Portugal: New alliances - young and old together!

New alliances - young and old together!

About the last week of the Global Campus Portugal "Feel trip" tours

By Leila Dregger

"The crucial point which decides about the future of this region is whether the locals and the newcomers will come together - in mutual support, understanding and vision building", Sergio states.

Sergio Maraschin, geologist from Italy, and Carmen Maraschin, biologist from Brazil, belong to the newcomers in Sao Luis. Five years ago, the couple found their new home in this village, and ten months ago they started to inspire the village with teachings of the Transition Town Movement.

Carmen: "When the system collapses, who will take care of you? Not the international partners, but the neighbors. This is in short why people should connect with their neighbors everywhere on the world, and build trust and alliances."

We visit some of the activities in the village: a barter market for local products, a meeting place for art, music and a weekly movie about sustainability, the community garden project of the association "Toca da Zorra", a farmers´ headshop where also local handcraft ist sold, a cork museum and a project for ecotourism "Mundo Montado". Carmen and Sergio are especially proud of the success that S. Luis and Reliquias achieved last year together: Supported by the communities like Tamera and the newcomers´ initiatives like the Transition group, the villages wan the competition for the municipal budget. They got the money to build photovoltaics on the Junta de Freguesia of each village. "Many people in the whole region speak about this unexpected success", Diogo, a young musician explains. "Many young people in the region now want to learn more about sustainability and why the two village could be so successful."

S. Luis was the very last place we visited on our fourth Global Campus Portugal "feel trip". This week, the connection between old inhabitants and newcomers has been a guiding line. In Saboia it is a matter of survival. The community in the Odemira district, close to the St. Clara dam, has the highest suicide rate of Europe. Fabio, a psychologist, and Tania, a social worker, care for the old people, visit them, look after them and organize social events for them. In Valle Touriz they use an old school building as a meeting place.

"The biggest problems are isolation, depression, lacking health care and sheer poverty", Fabio says. "They live far from any village, alone. Most don´t have electricity or a bathroom in the house. But they don´t want to leave, it is their home. Some of those old people kill themselves when they start to suffer."

We are invited for a barbecue and contribute vegetable skewers instead of meat. Surprisingly all want to try it and like it. Sitting in the middle of all these wizened faces, feeling the friendliness and warmth of so many of them, listening to their songs and their live stories, drinking wine and local liquors, eating tons of homemade cake, we can imagine how all these old people would come to live again if their knowledge was still used, if they could feel useful and in community. On the question what his hope for the future of this region is, Fabio gives the same answer that I heard one week ago in the Cooperativa in Reliquias: "I can only be hopeful. I see young people from the cities back to the countryside, learning from the elders, supporting them. There is no other possibility, it will be like that."

Some days ago we saw examples how this process could look like - in Aldeia de Amoreiras. It is the place where the Centro de Convergencia has run different projects for sustainability: young students from Lisbon together with locals. We meet senhor Antonio, an incredible gardener and farmer in his 80s. His garden is incredibly lush and full of vegetables - this is truly the old garden knowledge of Portugal! Pigs eat the abundance of Kaki fruits that fall from the trees. Without ever having visited a school Antonio has become an expert who teaches and helps in the whole region. He saves seeds from his garden, he uses manure of his own animals, he breeds his own varieties of fruit and wine. "If people need somebody to treat animals or trees, they come and get me. I don´t do that for money, but they give me a free lunch. It has always been like that." We hear that Antonio is a good friend of Lourenco, our old "shephard" and gardener in Tamera, and Antonio has been in Tamera quite some times already. His son Jorge, a shy man in his 40s, is responsible for the animals. From a distance we hear his musical voice when he is directing his horse and donkey while ploughing the barley field. Antonio and Jorge are part of the old village - and the old system of subsistence. Antonio invites us to pick two boxes of Kaki - luckily we have a last bottle of Tamera olive oil to make a gift in return.

Monica and Joao are a young couple who have moved here from the north, attracted by the Centro de Convergencia. As a permaculturist Joao is helping in gardens and fields, and Monica as a psychologist is caring for neighbors. Joao: "People started to offer us food from their gardens, jam or other things right from the beginning. Just like in every village I know, they wait if we start to offer them things in return. Doing so we take part in this system of mutual support. And it works: We don´t charge for our help, and we never had to buy any food for many months."

Silvia, another newcomer in Aldeia de Amoreiras, is a permaculturist and was attracted by the Centro, too. She bought land and started a farm with the support of EU funds. She plans to sell organic vegetables and fruits to the communities around. Among experts from the University, Antonio provides her with the local knowledge. It seems to us that the new exchange systems and the old ones have started to touch and support each other.

From all the places we visit, Mooji´s place is special. Mooji is a spiritual teacher from Jamaica, wellknown in the world of spiritual seekers, moved to a site close to Sao Martinho three years ago. For his weekly Satsang session he attracts more and more people coming from all over the world. Mooji is not here in winter, but we meet Shree, an American woman and coworker who leads us about the site. We are impressed by its beauty and calmness. What is their secret?

The answer is "focus": "This site is for Satsang with Mooji, and not for any other activity. People come here to find truth. Everything that people do here belongs to their spiritual development. When we suggest Mooji to start any project, mainly his answer is: Look on yourselves. Become the change you want to see in the world." In the end, we let Shree draw one of our Imagine cards, and she draws the "Lovers": "A great joy goes through the ranks of humanity. They have discovered love anew. They have ended the secret war between the genders. Truth in love is the law that changes everything." Reading this seems to make her happy.

We have finished the last trip of the Global Campus Portugal - but it is not an end. This precious time could have many consequences. Many ideas have sprouted from our hearts and brains. Now we have to harvest and to see what of it will come reality. I can say that many people seem to have waited for Tamera opening for the neighborhood. One man said: "A long time I thought that Tamera is like an island, looking only on itself. But since some time I hear different things, and I am happy how much you take care for the region now. We need you."

Thank you to all the people who contributed, took part and supported the Global Campus Portugal. Thank you for all that were open to meet us, share with us and hosted us.

Let´s keep the contact, let us continue open our hearts for the beauty of this region, and let us take the responsibility for it.