Portland, Oregon – Village Building Convergence Classroom – Class of 2012 – This is where I learned the power of building together, of compost, of singing around a fire and letting go of knowing, of an open heart and patient teachers, of natural paints, natural minds, and bucket showers, of the willingness to start over, of intention of helping to build the new future…
I arrived in Portland, Oregon a day or two before Village Building Convergence started, the nations largest natural building and permaculture event, and had never heard of it, before, or any other permaculture event that I can remember. I went from having never camped and setting up a tent to the nations largest treehugger classroom in the blink of an eye, and was happy to understand it was exactly the place I was looking for at the time. To put it mildly, volunteering changed my life. It changed my intention, my frame of mind, my eating habits, my understanding of the importance of not wasting natural resources, of what it meant to have a good time, of the power of eye contact, a genuine smile and hug, and yes, the power of hugging a giant tree. It changed everything. While the volunteering journey I found myself didn’t begin in Oregon, it is where it took on a whole new meaning; it was there I recognized that volunteering is the most powerful tool of building a community made up of people who have never met before, because as you eventually discover, the people standing next to you are the people you have been waiting to meet all along.
Click HERE For more on the VBC Village Building Convergence.
