Annual Report 2023

While 2022 was marked by the construction of our physical space, in 2023 we were able to begin our activities. Thinking about a long-term proposal is somewhat challenging, as putting yourself in the place of the Earth – whose breath of life is much greater than ours – implies patience and knowledge about the cycles of Life and the regeneration processes that still seem inconceivable to our small but very cunning human mind. 

In this sense, we will talk here about our Journey (long-term mission), our Walk (intermediate stages of our mission) and our Steps (specific tasks that we are performing within the walk). 

Our Mission is to be able to create a safe and nourishing settlement to enable all beings on the planet – rivers, winds, stones, plants, animals and human beings – to be free and happy. The Mission seems somewhat utopian and auspicious, but what we choose as a Walk helps us make this Mission tangible.

To materialize all this, we decided to have 2 main pillars: Agroecology and Integral Education. Agroecology is everything that refers to taking care of our home, in this case, the Earth. It involves food production, construction, community life, among others. 

Integral Education is associated with our Education on 5 levels: Physical, Vital, Emotional, Psychic and Spiritual. A good education begins before birth and ends after death. Therefore, our Education activities also permeate prenatal education, the importance of pregnancy for the formation of the unconscious complexes of new beings; It embarks on multidisciplinary and multiple language activities with children and also spaces for self-knowledge, expression, philosophical deepening and internalization for adults 

We understand that to start taking care of the Earth, we need to extend our vision that “we can do things inside our fence and beyond, the neighbor takes care of it”. For those who know a little more about terrestrial flows, we can see that we have a fungal chain - called mycelium - underground, responsible for countless synapses and also for the absorption of nutrients from trees. If a tree is dying, all other trees will send synapses and messages for the regeneration of that element. Another way to realize that we are all connected is to look at our river basin. If we pollute a river beyond our neighbor's fence, whose river is higher, even with the river's natural process of self-purification, we know that the contaminated water will reach our fence. 

Therefore, our Agroecology activities are designed for a territory and not for a plot of land. Our Agroecology Walk aims to operate throughout the amortization region of the Conduru State Park, starting with the community of Pé de Serra, and later following to Barrocão and Águas Claras. The Pé de Serra community today has approximately 50 families.

In this first moment, we are working with 5 families and encouraging food sovereignty and supporting their agroecological transition (that is, framing land, septic tank, water capture, food production, among others, within the parameters for organic certification and also forms of planting that support the regeneration of the Atlantic Forest), in the processing of production, facilitating its arrival to local markets. We managed to promote 2 agroecology trainings and 1 meliponiculture training for Pé de Serra farmers. 

With regard to Integral Education, this year we had 14 free workshops, serving approximately 11 children and 8 caregivers within the Rainbow Childhood Project: Energy, Matter and Vibration. These are workshops that work with languages of art, technology, science and the environment in multicultural actions that combine ancestral practices with contemporary knowledge, with the aim of enabling them to recognize the Macro and micro cosmos and act in a positive way in the future environment in which they travel. In a more practical way, our workshops always have a body awareness and nutrition part, a nature observation part and a practical part. For example, painting using natural pigments and binding elements from nature itself, recycling and transformation of waste, theater and interpretation of emotions, among others. This year, thanks to donations, we were also able to make a contribution to Mariete, a community mother and educator who will be responsible for monitoring the workshops. 

We also offer a free 11-day silent and fasting retreat, we had a birth inside the Portal (baby Luz and mom Jenny), along with the arrival of our counselor from the Pregnancy, Postpartum and Parenting Center, Flavia Ser-Vir-a-Ser. Flávia is pregnant and follows this Center remotely with prenatal content disseminated remotely. And also, for visitors, we maintain 2 daily meditations in our routine, with the aim of strengthening the processes of self-knowledge and rebirth. 

2023 was also an important year to build ties and get to know Teia in the region. We made some important partnerships, with Útero Amotara Zabelê - the construction of a philosophical school built by original peoples and led by a Tupinambá group from Olivença; the Maloca Dendê - a space for herbalism and memory recovery whose guardians are a community leader Aranda and her mother, Dona Val, a great midwife in the region; A Teia dos Povos - movement of articulation of peoples from all over Brazil; Santa Maria Settlement – agroecological and regeneration space; the Associação Vipassana da Bahia – meditation association; We also had the opportunity to meet the coordinator of the UN “Harmony with Nature” Program; among many other collectives and groups that have a similar Mission and World Vision: to protect and care for Life on Earth. 

Finally, I want to first thank God, for the constant blessings, the Christic and Buddhist consciousness, for flooding me this year with compassion and love, Mario Sobolewski and Mônica Telecki, my beloved parents, because even we here, with so many challenges and living with a simplicity that is sometimes inconceivable to many eyes, they never stopped supporting us, they came to paint, do electrical installations among many other donations and support that allowed the manifestation of this space and the beginning of activities. Thank you for allowing us to focus on Selfless Delivery and Service. Only fully nourished beings can transform themselves into sources and dedicate their Life to others. 

 Thank Goenkaji for teaching the Vipassana technique,

 To Vanessa-Kaliah, because even with so many twists and turns in her Personal Life, she was always there (not always physically, but always with her heart), supporting the structure we were creating. Thank Maria Serena, my daughter, because I recently asked her what her mission in life is and she replied: “play and live”. 

And finally, I thank from the deepest heart all the first donors here at the Portal, you can't imagine how important it was for us to take the next step in a safer and more stable way: Livia del Corso, Lili Lakshmi, Cristina Alves Ferreira, Fernando Gaia, Eduardo Lopes, Cainã Tavares, Adriana Tavares, Ricardo Bonilha, Fernanda Moya, Ana Beatriz Leite, Marco Antonio, La Devina Rodrigues, Ryudi Beraldo.

Also to the people who did not support with money, but with tools or support from the heart: Maria Barbara, Maria Cristina, Camilla Telecki, Marcos Sobolewski, Wanda Savicki.

From August 2023 onwards, we received approximately 600 reais in monthly donations, which allowed us to carry out our activities literally out of “financial hardship”. 

Thanks also to donations, we are regularizing our legal situation and opening our Association, initially made up of 4 representatives from 3 families here in the community and, which will allow us within a year or two, to obtain resources also through public financing. 

Just thank You, thank You and thank You.

Pure Life, Pure Mind and Pure Love!! 

Stefanie Telecki Sobolewski, 

Portal Projects Manager