7/20

My next big project is building up fast! On September 18th, I will be organising the ‘Living the Good Life Festival’ at our school in Iluka. The name is an attempt to ‘re-brand’ the choice to live a gentle life - a conscious life - a lifestyle that doesn’t destroy the Earth. We’ll have stalls, entertainment, food and lectures encouraging a sustainable lifestyle shift, while also supporting our School Fete. Through the festival website (www.livingthegoodlifefest.com) we plan to create a ‘virtual sustainable lifestyle’s tour’ so that people can get an insight about the many different ways people in this area are trying to lighten their impact on the planet without burning fossil fuel to drive around to see them.

I am now collecting inspiring sustainable lifestyle examples that I will showcase on the new web site. As I get involved in organising the event, the web of like-minded people expands and I feel great encouragement about the potential of this area to become a sustainable community in the future. And this connects with my aim to run a business; ‘slowsmallsimple’ that provides information, inspiration and advice about how to live a healthy, happy and sustainable lifestyle. I’m not a good business person – I find it very hard to ask for money for anything…but the reality of feeding Pacha and Yani make it important to face this part of my life!

Anyway, through this glorious search for good sustainable lifestyle examples, I have recently met Carolyn. Carolyn lives on a 350 acre permaculture property with her two children, her mother and father and her grandmother along with horses, chickens, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and dogs. The three small, simple home-built houses (from their own harvested timber) are run from solar energy (completely off the grid) with wood and gas stoves for cooking. All water is collected from their own roofs. The garden provides all the vegetables they need. For me, the intergenerational aspect of her set-up was the most inspiring. How wonderful to see and feel the strong and supportive, loving bonds between everyone! It is something I
have often seen when living with indigenous peoples, and even the poor communities in Intag, but it’s not so common in Australia.

Pacha and Yani spent 3 hours playing and exploring, and decided that they would definitely like to live there! Though I’m not so sure. It was at least
a ½ hour drive to reach any kind of village centre. Where we live now, there are more than 20 children living in just this street. Pacha and Yani can find friends to play with and I am in easy reach of my activities at the school and in the community. I chose this area knowing that some day (when a bike path is built) I will be able to ride to the beach and to the town.

Now all I need to do is convince the rest of my family to live here!
Yani has just had his 7th birthday. We celebrated with friends and family and lots of time just being together. I think he feels loved and appreciated. That's all any of us really need isn’t it?

Love to you all!

Anja Light

7/9和訳

「歌は、私を楽しませ、自由にしてくれるわ」とは、娘・パチャの発言です。 学校の聖歌隊の子どもたち（およそ80人）に、隣の人どうしで「歌うことで何を感じるか、なぜ聖歌隊に参加したいと思ったのか」を質問しあってもらったときのことです。

彼女の発言は、私の歌に対する思い、そして、音楽が私にどれほどの喜びをもたらしているかを思い出させてくれました。どこにいても、どんな時も、誰とでも、歌は橋渡しをし、ハートとハートをつなぎ、私たちの心の奥深くにある感情を表現してくれます。それは一生続くものであり、ハートや精神、魂を持続させます。

けれどもこの公立学校では、友人ティナと私が、聖歌隊のお世話役を買って出なかったら、子どもたちは今年でいなくなっていたでしょう。学校の教育制度において重要視されるのは‘数量的思考能力と読み書き能力'です。教師たちは、子どもを書き取りや文法、数学などすべてテストの点数で評価します。子どもたちが日々、どれだけ幸せを感じ、誇りを持っているかはそこには反映されません。

１人の大人として、私は自分の受けた教育にとても感謝しています。足し算ができたり、読み書きが上手にできることは確かにとても良いことです。けれども、自分自身のアイデンティティや、自分がどういう背景やビジョンを持っているかを理解することの方がはるかに重要です。残念ながら、私は、型にはまった学校組織から、こういったことへの学びはまったく得られませんでした。

