Want to get away this winter? Wondering where to go and what to do? Ever dreamt of visiting a remote corner of the world, of spending time in a tropical paradise, living among locals, in a place where life moves slower, the colors are richer, each breath is fresher, and the only way to describe how you feel is “ALIVE”? Have you ever wanted to be part of the solution? To be a source of empowerment, to heal the earth, to heal relations between and beliefs about other cultures? Well, we bet you’ve never heard of Togo AND we bet this is EXACTLY where you’ll want to be!
This coming January and February 2015, we are excited to bring a group of volunteers to live and work alongside locals to build InTerraTree. Based in Togo, West Africa, InTerraTree will be a cultural immersion and sustainability education center modeling positive development through regenerative land stewardship, locally-owned social enterprise, and transcultural exchange.
InTerraTree will empower our local partners, an artist cooperative, to move out of the growing city of Kpalime and back onto sustainably managed land. By engaging in cutting edge sustainability education, permaculture design, natural building, and ecovillage design, locals will regain control of their lives despite the mounting pressures of globalization.
The construction of an ecolodge will create a space for hosting international guests. This cultural immersion center will provide a place to learn traditional West African dance, music making, cooking, and handcrafting, while exchanging stories from diverse cultural backgrounds and individual lives.
The InTerraTree site is located right where the Kpalime city limits end and lush jungle begins. InTerraTree will become a demonstration site for a different kind of development, one that respects nature’s diversity and celebrates local culture. The hope is to form a barrier around the urban sprawl of Kpalime, protecting the jungle and reminding local people of the beauty of their cultural heritage.
Volunteers will be immersed in Togolese culture and nature, while gaining hands on experience with ecovillage design, tropical permaculture, and natural building. Throughout the trip there will be an abundance of opportunities to explore the beauty of the local area, complete with butterfly filled forests and pristine waterfalls. Days spent studying permaculture design, swimming under waterfalls, and learning to carve djembe drums or dye batiks will blend into evenings of West African dancing and music making under the stars.
To learn more about volunteering in Togo this winter and about our unique fundraising opportunities to help get you here visit www.interratree.org/volunteer.
Be aware, the deadline to register is December 1, 2014 and we are only taking a limited number of people.
We hope to see you in Togo!
Akpe,
(Akpe means “thank you” in Ewe, the local language of our friends in Togo.)
The InTerraTree Team
Email: [email protected]
InTerraTree is a project born out of a deep friendship between an American business student gone ecovillage and permaculture designer and a Togolese artist and community organizer. Their efforts are funded by Drums For Development, a social enterprise selling artwork made by this artist to fund sustainable development in the region. Get awesome African artwork and support the project at the Drums For Development online store!
This American is also currently on the road for the InTerraTree Activation Tour, a 6,000 mile journey starting in Scotland to reach InTerraTree in Togo. You can read his updates from the road on the InTerraTree website!
