Vegoans are people who want to be part of creating a new world, people who are looking for a place where everyone’s freedom and all life is respected. Members come from all over the world and have different social and educational backgrounds. They are down to earth, very proactive and have a variety of skills and ambitious dreams and projects they plan to realise within the neighbourhood. Vegoans know what it means to lead an ethical and sustainable lifestyle and are determined to do so. They are taking responsibility for themselves and their actions and have the drive to make things happen. It’s people who are able to work on their own but also in a team to collaborate on common projects. Real people …
Meet some of us here:
PAULINA and DZIUGAS
I (Paulina) am a vegan chef, raw vegan food teacher and food photographer. Sharing my food ideas, cooking for non-vegans and teaching them how to eat, I’m making my best effort to promote plant-based diet as the only right choice. I am also graduate landscape architect. I chose this studies because I’ve always loved trees more than (most of) people. I still feel better in the forest than between other human beings.
Dziugas is an experienced builder, talented gardener and amazing cook. He loves to invent and improve everything and keep his hands dirty. Many years ago he spent a few years working and building houses in a small vegetarian community in Lithuania.
We are a Polish-Lithuanian couple who met in a vegan restaurant in London. 3 years ago we visited the Earthship in Brighton and we felt in love with the idea of building our own natural house in some warm and wild place. We’ve been considering to buy some small plot in Costa Rica and build our house there but then we found Vegoa where we can realise our dreams in cooperation with other like-minded people.
We are tired of living in this society full of cruelty, selfishness and a pursuit of money and profit. We dream about living close to nature and do something good for other people, animals, environment, and the world.
PAULIUS
Hi, my name is Paulius, I’m from Lithuania, currently living in England. It just happened that since I started to question myself “what this world is about?” I just kept realising how many things people do just for the sake of profit – not caring about anything else: environment, animals, other people, future generations, nor even themselves – only money and power games. Also I have noticed that there is another, part of the people who actively live an ongoing re-learning process, deprograming what they were taught life is and discovering more unique values, considering coexistence rather than dominance. Between those there is quite a small number of people who want to put their values into the bigger action for the positive change. So far I have learnt that we, who want the world to become a better place, can do quite little when we act individually compare to what we can achieve when we unite and collaborate. I have joined Vegoa with purpose to carry on learning together with other people, put our ideas into action and to embody the positive transformation on smaller, or bigger scale. Also I’m looking forward to have a great fun during this process. I see nature as our home, food and remedy. Also it is a home for many other species. We just can’t afford nature to be completely destroyed by the consumeristic cultures of the world, therefore there is an extremely huge demand for organised action to balance the situation out. First, I’m going to learn how to live self-sustainable off-grid lifestyle, and then – find the ways to share it, hoping that more and more people will turn this way. Long time ago I was dreaming about living in the vegan house, but now I will live in a whole vegan village!
GAËTAN
I don’t really like to talk about me, so I’m gonna make a short presentation of who I am…
My name is Gaëtan (aka Albert Cansier on Facebook…), 43 years-old, from Belgium.
Since I was born, I’m aware that lots of things are not logical in our society and I’ve always been very sensitive about all kind of injustices promoted by the system we live in, would it be towards humans, animals and nature.
I studied photography, but I’ve been working in the commercial area for 12 years ( 3 years in a music/book store in Brussels, 6 years in a tobacco specialized store in Tournai, and I was bar-tender for 3 years, also in Brussels).
I’m very curious about lots of subjects and I like to understand how things work and make my self opinion about things, so I’ve read a lot about history, geopolitics, economy, alternative medicines, music, because I think it’s important to develop its own critical spirit to understand things. I also like DIY or handy work.
Feeling that I couldn’t keep on living a «regular» life far away from my values, I decided to try to find an alternative way of living, far from monetary preoccupations, materialism, etc.
So, almost three years ago, I went in a farm in France, for 3 months, to get education about growing vegetables in an organic way, and also permaculture. A very enlightening experience.
Since then, I went as a wwoofer in two different spots (also in France) ; I helped some friends who were settling in a small village (again in France!) to prepare their future garden.
I also took care of a small plot of land, at my mom’s house, and finally, last year I went once again in France to follow a basic training in building domestical windmills…
Then, several months ago, surfing on the web, I’ve heard about Vegoa project, and it seemed to correspond to my values, So, I’ve decided to join after a visit there, last july. Normally, I should arrive there between end of october and January.
