This crowdfunding project intends to raise 67 thousand Reais for the bio-construction that will become the new headquarters of Ananda Vasundhara Master Unit. Located in Brazlândia’s rural area it is about 50km from the center of Brasília (Brazil´s capital city) and is situated near Brasilia’s National Park in the exuberant tropical savanna called Cerrado.
Ananda Vasundhara Master Unit (a spiritual ecovillage) is a project of Ananda Marga, a socio-spiritual organization established in India in 1950 by Prabhat Sarkar Rainjan, which has as its motto “self-realization and service to humanity.” A Master Unit is defined by PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory) as a rural development project with one of the goals being self-sustainability for the project and the community around it through Neohumanist Education, holistic healthcare, organic agriculture, sustainable construction etc. Our activities are varied, such as permaculture and bio-construction; agroforestry and organic gardens; sugar and molasses production; yoga and meditation retreats and events; naturopathy and yoga therapy.
We are going through a time of deep crisis on planet Earth and spirituality and ecology are a key to solving these problems. Therefore, our understanding is that spirituality and ecology go hand in hand and must guide our quest for realization of a universal and fraternal society.
The Master Unit, acquired in 2009, already has two small old conventional houses, a newly constructed geodesic bamboo dome, a small sugar cane production unit, an organic garden, a fruit orchard, agroforestry and a water spring located within our property for internal usage.
Photo: In this photo you can see the geodesic dome, made with superadobe, bamboo and calcifite.
With this minimum set up, we have been able to produce several products like granola, jams, brown sugar, molasses, fruits and vegetables for internal use and external sales (see the picture above). Also we have held monthly meditation events and yearly yoga retreats. We love receiving visitors to share our ideas and love working to create a better world together.
Photo: Barraca na Ceasa e Didi Ananda Advaeta
The new quarters will serve to welcome guests, visitors and volunteers with the comfort of public bathrooms, guest rooms, and a separate kitchen. Our headquarters will be built with bio-construction techniques: a eucalyptus wood structure and earthen walls made of adobe and wattle and daub using a new ecological waterproofing technique. The main raw element for this building is earth which will be extracted from the property itself, this way being more economical and ecological (having a low environmental impact) than other conventional building techniques which use mainly non-renewable materials, generating huge amounts of rubbish.
Foto: A house under construction in Ananda Kiirtana Master Unit (Juiz de Fora, MG) with similar techniques that we will use; a wooden structure and wattle and daub walls.
The plan of the new headquarters:
The building will have two floors of 91.16m2 each. On the ground floor there will be 2 public bathrooms, a kitchen with a pantry, and a multi purpose room that can be used for various purposes like guest room, treatment room, storeroom etc. The 2nd floor has 2 rooms with attached bathrooms and a partial mezzanine floor to accommodate between 6-10 people in each room.
The construction and crowdfunding will be executed in 3 phases:
Phase 1: The foundation, the main structure, and the roof.
Phase 2: The earthen walls and floors.
Phase 3: The completion of doors, windows, bathrooms, electricity, water, earth plastering, natural painting and an ecological septic tank (Evapotranspiration).
The budget is based on the experience of other bio-constructors (an architect specializing in bio-construction and IPOEMA – Permaculture Institute). The average cost per square meter of bio-construction is around 1000 Reais per m2. We intend, however, to minimize the cost by using local materials, doing much of the work ourselves, with the help of volunteers through various international organizations (WWOOF, Workaway, HelpX and POOSH), and through organizing monthly bio-construction workshops open for anyone who wants to help and to learn about these techniques.
Na foto: voluntários, Shanti (a pastora alemão) e Didi Ananda Advaeta, construindo o templo de bioconstrução.
For this first phase we need the amount of 60 thousand Reais. Adding the Kickante crowdfunding fees of 12% it comes down to 67 thousand Reais. (16500 EUR /18000USD)
We will put forth maximum efforts with your help to reach our “phase one” goal of 67000 BRL, but as the campaign is flexible, we can start the project with any amount we collect and will one way or another finish the new headquarters with love, courage and determination.
We would like to invite you to give us a helping hand in this fundraiser, so together we can create a more loving and harmonious planet Earth, through the expanding works of Ananda Vasundhara Master Unit. Follow us in the virtual world on this special journey:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/anandavasundhara
and our new website www.anandavasundhara.org/