The Big City....

Hello All...

I dont have too much to write this week, i am in major transition mode, and also a little homeless as i go 'flat-hunting'. I went to my University's orientation on thursday and began, slowly, to get a feel for the place. Its huge and overwhelming mainly....but there are a million clubs and organizations etc. being thrust in your face (image the library quad club fair times 4).

Its feeling a bit like it will take me some time to get familiar enough with the place to look for work, projects...I have already started to email some local farms but i also know that i want to work within the city. I start classes on monday, all about the colonial period, Maori ( the indigenous population in New Zealand ) history, weaving arts, and literature. What i am really aiming for is to get connected to something through these classes, or through my fellow students. This city is already proving to be quite an experience, so different from New York or other cities i am used to but HUGE non the less. It is so incredibly diverse, with European Kiwis, Maories, many Pacific islanders, (polynesian) and asian.

I have registered with the schools employment office, and am looking around the websites for interesting opportunities but generally just in transition! i cant push it too much as i want my search to be organic, and evolve out of things i am already interested in instead of forcing it too much. On the other hand, I feel a bit helpless being this much of a foreigner at this point...

I will keep you posted on the process!

all my best,

Dani

Week Three

Hello to all of you in Maine, at the Harward center, in snowy dorms etc...

My time here is almost coming to a close, as it has almost been one month, and on wednesday i will be moving on to the big city to begin my studies. Actually i am completly dreading the day, i do not want to leave this place in any way. I could spend about 3 months here and learn a million new things everyday. I feel as if i am just getting to know the land, the area, the people, the relations between this community and the surrounding town, the managment of the environmental resources, the dynamics between the local kiwis, the native Maories and millions of foreigners all thrown into one area. And now i must move on and begin the process all over in a new place....
I guess that is part of traveling, you dont have the advantage of spending four years in one spot, getting to know how everything works as we can do back home in Lewiston/Auburn. Its frightening to have to move so quickly, there are so many things i want to do here, people i want to get to know. Instead of just switching jobs, community learning agreements etc, i am switching cities, regions. I will not bump into any of the people i have been working with on the streets as i do in Lewiston. But they will stay with me forever, and the things i learned here about being in New Zealand will help me to find meaningful work in my new city, Auckland, hopefully...

I have begun to ask questions about the place i am going, about the farms, the farmers markets, the organizations, who knows who...I find this method, if sometimes spotty, so much more rewarding then blindly typing things into google, although i do that too. I have an advantage here of being connected to the waldorf community, which is the foundation for the community and school i grew up in as well as Hohepa Homes, the community i am working with now. I can always connect to places through that but i am also looking to leave this network, put myself into a situation that has a very different outlook on things, different ways of dealing with things.

However, being in this community for the past month has made me feel much more comfortable in this country. I fell more at ease, with dirt on my hands and skin darkened by the New Zealand sun. I feel better about traveling, meeting people, and being able to say that i have already connected with this land, even if just for a little while. I have been having very intense conversations with the other volunteers and employees in the fields of Hohepa about being from the US verses being from other parts of the world...much more about that later i promise.

In work news, we completed making a huge biodynamic compost pile by hand the other day, what a feeling of accomplishment! At the end of the day it is so rewarding to stand up, stretch your back out, and stand around with the residents and other workers admiring your weeded field, crates of harvested veggies or a big, straw covered compost pile...everybody there contributed in some way, throwing grass, and cow manure, and straw onto the pile. Dirty, smelly and sore, we all made our way back to the farm shed to hold hands and finish off the day.

alright, next week i will be in Auckland....and i will let you know how things go there!

All my best,
Dani

Hello again,


It has been one week since my last blog and i have again cycled into town to share with you some words about life in Hawkes Bay New Zealand!

Its interesting to sit here and take a moment to reflect on how my time is developing at the Hohepa Community. Its difficult to find time to think when you are out in the scorching sun each day pulling, weeding, planting, laughing, digging, sharing, and on and on...when work finally lets out at four, it takes all i have to drag myself to the nearest spot on the river to cool off.

Things seem a bit different to me at this point after having just read my first installment. I had said earlier that coming to Hohepa was like stepping onto a well oiled machine. While things still seem to run at an alarmingly smooth pace, i am enough of an insider at this point to realize what we all realize about all communities and organizations we work with, that there are some subtle and not so subtle tensions that exist, some keys instances and areas of miscommunication, and systems of authority and decision-making that not everyone agrees with. While i am somewhat used to this pattern of discovery, each time the situation is remarkably different in its intricacies. Through my work with NASAP, I slowly began to recognize the places in which miscommunication and lack of attention affected the success and well being of the organization. At first i felt a bit helpless to what appeared to be a tangle. With time though, i began to realize my abilities, the tools i had to actually do things, quietly and with communication, in ways that i saw more fit based on my expereince. I have not been here long enough, nor will i be here long enough to manifest this kind of action-oriented movement against the areas of miscommunication. Nevertheless, observing and working through some of these misteps at Hohepa with the other volunteers has been very rewarding. Again though, as a foreigner and an outsider, my response is generally to sit back and observe as much as possible before saying anything even if that is not my natural response.

