[post by Kizzy 12/10/2011]
This blog post is long overdue but the message is still very 'now'! I hope you enjoy it!
Saraswati Ahmsa Vana
One of the things
we wanted to do during our travels was some volunteering work. Col
did the research and we came across this place near
Tena called the
Saraswati Ahmsa Vana (Wisdom Forest) – an organic farm and reforestation project with a humanitarian touch.
We signed up for
it and headed there after Banos. The bus journey took approximately 3
hours and we met a local tour guide, Sam, who helped us move around
in Tena by showing us a good place to have lunch and the location
from where to we'd take our next bus.
Arriving to a new
place is always nerve wracking so it was good to have met Sam and
develop a sense of direction about the place. After feeding our
tummies we took the Centinella bus towards Tallag. A journey of 20
minutes or so until we reached the designated landmark of 'El Mono'
(the monkey in Spanish).
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| El Mono -just outside Wisdom Forest |
We followed the
paved stone path leading to the two-storey wooden house.
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This would
be our home for the next seven days.
Fixated on the
wall was a draft of what would become our schedule for the duration
of our stay:-
6:30am Yoga
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Morning
activities
11-1130 Morning
break
1230 Lunch
(followed by afternoon break until 1430)
1430 Afternoon
activities
1700 Day ends
Soon after, the
diligent Pablo would instruct us to pick up the tools from the shed
and he would share with us what was in-store for the day.
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| Our tools |
Without a doubt our least favourite activity, and yet also the most
eye opening was that of turning compost. I didn't know much about it
and now I feel truly educated: Bagha would collect the left over
vegetables from the local fruit and groceries markets and take it to the
farm where we empty these bags into piles of waste – carefully
removing any plastic – and leaving it to rest carefully covered up,
and after some time – a couple of days – we return to turn it
around. The compost is
used to fertilise the land and also, through a very clever system,
heat the water. The water is sourced from the local waterfall and is
o.k to drink from the tap.
The
activities of a farm are hard, at least for us city folk, and
something changes inside of you when you know you helped to collect,
maintain, and produce the food you're eating. It happened to us. At the end of each
day we were completely shattered. And I tell you what, never did we
enjoy our food so much as we did at the end of a day's work here. Most
of our meals were made with produce from the farm, and on occasion
locally sourced.
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| Freshly baked |
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| Our lunch |
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| and refreshment! |
Every time before
a a meal a prayer would be said generally thanking Nature for the food
on our table. I think there is value in that: it remind us not to
take it for granted.
We learned how to
bake bread, make gluten and yogurt. And Kedarnath shared his recipes
enthusiastically to support any aspirations for vegetarianism.
We learned that
life can be so simple, we remembered that the relationships we
nurture, the conversations we share and the people we meet are the
greatest treasure of all. Oh, yes and that you have to give back to
Nature then all is in balance.
Of course I can
romanticise working in a farm because we only did it for 7 days. But
as a meditation, a journey back to the soul, I strongly recommend
everyone to invest 7 days of their lives each year working on a farm.
Even if just to know how it happens that we get what we get on the
table.
We were exposed to
some of the Vedas teachings, as the underpinning philosophy of this
work is Hare Krishna. And like in many religions's there is value to
be taken from it. What I took is the old saying 'actions speak louder than words'. And this is exactly what is being done here.
From the various
things they grow in the farm there's my new love, papaya. In
addition there are coconuts, bananas, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, sugar cane, many herbs and spices and much more.
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| Papaya |
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| Pineapple |
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| Bananas |
Col fell in love with their chillies –
which dried than mashed make for a great seasoning. He took away a
nice little supply bag with him, courtesy of the Wisdom Forest.
Both Kedarnath and
Pablo are very passionate about their work and do it without a
moment's hesitation. Pablo is the man with many hats, yoga teacher, host, chef at times, teacher, student, friend, farm supervisor, you name it. He never complained and always had a smile to share. Kedarnath was the enthusiast chef, always creating new recipes to feed us, sometimes we were 5, sometimes as many as 15, and he would always deliver. I suppose that when you love what you do you
can't really call it work.
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| The Kedarnath we saw many times... |
Weekends are
different, on Saturday we do do a bit of work on the farm but is
split in the morning with tidying up the house. Generally until 1200
then we get the afternoons off to wander off.
And on Sundays the
Wisdom Forest team organises a day trip for all. On the Sunday that
we were there, we were treated with a trek to a swimming hole – a
gorge with a waterfall and cave access.
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We went in early
round 630am. There were a few boisterous dives ( 30 foot jump !) and acts
of bravery
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| Yep, Col's going to jump! |
Around 1000 we sat for breakfast: a sweet mix of fruit and nuts served
on banana leaves.
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| Breakfast |
Eventually some of
our friends left to continue their journeys: Kim to Quito, Ivan
cycling to Columbia and Marion and Anna took on a three day trekking adventure.
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| The usual suspects! |
We had a really
good time, many thanks to
Bagha and his family, Pablo and Kedarnath for looking after us during
our stay in Wisdom Forest. We know you have big projects ahead and
we wish you all the best.
Please click
here for Picasa photos
Last thoughts
During this time
I read a few books that I would like to recommend: The autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Tuesdays with Morry. Both of the books speak about change and to me it resonated with our time in the Wisdom Forest.
When I finished
reading these two books I wanted to hold on to them so I could read
them every now and then. But they were passed on to me and I felt I
should pass them on too to help inspire others journey's just like
it did to me.
I learned that just like Nature,
we are always changing, it's part of our cycle. Too often hold on to things, beliefs, emotions as if
they defined who we are. We are not fixed things, we're here to learn
and move on. And this learning happens when we share ourselves with
others.
I will leave you with two passages that
touched me and an acronym I learned with Jamie Blanco that summarises
the Quaker's philosophy. I will not dwell on it, rather I will leave it for you to make your own meanings:
"The truth is... once you learn how to die, you learn how to live" in Tuesdays with Morrie
"I believe in recognising every human being as a human being, neither white, black, brown nor red. When you are dealing with humanity as one family, there's no question of integration or intermarriage. It's just one human being marrying another human being, or one human being linving around and with another human being" in The Autobiography of Malcolm X
acronym SPICE - Simplicity Peace Integrity Community and Equality (from Jamie)
We went in early
round 630am. There were a few boisterous dives ( 30 foot jump !) and acts
of bravery 
Around 1000 we sat for breakfast: a sweet mix of fruit and nuts served
on banana leaves. 
