Al-Mansur

Currently our dream is to create an eco-village with a diverse group of people from all over the world. We believe diversity creates resilience. Ours is an off-grid organic farm that operates under the principles of a self-sustained old farm but using modern technologies like solar panels for energy production and irrigation systems. We are looking for long term persons that want to form a community here - THE SENSEI GIVERS.

WHAT WE OFFER

What we offer is a break in space and time in your life that allows you to find yourself so you can pursue an inner search. Our personal search is always inner and I would like to remember what is written in the ancient Temple of Delphi, 2500 years ago in Greece:
“I warn you, whoever you are...
Oh, you who wish to probe the arcanes of nature, if you do not find within yourself that which you seek, neither shall you be able to find it outside.
If you ignore the excellencies of your own house, how do you intend to find other excellencies?
In you is hidden the treasure of treasures.
Oh, man, KNOW THYSELF and thou shall know the Universe and the Gods!”.

We also offer a real world experience of living in a self sustained off grid environment - as any experience there are upsides (if the World falls apart this is the place to stay) and down sides (in the cloudy days you might have candle light dinners). But if you´re interested you´ll gain knowledge of our systems that can be a source of inspiration in your life projects back home.

SPECIFICS WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR:

Persons with knowledge in gardening and organic farming
Persons with knowledge in animal care - horses, dogs, cats, sheep, chicken and bees!
Persons with knowledge in construction and logistics (internet, building, electricity, plumbing, carpentry)
Persons with knowledge in eco-tourism

LOGISTICS

We receive new persons only on Sundays at the railway station of Vendas Novas which is 12 km away from the farm. You should pick the 5 pm train at ORIENTE station in Lisbon and one our later you will arrive at Vendas Novas. We organize a welcome reception for newcomers on Sunday evenings and early Monday morning we have a very important meeting to plan the week. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. If you get a flight in another day you can stay some days in Lisbon a visit the city - you won´t regret it since it is a beautiful city. If you come by car we can send you the GPS coordinates of our place and you can arrive anytime Sunday afternoon - please close the gates otherwise the sheep or the or horse might escape and choose a slot in our parking space.

We expect that you help in the farm projects 25 hours per week: 5 days per week - 4 at the morning and 1 afternoon for small tasks, in a flexible way – normally there are 2 days off per week but are not necessarily Saturdays or Sundays. Normally we concentrate the tasks in the mornings, especially in Summer, and the afternoons are free or for small tasks. The starting hour is also flexible – usually we start earlier in Summer due to the heat. We don´t expect that you are a specialist on any field just show genuine good will: your contribution is LOVE IN ACTION - do your best.

However activities such as cleaning the toilettes you use, the spaces you use either for sleep or to eat, doing laundry, preparing communitarian food or meals or getting wood for fire places you use, ARE NOT PART of this time. When they leave, they should clean the room used and clothes they borrow. Once we had an outbreak of bedbugs - they are not dangerous, just annoying and were caused by persons with poor hygiene standards. So everybody should engagge in cleaning activities during their stay.

TYPES OF VOLUNTEERS

Our desired stay is 4 weeks. If you want to stay an additional period at the end of the second week you should ask to see if it is possible to extend the stay period and we will give you an answer during the third week. The maximum stay is 2 months.

We consider 4 WEEKS a minimum period to understand our "ethos" and create bonds with community members. However If you just want to know our place and want to stay for a shorter period than 4 weeks and have more time for yourself and your personal projects it is also possible. It will be assigned an individual room so you can have more privacy for your work. In that case the minimum stay is 1 week starting in a Sunday. You won´t be required to participate in farm projects but you should participate in communal chores such as cooking/doing dishes, cleaning communal spaces, etc. In that case you should give a financial contribution for expenses, but much lower than the cost of paying for a room in an hostel and meals in a restaurant.

Although, volunteers should not treat this as a vacation and still have the community’s best intentions at heart. We will not tolerate persons that we call P&P - Predators & Parasites:

Predators have destructive behaviors such as stealing, sexual harassment, breaking or moving objects from original places and aggressive behavior towards or invading personal spaces of other community members. Parasites have more subtle behaviors but in the long run equally destructive of community cohesion such as not performing the tasks agreed in the weekly meeting, systematically start to work late or finish earlier, hiding away from work, abandon tools in the field, sloppy work and a general attitude of "I don't give a damn shit" towards other people, animals and nature revealing a deep level of lack of respect.

