Join my non-profit tribe-like community with conscious projects in Ontinyent, Spain

Details

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  Description

  Hi! My name is Kelsang (33, he/his). After many years nomading around the world (and being a workawayer myself many times), I decided to come back to my beautiful hometown to bring back all the lessons learned. Here I reconnected with two friends from childhood and we discovered we shared interests, goals, worldview and more, and we decided to move into action. We started doing non-profit work to bring conscious and healing activities to town, and that led to the establishment of a non-profit and you are very much invited to come and join us.
  
  On top of that, two other friends and I started a second project which aims at being a hub for international artists and mindful co-living.
  
  And on top of that, I volunteer with other local ngos and organizations, like the local Buddhist Center.
  
  These three open fronts are the main components (but not the only) of what I call the tribe. The idea is to promote a network of like-minded, mindful people than can operate as an organism, as a community, as a tribe, despite distance or diversity of ideas, and for it to be as beneficial as possible for the town of Ontinyent and the world.
  
  About me, I can say the following: I'm a writer, therapist (life coach, holistic therapist), shamanic practitioner, Buddhist practitioner and meditator. In the projects I participate, I do tasks like organizer of events, taking care of numbers and calendars, and also ideas, inspiration and revolutionary fuel (and taking care of workawayers, of course). Now I have a day job in an NGO about human rights and SDGs, which is a rare thing, as I had managed to stay away from formal jobs until this year.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The best benefit you'll get from staying with me is that you will be involved in the group of people who I described as trying to build a "tribe", which stands for a network of like-minded people who, on the basis of friendship and shared concerns about the world, try to organize non-profit activities for ourselves and for the broader community. So you'll meet new friends, join fun plans, play music, go to nature, go rock-climbing, go swimming, etc.
  
  Also, the activities we organize might be a good benefit for you if you are interested in them (which I hope you are). We organize ecstatic dances, meditation sessions, yoga classes, trips to nature, and so on. The Buddhist Center in town is also particularly active and their activities are very attractive. For example, on April 27-28th they offer the teachings of a Buddhist scholar from Tibet who is amazing (in Spanish) and on May 15th they offer a conference by Sangye Khadro, a Buddhist nun. Most activities will be in Spanish. As I said before, the better your Spanish, the more you can get from all of this, but it is not a requirement.
  
  On top of that, Ontinyent is a very active town with bars, restaurants, tons of young people, and surrounded by amazing nature (Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but only a bit). You'll have plenty of time to explore on your own and to partake in the activities that I do with my friends around town. If you are into rock-climbing, Ontinyent is a paradise, and we could go two or three times a week. If you have never done it but want to learn, we'll teach you happily.
  
  And finally, my friends keep on saying that I am very wise and goodhearted, so you might also make an enriching connection for your trip if we happen to be a spiritual match.
  
  = Literary Workshop =
  == Volunteering + creative writing ==
  It is my dream to host volunteers who are also into creative writing so we can support each other in our artistic pursue. As a novelist myself, I find collaborative literary workshops (writing groups) to be a fundamental tool for the job. I plan to organize a full-on residency this autumn at the 2nd project, but it'd be great to start connecting with fellow writers and to experiment with combining volunteering with creative writing. If you write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whether if it is in English, Spanish, or any other language that we can somehow follow, you are welcome to come join and help with the experiment while you propel your own writing.

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  Help

  Currently looking for the following skwills (skill+will):
  - Furniture making
  - DIY & decoration with recycled materials
  - Social Media management
  - Web design, graphic design
  - Crowdfunding campaign advisement
  - Cultural project management
  - YouTube expertise
  - Video shooting and editing
  - Good vibes
  
  = General Idea =
  The way we usually function is that we work 4 hours a day 5 days a week, usually during the morning. Ideally, you are able to take on a specific project and advance on it autonomously, given that I have a day job now. You will usually work together with other volunteers, tho.
  
  == A 4-story house for the tribe ==
  We recently bought an old house in the middle of the city's old town. We plan to make it a project house with plenty of space for volunteers and activities of all sorts. The house is clean and empty. Now the plan is to make it inhabitable, which includes (1) making sure that electricity and water work well, and doing some fixings, (2) finding/building/improvising furniture, (3) painting some walls, finishing some details to leave rooms ready to use, (4) adding personality to the place, like adding plants, painting murals to it, decorating, etc. (These items are in order or priority)
  
  == Social media, web design, graphic design, project management ==
  This category is quite self-explanatory, but still I'll use some words to make it explicit.
  The many projects of the tribes and the Buddhist Center require some aid in their online presence. If you have experience in this field, you are very much welcome.
  
  = Events =
  We try as a neo-tribe to organize as many conscious events as possible, always free of charge and with no profit intented. We usually do 1 or 2 a month. Your help is much welcome to help plan and organize.
  
  == The apartment. Meals, cleaning, etc. ==
  An important part of the co-living is eating together and cleaning after ourselves. If you are good at cooking, your help is very welcome. These tasks, like cooking, dishwashing, laundry, and cleaning the apartment, are considered part of being a person in a co-living environment.
  
  If you are the kind of person who enjoys having different missions every day, who likes diversity and improvisation, and who enjoys a good, relaxed and fun work environment, you are a very good fit, and I will be very happy to have you around.

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  Languages spoken

  Catalan: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  German: Intermediate
  Italian: Intermediate
  Portuguese: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  There are two options for accommodation: my apartment, and Phoenix House.
  
  = Apartment =
  
  I live in a big apartment in town. The apartment is 110 square meters, but most of it is a massive hallway that makes no sense. Anyway, you will have your own private room in the apartment. There is one bathroom, one kitchen, one living room that I call 'the playground' (you'll see), and one room that I use as my office.
  
  A few disclaimers:
  - The apartment is in a fourth floor and there is no elevator. (Integrated cardio gym)
  - The apartment is old and not fancy at all. Beware. But it is cozy and enjoyable.
  - The apartment has no Wi-Fi connection.
  - We eat vegan.
  - Smoking tobacco is not welcome in the apartment.
  
  About the Wi-Fi absence: There is a public library next 3-minute walk from the apartment. That is where I go to do work that requires a long period of internet connection. There is also the nearby Buddhist Center, which has slots of open doors, and also has Wi-Fi. Both are great for working with focus and concentration. We also work online at home using someone's phone data at times. Currently I have access to plenty of service data from my job's phone.
  
  Also, very important, we eat only vegan food at home. We always cook vegan, local, delicious meals (we never order food and only very rarely eat out) as a way to both promote a more collective way of living and a more respectful, less consumerist way of feeding ourselves. I am a strong advocate of communal eating. In these times of individualization, something as simple as eating together becomes an act of soft activism. This means that it wouldn't work for me if you want to cook your own meals for yourself only. Cooking must be collective and it will be vegan. Ideally, you are vegetarian or vegan yourself, or you find it easy to adapt.
  
  = Phoenix House =
  In a process of constant change, so it doesn't make sense to write a description, because I'll have to update it too regularly.

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  What else ...

  There is a train line that stops in Ontinyent and the apartment is 20-minute walk from the station.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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