Come and volunteer with us!

– Community-Immersion Program for the dry season from October 15th 2022 to May 15th 2023 –
This is our vision for the dry season but it may change at any point depending on the needs of the community.
Arrival
Thank you for expressing an interest in visiting Kolinda. If you are reading this it means that it might be possible for you to visit. However, because of an unpredictable influx of new people and our need to maintain the total number of inhabitants at a socially and ecologically sustainable level, it is difficult for us to make promises far in advance. Please proceed in the following way:
- No earlier than a month before your arrival, please write to komunidadkolinda@gmail.com and ask if you can still come.
- Around 3 days before your arrival, please let us know on our email so that we can be prepared for you.
- Upon arrival, please go to the communal areas and introduce yourself to everyone present. You will be shown around and given a place to sleep (most likely a camp site). You are welcome to spend a few days settling in, resting, enjoying the space, getting to know people and taking care of yourself.
- If you wish to stay longer, please address the entire community in a talking circle when the opportunity arises (normally our Monday circle). State your intentions and ask to become a temporary member of Kolinda. You should be emotionally prepared for a rejection, although this has so far never happened in our 4-year history. If accepted, we hope you stay for as long as possible.
- There is a slight possibility of one day becoming a permanent member but this would be a very long process of mutual trust-building and spaces are very limited, so it would be better if you don’t carry this expectation.
Community-Immersion background
Welcome to your transformational experience. We offer insights into community-building by allowing visitors to JOIN our community, to become temporary members and take part in communal processes – without the rigid expectations of traditional volunteering. This re-triggering of our forgotten community-DNA through A SENSE OF BELONGING is an essential part of the global shift in consciousness towards a sustainable future, and creates autonomous, aware, responsible human beings.
We see each permanent or temporary member as a unique being with unique gifts and challenges that should be allowed the freedom to naturally find their place and role, discover self-motivation and awaken their creativity in a healthy environment based on trust instead of rules. We believe that each one should “give within their capacity” and we acknowledge that our capacities are different. This regenerative approach to work and social relations fosters growth, self-realisation, harmony and sanity, and helps to usher away the psychological restraints of the authoritarianism we have become all too accustomed to.
While we wish to see ourselves as a single, integrated community, we must all be aware that the needs of permanent and temporary members differ. Permanent members are at different stages of the overwhelming tasks of constructing private houses, raising children and making money, which means that they are not always able to be as present with the temporary members as they may wish. We ask for understanding and acceptance of this reality, and we ask for leaders among the temporary members to stand up and take responsibility to fill this void.
Expectations
- Obligatory – community organization circle every Monday at 10.30am.
- Obligatory – heart-sharing circle at least once a month.
- We do not charge money to enter Kolinda but we do not have the funds to feed temporary members. We all share the cost of the food that has to be brought in. While we would be happy to accept donations for communal infrastructure projects, this is not expected.
- Help to organize the main kitchen, do food runs, cook.
- Help in the garden.
- If you wish to participate in infrastructure projects, the finishing of our communal house is the main aim for the coming dry season. We may also build some rooms for accommodation. We will in general not ask for your help on private houses as it is energetically more coherent if you give energy to communal projects, but you may be welcome if you have a special interest. • Be as independent as possible.
- Come prepared for night-time temperatures possibly as low as freezing, especially in December and January. You absolutely need a good-quality sleeping bag, a tent and a mat. It may rain a little bit at the beginning and end of this time period.
- Respect private spaces.
- Take responsibility for a healthy, harmonious, respectful and peaceful co-existence. Solve conflicts quickly. Ask for help. Take care of your fellow community-members. Make everyone at home.
- Do not expect to have access to electricity or internet. However, we are in the process of finding solutions to these issues. You can find these things in the village, 30 minutes away on foot. • Share your gifts and knowledge, create workshops and activities.
- Help to care for children is highly appreciated.
- If you want to invite a friend you have to ask the community for permission first. • Do not post anything publicly on the internet about Kolinda. Do not reveal our exact location. • Respect that permanent members make decisions on long-term visions, land-use and funding for infrastructure.
How to get here
Take a colectivo (like Lineas Unidas) from Oaxaca City or Pochutla. Get off at La Venta, which is 5-10 minutes in the direction of Oaxaca City from San Jose del Pacifico. At the turnoff, take any transport to San Sebastian Rio Hondo (transport can be infrequent after about 4pm, don’t arrive late!) In San Sebastian, take a mototaxi to Kolinda, which is on the way to the village of Extebe. Soon after crossing a creek, you will see a sign saying “Kolinda” on your left. Walk down the road to the communal house.