However, you can have a long term stay if you want to be part of a very special group of long-term volunteers that form the kernel of this small community - MULTI SUNT VOCATI, PAUCI VERO ELECTI as the old Romans said. We call them "SENSEI GIVERS": usually they lead groups in specific areas of activity in a way the Japanese call "SENSEI"- master and teacher and they are GIVERS. We would like to have more persons to join this group but they should be really great human beings. We are all givers and takers but that special group of people are loving souls that take pleasure in giving, creating an harmonious atmosphere.

We aim to create a happy and light environment, so please abandon extreme self-damaging habits (drugs, alcohol ...) - as a volunteer said in a party here "Being a bit tipsy is ok, being drunk no".

A community is a home we all share - this home needs LOVE and CARE.

Is this an Utopia? Remember what is written in Bhagavad Gita the sacred text of Hinduism:
"In battle, in forest, at the precipice of the mountains,
On the dark great sea, in the midst of javelins and arrows,
In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame,
The good deeds a man has done before defend him".

First, let me explain the vision for our place - A NATURAL SELF-SUSTAINED HEALING PLACE WHERE YOU CAN HARMONIOUSLY SEEK INNER WISDOM, FREEDOM AND PEACE.

“NATURAL” is strongly related to organic farming but aims to do more than that - consider the whole place in a harmonious way, such as including forest, animals, water, energy, … and PEOPLE. That's why I like the DEMETER approach very much - Rudolph Steiner´s ideas about agriculture and environment seem very obvious to me and similar to some homeopathic concepts that I cherish, believe and follow.

“SELF-SUSTAINED” does not mean totally independent - it is impossible to be completely independent from the outside world because we always need resources we cannot produce on the spot - we are all interdependent. But we can try to optimize the situation and, above all, achieve equilibrium between inputs and outputs. This will allow achieving resilience in the years ahead, where a world crisis is predictable. Anyway, I would like to produce on the spot all the indispensable resources (energy, heat, water, food ...) to minimize dependency and generate goods that allow us to barter things we still need from the outside world.

“HEALING” is perhaps the most difficult concept to understand, but to really appreciate it, you would have to come and feel the atmosphere of the place during a period of time. Many people reported they had more dreams and felt better here. And some friends that have psychic gifts told me very interesting things about this place. Healing goes beyond the body – it is a holistic concept that includes mind and soul.

The cycle of building structures is almost completed. In our 20-hectare place:
- Our rooms: 9 (2 persons room) in the main house, 1 in the annex (4 persons room) can accommodate up to 22 persons; for stays shorter than 4 weeks we have 4 individual rooms
- An irrigation system has been installed
- Tools for agriculture and equipment maintenance are available, including two tractors.
- Thanks to our photo-voltaic system we produce the electricity we need - we are totally off the grid
- The heating system is based on furnace that uses wood collected on the spot
- We collect potable water from underground and irrigation water from the rain, two old wells and a river
- A place to receive camper vans that includes a reception
- A 630 square meter green house
- Two outdoor gardens
- Two forest gardens near the house
- Seven special places for meditation: Circle of Fire (32 persons), Circle of trees (40 persons), Circle of Earth (16 persons), Circle of Cosmos ( 20 persons), Circle of Water and the 8 ponds (64 persons) all outdoor and a meditation room (24 persons) in the house ... and the "merditation" tower (to undertand this word you have to speak Portuguese or one of the latin idioms)
- Two libraries
- A room for workshops that can accommodate 30 persons
- An annex with a large fire place, wood oven and kitchen to prepare meals
- A wood deck surrounded by forest trees for dancing, meditation, martial arts, …
- A place to store wood and bikes
- The horse hotel and the sheep house
- And a beautiful forest of Mediterranean oak trees (sobreiros e azinheiras), olive trees, and river trees (willows, … ).

I welcome people from all over the world, since I already lived several years in 3 continents - Africa (where I was born in 1958 at Maputo Mozambique 5 years, and Angola 2 years), North America (where I took my Ph.D in 1987 at Columbia University, New York) and Europe (and 4 months in China, 2 months in Brazil, 2 months in Mexico). Ours is an organic farm that operates under the principles of a self sustained old farm but using modern technologies like solar panels for energy production and automatic computer controlled irrigation systems. We receive new persons on Sundays and they should stay with us at least 4 weeks. We are looking for long term persons that want to form a community here.