Between May 25, 2022 and June 4, 2022, we participated on a Zero Waste Challenge. It was an exciting experience for me.
The community was very good: about 25 of us came, from 6 different countries and of course from different backgrounds. The youngest participant was 18 years old and the oldest was around thirty. We had very exciting conversations based on both our differences and our similarities in worldview, and of course this is exponentially true of the “Hopelanders” who lived there. The medium was very inclusive and loving,
I think when we think of a community of love, that’s what we’re talking about.
Despite most of our time we spent having fun in exciting programs, we all faced some challenges as well. Language barrier was one of them for me: 4 programs a day in English in such a heat that my knowledge was far from perfect ... However, it is also true that I have improved a lot thanks to the unlimited amount of opportunites to practice, in a safe environment.
Not only my English improved in Hopeland. The concept of community I came across also did a lot for me. Since there was no shop nearby or anything where we could get groceries and other necessities, it was important to pay attention to each other as well, so that when we are 25 and there are 25 grains of dried figs or cakes, I should not take them out 3 because then someone won't get it.
The accommodation itself was very close to nature, with all the positive and negative parts of it. I have been thinking during the latter that, for example, it was only possible to charge a phone between 10:00 and 17:00, or that we could not use high-performance machines. The positive part of this was that it limited our phone use and saved us energy.
We haven’t eaten meat in the days we’ve spent here and partly because of that, since then, I haven’t eaten meat in more than a month, and I feel perfect. I used to be a big carnivore, I even complained to others along the way that I didn’t know how I would endure this for 10 days.
Overall, I highly recommend it to everyone, but anyone who decides to go for one will be prepared to get a complex experience in every sense.