私の学校時代の一番の思い出は、「教室」の外での活動でした。それはつまり、ミュージカルだったり、演劇コンクールだったり、討論をするチームだったり、友情を形成したり、身の周りの問題に取り組んだりすることでした。もちろん、テストでよい点数を取ることで、学生に本来求められている義務は果たしましたが、人生を楽しむことの方がはるかにいろんなことを教えてくれました。

今の学校教育において、子どもたちが必然的にお金を使ったり、競争に勝つことなしに無条件の喜びや幸せを感じられる術を見つけられるよう励まし、その喜びを自由に分かち合えるようになることが、もっと重要視されるべきだと思います。

すべての子どもたちが、テストの結果によってではなく、自分や周りの人に喜びをもたらしてくれる個々のユニークな才能によって自信に満ちている姿を想像してみてください。このことを可能にするべく、私は学校でますます多くのことを自分に課しています。フードガーデンや、聖歌隊、遊び場を作るための資金集めや、今年のサステナブル・フェスタを企画することなどがそうです。先週の聖歌隊でのパチャの発言は、そういった私の努力が報われた気がした一瞬でした。

【翻訳：田中みのり】

7/9

“Singing makes me feel joyful, it makes me feel free” said Pacha. I was leading the school choir and had asked all the children (around 80 people) to describe to the person standing beside them how singing made them feel and why they liked coming to choir. Her words reminded me about how I feel about singing, and how much the joy of music has given me. Anywhere, anytime, with anyone, song builds bridges, connects hearts and expresses our deepest emotions. It is life-long, it sustains the heart, the spirit, the soul…

But in our public school, if my friend Tina and I hadn’t volunteered to lead the choir group, the children would have gone without this year. In the public education system the emphasis is on ‘numeracy and literacy’. Teachers value their worth by exam results in spelling, punctuation and maths tables – not so much by the sense of children’s wellbeing and self-esteem.

As an adult, I greatly appreciate my education – it is good to be able to add up and to read and write well – but understanding my identity, and the context and the purpose of these tools has been so much more important. And this was never assisted much by the conventional school system. All my best memories of school were activities outside of the ‘classroom’ – the musicals, drama competitions, debating team, forming friendships, engaging in issues around me. I did my duty to pass my exams well, because that was what was expected of us, but enjoying life taught me much more.

I believe that encouraging children to find ways to feel unconditional joy and happiness, without necessarily spending money, or winning competitions – and being able to share this joy freely – should be given more emphasis in the education system. Imagine every child feeling empowered, not only by their exam results, but by their own unique talents that can bring joy to themselves and others. I find myself doing more and more at school to try to help make this possible; the school food gardens, the choir, raising funds to build a playground and organising the sustainability fete this year.

Pacha’s words at choir last week make me feel like it’s worth the effort.

6/21和訳

今日、私はもう少しで、パチャとヤニに学校を休ませ、家で過ごさせるところでした。

二人は昨日ロウソクに灯した火に‘再点火’しようとしていました。私は二人の動きに完全に集中し、炎がまたもう一度上がるのを見てうっとりとしています。色んな見地や過去の記憶、感情、つながりやゆったりとした時間の感覚．．．など本当に多くの事を学べます。おそらく教室で座って授業を聞いているのとは違う方法で、学びができてよい日になるのではないでしょうか。でも責任感の強い親である私は、気付くと子どもたちに口うるさく言っていました。‘靴を履いて、急いで、かばんの準備をしなさい！学校に持っていくものは全部忘れずに持った？’そして子ども達をバス停へ連れ出します。2人はかなりむくれていました。

今日は1年で一番日が短い冬至の日。やらなければならない仕事のTo　Doリストがあるのにも関わらず（その仕事は身体を使う本物の作業なので、好きなのですが）、私は今ここでコンピューターの前に座っています。深く反省したり、今の様な子育てのやり方で子どもたちに正しい事をしているのだろうかと自問していると、動く事ができなかったのです。そして毎日押しつけられている大衆文化のほとんどを私は拒んでいるのかをはっきりさせようとしていました。あまりに多くの大衆文化が、学校のシステム：義務や遵守、画一化や盲目的な信仰、“先生”と言われる人への信頼、愛好心、大衆消費文化・・・などを通して強くもたらされているのです。

