Introduction to Introduction * Tamera

Helena and Ria, our hosts for the orientation week, invite us to gather in a circle and to introduce ourselves………… we are from Brazil, Germany, Romania, Australia, Swiss, Mexico, Canada, Portugal, Great Britain, the youngest member is 18 years old, I am the oldest one, we speak English, sometimes German which it is translated for us into English. Helena is asking us to group according to the purpose that we came here for, with three main options: politics, ecology or love. I protest: I came here to meet and understand. So does the Swiss guy, but we are bundled to the love corner, several other reasons being reduced to, anyway this is where most of us have gathered. All right, we could say that we came here for the love of knowledge……. some of them came for ecology and just one of them has a political research purpose, which above all is normal when you are 18!

Everyone is telling his own story, why are we here, how did we get here……….. almost all the others have heard about Tamera from friends or acquaintances who had already been here. Everyone’s story is contextually different, but their essence is finding the place or the way to live happily.

Uma is from Germany, she is a career counselor at a University and she is wondering whether she's really able to provide relevant advice. Some of them wish for a new beginning, like a couple from Germany, looking for a future that they aren’t even able to describe, but they are open to variety. He makes organic elm wood furniture; you can even feel his passion and his pain talking about this. Some others passed through bad moments in life and their friends recommended to them this place, for discovering a new way of living. Martha is mother of 3 children and all of them are here with her, she is looking for a place to raise them, to protect them. Another couple, across the ocean, from Canada, is hoping to build a community someday. The youngest child came here at his mother’s advice, who has lately visited Tamera…… Personally I am here for a study about eco villages, to help promoting these places, aimed by the hope that there is a new world ready to be born, as real as possible, and functional

Helena is 22 years old, she is living in Tamera for 2 years, but her family is living here for many years. Her uncle was in charge with building the lakes. Her job here is being the supervisor, planner and translator for us and she's doing it with maximum responsibility and joy. Ria is living here for 11 years, she is about my age and she is taking care of finances and seminars, let’s say she is sort of a teacher. All of us will be meeting every day after the brunch, between 12.30 and 14.30 and from 16.30 to 18.30, each day with another theme, with specialists from every branch.

A day about water, a day about ecology, a day about food, a day about children, one about community, one about money, one about animals. On Sunday we will be going on a pilgrimage for about 10km, obviously by foot. Besides, in the mornings we will go to the glass house where we will be working for the reforestation project.

This is mainly the orientation week’s structure; the easiest way for us to integrate an to get the know how. The way of living proposed by Tamera, developped on a very large area, I’d say……

The aim of Tamera Project is explained by Ria: the place is meant to be a Healing Biotope, a model of community where the interaction between people, animals and plants is based on truth, trust and reciprocal aid. This is a model that they are shaping as it goes, a living model, based on experimenting and perfecting at the same time, giving local answers to the global crisis, a permanent research with the aim of building a non violent culture. Many times I’ve noticed, they don’t actually know the correct answer, and they are not afraid to admit this; we did this, we did that, but we need to change something else, to find another method, because this doesn’t work! Their declared intention is becoming a head stone for the peace workers in the entire World, for those looking to be the change they wish to see in the World. Maybe on their flyer presentation this may sound a little prevailing, but now after meeting them I absolutely have no doubts, this is their day by day reality, and it feels like something much deeper than I am able to describe.