Courage is needed to slow down, re-member, and express our love for humanity through building an eco-village as our pathway to do this healing work collectively with the human and more than human worlds.​

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SOL Gratitude Village is learning village through the experience of building an sustainable village and intentional community with the learning community, Through this integrative experience, we invite community of families, adults, youth and elders  to join us in this journey of experiential learning prioritizes sustainability, ecological responsibility, and social harmony.

 

SOL village's intention is to minimize the environmental impact while promoting a high quality of life for the villagers. We embraced the principles of sustainable architecture and urban planning. This includes energy-efficient buildings, use of renewable energy sources like solar or wind power, water conservation measures, and waste reduction and recycling systems.

 

Permaculture and organic farming are also incorporated through permaculture principles and design to create sustainable food systems. This can include community gardens, orchards, and livestock management that prioritize ecological health and food sovereignty.

 

Tribal living emphasizes strong community bonds and cooperative living arrangements. Villagers often share resources such as tools, vehicles, and communal spaces like kitchens or recreational areas; rotate cooking duties and enjoy communal dinner daily as a family. 

 

In addition to environmental sustainability, SOL Village focuses on social and cultural well-being. This can include activities such as community events, educational programs, skill-sharing workshops, and fostering a sense of belonging and inclusivity among villagers and outside community.

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SOL village allows the villagers to have a close connection to nature. This proximity to natural environments encourages outdoor activities, environmental stewardship, and appreciation for biodiversity.

 

At this building stage of development of SOL Gratitude Village, one of our emphases is to focus on education as our pillar and engage in outreach efforts to promote sustainability principles to the wider community. We are currently hosting a series of wilderness skills and farm building and engineering workshops to youth and adults, offering tours, works-stay and apprenticeships, and collaborating with schools and colleges on sustainability initiatives.

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Ritual . Community . Healing

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​A ritual is a tribute to the human capacity to create, remember, and imagine, and to apply that imagination for the benefit of the community. One of the greatest barriers to memory and imagination is the lack of self-trust, for if you don't trust yourself to be involved in transforming that which needs to be changed, then you end up waiting for someone else to come along and do the work for you. This leads to a constant state of dependence on some external authority, when the means to achieving what you want sits within yourself. Ritual, community, and healing, these three are so intertwined in the indigenous world that to speak of one of them is to speak of them all. 

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​Ritual, communally designed, helps the individual remember his or her purpose, and such remembering brings healing both to the individual and the community.

The community exists, in part, to safeguard the purpose of each person within it and to awaken the memory of that purpose by recognizing the unique gifts each individual brings to this world. 

​Healing comes when the individual remembers his or her identity - the purpose chosen in the world of ancestral wisdom and reconnects with the world of Spirit. 

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​Human beings long for connection, and our sense of usefulness derives from the feeling of connectedness. When we are connected - to our purpose, to community around us, and to our spiritual wisdom - we are able to live and act with authentic effectiveness. ​ In order for ritual to manifest its full power, it must be connected to the world of nature, and to this topic we now turn. To attend to Spirit, for indigenous people, is to attend to the geography in which you find yourself. we must try, therefore, to understand the indigenous experiences of nature." Malidoma Patrice Some, The Healing Wisdom of Africa. 

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Communal grief tending is the glue of community, learn more.

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