage?

Yes, there are properties for sale or rent in the neighborhood. Still we recommend to start off in one of our tourism or volunteer programs to allow you to get to know us and we you. Dace, Robert, Leo, and Nora came as tourists in 2019 for 4 days to Eco Caminhos. They got interested in joining our movement and came back for another 2 week experience. Recently they bought a property next door and are currently structuring their property. The family also wants to apply agroforestry and bioconstruction and collaborate in eco tourism to generate income.

If you want to experience life in our intentional eco village visit us. You can join one of our custom-made tourism programs which run for up to 2 weeks. Longer than that, and we suggest our volunteer programs that go from 2 weeks up to 1 year. There are paid and free programs depending on the time you can be involved, your skills, and your needs. Once you feel that you want to join, we love to help you find a place to rent or buy. You also get to know the region with all of its pros and cons.
Once you have chosen a program you can send us an online application form. We usually reply within 3 work days. If you make a nice proposal, we set up an interview to get to know each other better and to set some clear and realistic expectations.

Who knows ……Maybe we’ll get to know each other soon!

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Journalism is -or should be- a daily practice of intelligence and character, according to journalist Claudio Abramo. Hence, nowadays, if it wasn’t for this kind of natural selection between the different media, in which the elite is always at the top and in front of any shred of truth (like an apex predator), we could have a more fair and less chaotic game of interests.

The biggest environmental disaster in Brazil’s history occurred in the city of Mariana on the 5th of November, caused by the irresponsibility of the mining company Vale do Rio Doce, and it didn’t even receive the same level of attention as the bloody day of the bombings in Paris on the 13th of November.

Tragedies and bad news should not have this sort of variation on the amount of attention they get from the media or even less when only some have specific reserved spaces in the traditional media, to be instantly devoured by the spectators, while others barely get mentioned at all. Because of this sometimes people get obsessed with the images and news of ‘the others’ while not really paying attention to what happens locally.

There certainly isn’t a way to compare and fairly measure different tragedies against one another, especially when their location, causes and social consequences are widely different. Still there is no explanation or justification when certain things happen, like the total silence of traditional media in Brazil, once the bombings in Paris happened, about the tragic environmental disaster that occurred in Mariana. How could this be? Did they forget? How do you forget a local tragedy where hundreds of people, fauna, and flora were devastated by the tons of toxic mud that suddenly flooded the area due to the irresponsible practices of a famous mining company? How can the tragic events in Paris justify this media silence?

Two horrible tragedies, that’s a fact, but what can be concluded when looking at the behaviour of both traditional media and its spectators when these two tragedies occurred? Did both incidents get the level of attention they fairly deserved? Was it clear for the public who the culprits where? What can be concluded about how information is consumed and absorbed from looking at how people changed their profile picture on facebook to support Paris or Mariana?

I’m left with just my indignation, and I prefer to leave these questions open for the readers to reflect and think about how media information and symbols are absorbed, to quote BAITELLO JR., Norval (2005, p. 54):

Like this, at the same time, images come from other images, they originate from devouring other images. That would be the first level of Iconography. The images that populate our visual media are mostly constituted by echos, repetitions, and reproductions of other images, which starts with the consumption of images from the large pool of images around us.

I’ll finish with a final question: Are we echoing what really represents us?

The habits and example given by friends, family and coworkers is a determining factor when adopting new attitudes related to a more sustainable behaviour in everyday life, this according to the study “Pathways to a more sustainable lifestyle”. Several men and women from different social classes and ages were interviewed, half of them already engaged in some sort of sustainable practice while the other half was not. This research managed to identify nine factors that promote the adoption of more sustainable attitudes, and six that inhibit a change in lifestyle. This research was released on Conscious Consumption Day, celebrated on October 15th.

According to the results of these interviews, feeling part of a group will determine if someone will take actions in favor of sustainability or make him resistant to changing his habits: “When someone feel part of a group this will either hinder or help this process of change”. A “group” here does not only to just family, is can also be a group of friends, coworkers, your children’s school,” according to the communications manager at the Akatu Institute, Gabriela Yamaguchi. Akatu is a non governmental organisation that raises social awareness about conscious consumption.

Among the factors that benefit the practice of more sustainable habits, as identified by this research, are: the possibility that those actions make your life simpler; a positive balance resulting from this change of habits, in terms of finances, practicality or comfort; the opportunity to help change and improve the world, inspire other people, to feel like you are part of something bigger, the sensation that people are changing their own lives positively and the possibility of starting with small steps.

Among the obstacles identified by the study are the perceived discomfort with the new sustainable practices, physical obstacles (such as age, health and physical condition), limitations in terms of (living) space, higher costs, cultural valorization of cleanliness and hygiene (hindering the reduction of water and electricity usage), and the sensation of isolation.

According to the study, separating waste and recycling are activities that help people think more about the rational use of resources. “The first step is recycling, dealing correctly with waste. People that already know and engage in these activities understand how to recycle, they have already taken that first step. For them it will be easier to take the necessary steps that follow,” Gabriela stated.

Professor Ricardo Abramovay, from the Institute of Energy and Environment of the University of São Paulo, reminds us that companies also play an important role when it comes to the adoption of sustainable habits by the population. “Changes in a company’s behaviour are strongly influenced by what people do. We tend to invert that equation when talking about changes in people’s behaviour; as if companies adapt to people’s preferences,” Abramovay explained.

Gabriela also reminds us that companies play an important part in all of this. “As more sustainable goods and services are made available by companies, it will be easier for customers to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. Companies are facilitators of sustainable practices in people’s households,” she said. Besides offering products, Gabriela also reminds us of the need for company campaigns to explain to people the reasons, arguments and importance of choosing a more sustainable path. “The research has that objective: to help companies that are launching such products, so that people become aware of the importance of choosing them and changing in favour of more sustainable practices”.

Source: Agência Brasil.