ESC: I know how, empower the group, and heal the Earth (duration: 2 months)

Trinoga association was established in 2005 and still is situated in Zhelen village, Sofia district. It is not only an NGO, but also an eco-community of people that permanently live in the nature and implement in real life the beliefs that inspire and lead us. The tree pillars of our philosophy are: life in harmony with nature, social unity and personal growth. By being persistent over the years we attracted many other enthusiasts, some of whom settled for permanent residence in the neighborhood - far away from the cities in a remote area in the Balkan Mountain, 5 km away from any asphalted village and shops. By now there are 20 autonomous households co-habitating and cooperating with each other. We called our place and project, around which Trinoga Association evolves: “Vegetarium Community Home”. The core team includes 5 persons. We are known as one of the first places in Bulgaria, where many young people had the opportunity to come, live in harmony with nature and obtain practical skills and experience, that in many cases determined the direction of their lives. As we are fluent in English, French, German, Spanish and Bulgarian we could accept many local, as well as foreign volunteers . Being integral part of the Global Ecovillage Network, we maintain close relations with NGOs in Italy, France, Portugal and Switzerland. Our team is guest teaching in Sofia University, New Bulgarian University and professional schools on the matters of Sustainable development, Healthy lifestyle and Community building. Our mentor is M.D. Dimitar Pashkulev, a well-known Bulgarian specialist in natural medicine and Integral approach. Since 2015, after tens of enterprises are commercializing his natural products and more than 50 edited books of him, M.D. Pashkulev found his actual vocation in living together in Vegetarium Home. He is permanently consulting and supporting our activities on the aim of non-formal teaching of young people in sustainable activism and solidarity toward environment and communities. Our aims are to apply, develop and spread knowledge, skills and attitudes in: - Young people personal and social development: apart from developing various skills and competence we strongly promote healthy lifestyle: a balance between correct nutrition, proper biorhythm and adequate practices for body, mind and spirit; - Climatic agriculture: regenerative landscaping, enhancing biodiversity and habitats, production of clean food and row materials. - Eco building: constructing with natural materials, harmonious ratio between traditional and new technologies (95% Traditional Low Tech & 5% Modern High Tech). - Active citizenship: eco-activism enhancing biodiversity and social unity. Our main activities are: - Living and promoting healthy life in nature; - Hosting volunteers, helping them discover their authentic vocation and develop various competences; - Sending volunteers in Italy, Portugal, France, and Switzerland; - Enhancing biodiversity trough landscaping and planting more perennial fruits and nuts; - Renovating the old and building new houses using wood, clay, stone, hay and other materials; - Maintaining the place: its gardens, animals, buildings and machinery park, which gives opportunities for volunteers to develop various practical skills; - Exchanging production, physical and intellectual work with the local population; - Participating in projects, funded by various EU programs - usually in partnership with other NGOs ; - Consulting other NGOs' projects. We address our activities to 3 target groups: - Young people aged 18-30, with eco-orientation, who are ready to adopt sustainable lifestyle; - Other NGOs with similar interests and activities; - The local population of Zhelen village and Svoge town; We are absolutely self-sustainable, running our small farm on 3 ha where we grow vegetable gardens and experiment with various plants, we breed horses, hens, bees and, we are autonomous in food, water and electricity. We have developed our social entrepreneurial activities, that support us financially – a guest house and production of herbs, teas and healing ointments - in a scale that does not take all of our time and strengths. Sometimes, when need, we hire people from the local community. We also participate in projects (local and international) that fit our philosophy and are run by people who share our values, that also brings about to our financial stability.