I’m very impatient to settle there and meet my future neighbors!
Best regards,
Gaëtan.
KAREN PRITCHARD
I grew up in a small market town in Cheshire, England where I was fortunate to have been encouraged to spend most of my childhood outdoors having all kinds of adventures in nature.
I have always been concerned about the welfare of animals and saved snails, slugs and any other creature I deemed in need of rescue this also included bringing home the odd stray dog!
At the age of 7 I made the connection between meat and animal suffering, this was the turning point in my consciousness, I became increasingly aware and concerned about the impact we all have on the lives of other species and on the destruction of the planet.
Along my journey I qualified as an accountant and have worked for the past 16 years in big multinational companies managing group finance and treasury functions whilst having that niggling feeling..…
Throughout these years I discovered being out in nature, practicing yoga and meditation to be an invaluable antidote to the hectic corporate world, it has helped me to remember my own humanity and remain compassionate towards others.
Following the demise of the company I had worked at for over 9 years it became very clear to me that the current growth orientated model of consumerism is completely unsustainable and destructive to say the least!
I took this opportunity to travel to Nepal and India where amongst many other life evolving experiences I completed my 500hr yoga and ayurveda teacher training this ignited a passion within me to teach and share these practices to help others take better care of their own wellbeing.
I have many hopes for joining Vegan Hills, I hope to achieve a self sustainable life where I contribute positively to the environment and community around me. I hope to be an inspiration to the world that we are all capable of those small changes that lead to a happier, healthier, sustainable life. I hope to work alongside my fellow Vegoans to share how this is achievable through Vegan Hills Retreats which will provide unique experiences to awaken the evolutionary consciousness.
Other things about me…..I’m a bit of a health nut, yoga, meditate and run every morning, hiking at the weekends, swimming and cycling when time permits!
I love camping and bushcraft, being creative and crafty, photography, cooking (well kinda cooking) – hummus, raw balls and cakes, ‘nice’ cream, green smoothies, oh and I make the best vegan whole foods afternoon tea for my non vegan friends and family – fact!
Finally, if I haven’t bored you enough already, someone once told me I was a ‘no frills’ kinda gal…. best compliment ever 😉
IRMINE PEMA
Since I was young, I felt out of place in cities, without nature, and I felt the negative impact of human continue occupation in every part of the environment, Flora and Fauna. I’m a rather a simple person and for me, Vegoa was a call to have a simple heart, it’s an experience that seduces me and probably will make me become a free person. I see Vegoa like a place where every human and animal beings, on pure and well-respected lands, could live together in harmony. It’s vision for a new system where people belong and we help each other to achieve our dreams. I do not claim to know much but i’m sure of one thing: Animal liberation will bring Human liberation and I want to be part of this process right here and right now! Besides, I have studied cinema and audiovisual, i’m a script writer, and i’m trained as Childcare. Hope to see you all in our amazing Vegan Hills 🙂
BART DELEMBER
Aloha,
My name is Bart. I’m from Earth, and i’m an endless optimistic energyball… Passionate about sports ,movement and health i devoted my life in sharing and teaching sport experiences with others. i never doubted becoming a sport teacher. But i didn’t feel like teaching in the standard educational system, so i started traveling and learned much more about the world, myself and others than in any school. And now with that experience, knowledge and wisdom i want to create a place where i can share this with other people who feel like there is a possibilty to change our current (failingfalling) system. I mainly want to be an example to others how to live a healthy and happy life and especially inspire the youth. That’s mainly what in summers in belgium. I work in a surfcub at the belgian coastline which is very active with kids. They’re the building stones of the new future. help them realise, guide them and then let be part of the change..
Jeroen Boss and I created while traveling our ‘Meraki’ idea. Our way to get in contact with the world. The idea is there, we just needed a great place to make it happen. And that’s when Vegan Hills came on our path. We didn’t hesitate a moment. These hills would become the place of Meraki. Our idea is to organize workshops to get people back in touch with the beauty of nature, to heal the body they are currently moving in and to satisfy the soul with new experiences. Mini ‘into the wild’ roadtrips, surfing, teaching healthy coocking, etc… Intergrate all in everything. Oneness…
That’s the storie in short… Let talk more around a nice fire, with great people and njammie fooods. So hope to see you at vegan hills…
Pura Vida
Bartje