例えば、パチャは地元の全国女性連合から学校の課題／プロジェクトをもらった時のことです。トピックはスコットランド。私はおそらく、写真や旅行者向けの情報を乗せてきちんとまとめたポスターのようなものを作成するのだと思いました。そして‘優秀な’課題には賞がもらえます。実際にスコットランドを訪れた事のある数少ない親として、私は気づくと、パチャに私自身の経験に基づいた、スコットランドについて最も重要で生きた情報だと思う事を教えていました。それはスコットランドがイギリスの違法な核の備蓄先であり、地球上のほとんどの都市を破壊してしまう程の容量があるという事実でした。パチャのポスターには‘ネッシー’と隣に核を搭載した潜水艦を描き、“スコットランドの海には、ネッシー以外の怪物も潜んでいる”というタイトルを付けていました。

パチャのポスターへの反応は？
私自身の経験や物の見方をパチャに押し付けるのはずるいこと？パチャはこの‘ユニーク’な知識や意見を持っている事で、のけものにされたり冷やかされたりするの？たまたま私が親だからって、9歳で自分の意見を持つのは早すぎるの？

最近フェイスブックに私の子育ての仕方が、家族ぐるみの友人より問いただされました。彼女の考え方は広く一般に支持されている（けれどもなかなか声に出されない）主流の考え方ではないかと思います。私はその考え方を深く受け入れたい。なぜなら子どもたちにとって出来るだけよい母になりたいからです。
私がパチャに、私自身の‘政治的なアジェンダ’を表現させようとしているのではないかと友だちが心配している事に対して、私の答えはこうです。

“深く気遣って連絡下さりありがとう。心から心配してくれたのですね。
これは実際に、1992年に12歳でリオ地球サミットで世界のリーダーに向けて演説をしたセヴァン・スズキの言葉です。 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY)
彼女は9歳の時に環境学習グループを始めました。セヴァンが自分の子ども時代、あなたが考えるように、他の大人の政治的アジェンダの広告塔をさせられていたと感じているかどうか、彼女と話してみてはいかがでしょう。”

“これを書き出すと長くなりますが、以下は全て真実です。子どもたちは、小さい頃からメディアや広告にさらされることで、洗脳されていきます。それらの威力は絶大で、両親のコントロールなど到底及びません。コカコーラやマクドナルド、美化された軍隊の広告、医薬品で得られる「健康」、値段が高いほど効くという思い込み、サプリや医療整形からくる美しさ、産地から完全に切り離され、過剰包装された食べ物、人間社会が成長し続けるために地球から取り尽くされる石油、多く消費するほど幸せになれるという妄想・・・。
子どもたちだけでなく、大人もまたメディアに取り込まれ、これらのメッセージを信じこんでいるのです。”

“子どもたちは、どのような文化や価値観をもった社会に暮らしていきたいか、その仕組みづくりに参加する機会を与えられるべきではないでしょうか？特に、現在の、地球を破壊し、親の言いなりになることで心を病むような社会においては。
私は子どもたちを自分の存在以上に愛しています。そして、生命の奇跡ともいうべき地球において、私たちは、全ての生きとし生けるものと相互につながりあっていることを、私は知っています。ですから、私は、先の質問に「イエス」と答えるのです。”

【翻訳；小山邦子】

6/21, Solstice/Candlenight

I was so close to letting Pacha and Yani stay home from school today.

They were ‘reigniting’ a fire we had lit yesterday. Completely focused in their task, fascinated watching the flames come alive once again. So many lessons learnt on so many levels, ancient memories, emotions, associations, a sense of slow time…maybe it was a good day to learn in a different way than sitting in a classroom - but I - the dutiful parent, found myself nagging: ‘Get your shoes on kids, quick get your bags ready, have you remembered everything you need for school?’ And forced them to the bus stop - the kids were pretty grumpy.