To give you a bit of an example, the miscommunication is centered largely around the schedules of the residents (the adults with developmental differences) during thier day to day work on the farm. They will often be left unsupervised as we go off to do a few hours of work. This is dissapointing to some because, as i mentioned earlier, they have a wide and varied range of capabilities. Sam, an man in his thirites, is able to carry full crates of harvested vegetables from the field to the truck. James uses the tractor to turn the compost or trasport heavy equipment. The list goes on and on and each one has a certain place within the days work, but can become easily distracted.

As volunteers, it is not our place to manage or counsel the residents in any way. However, we work very closely with them and often are left to a job, the three volunteers with three or four residents. We usually develop a pretty good system this way talking casually, and, when necessary, reminding them what their task is and how to do it. This is generally where we have stepped in, with a quick suggestion here and there to the residents, and it has been working out well and seems to help the employees who can be in to many places at once.

Therefore, i am seeing patterns in the places i have worked, and through my past expereinces, am developing a discerning eye for situations like this, when it is good to give a suggestion and when it is wiser to remain quiet and observent.

On a cheerier, warmer note, we harvested sun-warmed plums and pears, and crates and crates of beets and brocolli. The sun is a strong as ever but relief comes with the night time sky that is overflowing with stars...

Let me know if there are things you would like to hear more about! all suggestions welcome.

Cheers mate (New Zealanders say this all the time)
Dani

first week in New Zealand.

Hello to all my Bonner Leaders back home in snowy Lewiston.

I know it may be hard to imagine, but i am currently sweating just sitting indoors and this morning picked an orange off of a tree to eat for breakfast.

I am in Hawkes Bay New Zealand, on the coast about halfway down the North Island, which is strangely enough warmer and more tropical then the south island. The community/farm where i am working is situated on the bay at a point where a river meats the clear light green water of the ocean and is more beautiful then i can describe in words. I am living right on the water in a little one room cabin that was built for workers/volunteers.

This community/farm is called Hohepa Homes, a residential community for disabled adults as well as a dairy and a huge biodynamic/organic garden. The residents (disabled adults that are living mainly with down syndrome and autism among other differences) help out with every task that is carried out in the community. In addition to the gardens and dairy, there is a cheesery, a Weavery, a woodworking shop and a candle shop. The goods that are produced here are really quite extraordinarily beautiful and are sold for profit to support the community. The fruits, vegetables and dairy products mainly go to the residential homes to be eaten by all the community members.

I have now completed one week of work, and have calloused feet, dirty nails and several layers of sunburn to prove it. Coming into Hohepa was a bit like stepping into a well-oiled machine, and i found it quite easy to get into the rhythm of the day. This kind of work is somewhat familiar to me as i spent the first four years of my life in a similar community. However, there is nothing quite as interesting as meeting each resident personally and slowly (and sometimes very quickly) learning the best way to interact with them. The best part of this kind of work is how much time is spent with the residents in a casual work environment. Though many cannot engage with every tasks that the volunteers, employed farmers do, each has special capacities and have certain tasks that they carry out over the course of the day. For example, one resident from each house will come to the dairy each morning to pick up the supply of milk for the day. Each has a personal responsibility and place within the organism of the community.

A normal day looks like this. Wake up at eight, go to the farm shed where the residents and gardeners begin to arrive. We work (commonly harvesting) in the morning until 10:30, and then break for tea and then continue until lunchtime. We have been harvesting alot recently, as everything seems to be perfectly in season. After lunch, which is eaten together with the residents in the shed, we return to the fields for weeding, or cultivating and then break at four, eager to get out of the strong sun. I may have worked with a particular resident all day, and will then say good bye, with a hug and an assurance that i will be there tomorrow. I get to know more about each individual every day. Some of the other volunteers and i have wondered whether these temporary stays (one month, 3 weeks, 4 months) may upset the stability of the residents lives. However, they seem so eager and joyful to meet new people and after talking it over with some of the long standing community members, have learned that it is an exciting way for the world to come to them as they dont leave the community as often as they would be able to without their differences.


All and all, i love it here so far. Im starting to build a bit of a network, slowly but surely and will keep you posted on where my experiences take me. Connecting with people over working the earth, weeding, harvesting, etc, is comfortable territory. Even if i am halfway around the world, meeting people of very different backgrounds and capabilities, i am working the earth in the same way that i did at home, and with the NASAP farmers in Lewiston. Whatever capabilites we have, we can share a common space in the field. I doubt i would have been able to have the kind of casual intimacy with the residents had i met them under different conditions. I have so much more to write about Hohepa but you are all on a bit of a schedule (i know) and i will write again next week with more developments.

Fell free to ask questions or comment! anything is welcome.

Cheers!
Dani