It is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. Despite the long list of ‘jobs’ to do (and jobs I love doing – physical jobs, real tasks), I’m here at the computer - not able to move from a sense of deep reflection and questioning; am I doing the right thing for my children, bringing them up the way I am - making it so obvious that I/we reject the majority of the mass culture foisted on us everyday? So many of these are reinforced through the school system: duty, obedience, conformity, blind faith and trust of annointed ‘teachers’, patriotism, consumerism…

I’ll give you an example; Pacha has a school assignment/project given by the local Country Women’s Association. The topic is: Scotland. I believe the expectation is of a neat, orderly poster with pictures and touristy type information – and for the ‘best’ result a prize will be given. Having been one of the few parents of children that has actually visited Scotland, I find myself guiding Pacha about what I think is a most important current information about that country, based on my own experience, the fact that Scotland is home to England’s illegal nuclear arsenal that has the capacity to destroy most cities on the planet. So, on her poster there is a picture of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ and beside it a picture of a nuclear submarine with the caption: ‘other monsters lurking in Scottish waters’.

What will the response to her poster be? Is it unfair that I have imposed my own experience and viewpoint on her? Will she be ostractised or ridiculed for having this ‘unique’ knowledge and opinion? At 9 years old is she too young to have a voice – because she happens to have me as a parent?

On facebook recently my parenting style has been challenged by a family friend. I suspect her views are a commonly held (but not often spoken) mainstream view, and I take them to heart, because I want to be the best mother I can to my children. I’ll include my response to her concerns about my using Pacha to express my own ‘political agenda’.

“Thanks for your deep and concerned response L - I know it is coming from a real place. The words in the song were actually of Severn Suzuki who, at age 12, addressed world leaders at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY). She started an environment group when she was 9 years old. I guess it would be good to talk with her about whether she has similar feelings to you about her own childhood (ie.　being a mouth-piece for other adults political agendas).”

“This is a long conversation and it incorporates just about everything, it's　about the subversive and seducive influences that our children are exposed　to throughout their childhood that we have little control over: coca cola,　mcdonalds, glorified military ads, health (and diets) coming from a chemist　shop- and the more expensive the 'better' they must be, beauty coming from a　bottle or a doctor's surgery, food being neatly packaged and totally　detached from its source, oil gushing out of the Earth because our human　culture considers itself more important than anything else, consume more to　be more happy... Not only children - adults are still so trusting of these　messages engulfing us from modern media.”

“Should children be given the opportunity to participate in shaping the culture that is currently destroying the Earth and causing untold suffering through the guidance of their parents? Because I love my children more than my own existence, because I know we are interconnected with everything else　in this miracle of life - I believe so, yes.”

6/14和訳

ここ数日、だんだんと涼しくなってきています。しかしどうしてか、だるまストーブ用の薪の準備を優先するほどの寒さではありません。私たちは靴下やジャンパー、毛糸の帽子で冬の凍えるような夜を避けるように、さっさとベッドに入ります。
太陽のエネルギーからの恵みを受ける素晴らしい家！北から射し込む太陽の光が、日中セメントとタイルを加熱してくれるおかげで、夜まで室内は暖かさを保っています。

この2週間は、私にとってとてもエキサイティングで感情高ぶるものでした。 というのも、私は親友から、彼女と折半して買った土地の、彼女の分も買うことになったからです。彼女は今、都会での生活が中心で、家族をサポートする役割を担っているため、ここにエネルギーを注ぐことが難しいのです。
これから、ちょっと住宅ローンができてしまったけど、私はこの土地を、スロー、スモール、シンプルな夢を皆さんや私の友だちとその家族で共有するために、将来にわたって、責任を持っていきたいと思います。

ですから、みなさん、ぜひ私たちの家に来てください。都会の毒素を出し、持続可能なライフスタイルをつくりだしましょう！私たちは、本当の「学び」が得られるスロー・スクールを開き、そこで冥想やホースセラピー、ストローベイル（藁ブロック）をつかった工房、ピザを焼くためのオーブン、そしてもちろん、みんなを感動させるようなパーマカルチャー農園や森林農法の畑を作ることができます。このプロジェクトを実現していくために制約があるとすれば、豊かな想像力を持てるかどうかでしょう。

それとは別に、お願いがあります。ここの場所の名前を一緒に考えてもらえませんか? 私は未来の “輪”の姿を私なりに表現して「輪・未来」や「未来の輪」はどうだろうと思いつきました。「ゆっくり」とか「スローライト」（私の姓のライトと、ローソクの灯りのライトをかけたダジャレです・・笑）などもいいかな？

また、私はパチャとヤニの学校のことでとても忙しくしています。今の私には、お金はもらえないけれど、やらなけれならないことがたくさんあります。パチャとヤニのPTA会長、フードガーデンのコーディネーター、そして学校の聖歌隊のオーガナイザーなどなど。しかし、誰かがやらなくてはなりません！というわけで、先週、私はマラソン大会に出場する子どもたちのためにミニバスの運転手を買って出ました。また、私は「いい人生を送ろう」という名のお祭りを企画中です。これらが全てどのようになっていくかは私にもわかりません。そもそも、挑戦もしないで分かることなんてないのです。

今の私は、相変わらず低収入（だいたい月150ドル前後）で生活しています。とても質素なご飯だし、新しいものも買いません。ですが、私たちの暮らしは変化に富み、やりがいと刺激がたくさんで、仕事が喜びと一体です。新しいフルーツの木を植えたり、オリーの牧草地を広げるために穴を掘ったり、このブログを書いたり！

今日はとても素晴らしい日です。パチャとヤニは、どこまでも彼らに寛容な馬のオリーと一緒に遊んでいます。写真がすべてを物語っているでしょう。みなさんが、こちらに来て、私たちと本当のスローライフをわかちあうのを心からお待ちしています。

【翻訳：間宮加奈子】

6/14

The days here are cooling down – but somehow not getting cold enough to make a priority of preparing firewood for the pot belly stove. We get cosy and warm with socks, jumpers and woollen hats, and go to sleep early enough to avoid the winter night chill. It's a great house for passive solar energy, with the sun streaming in from the north to heat the cement and tiles through the day, keeping the warmth in at night.

The past two weeks have been very exciting and emotional for me on a very practical level. I am buying the half share of this land from my best friend. Her life is fixed in the city right now, with responsibilities to support her family making it hard to put energy here. So now, with a bit more mortgage debt, I am fully responsible for looking after this land, creating slow, small, simple dreams to share with you and all my friends and family for the years ahead.

So please, come along and visit and together lets shake off some urban toxins and create this sustainable lifestyle! We can build a Slow school, meditation huts, horse therapy centre, straw bale studio, pizza ovens and of course an inspiring permaculture garden and food forest. Our imagination is our only limitation. And I have another request – can you help me decide on the name for this property? I had thought about ‘wamirai’ or ‘mirai-no-wa’
(my version of a circle of the future), but perhaps just ‘yukkuri’ or ‘slowlight’…

I have also been very busy at Pacha and Yani’s school. Now I find myself with a long list of unpaid jobs, P and C president, food garden coordinator and school choir organiser – but someone has to do it! Last week I drove the minibus for the kids who made to the big long distance running competition.

And we are organising the school fete along with an event I am creating called: ‘Living the Good Life’ festival. I’m not sure how it will all go, but we’ll never know if we don’t try. We still seem to exist with very little income (around $150 per week at the moment), eating very simple foods and not buying anything new. There is so much variety, challenge and stimulation in our lives, and work combines with pleasures – like the act of planting a new fruit tree, or digging holes for posts to extend Ollie’s paddock – or writing this blog!

Today is a glorious day. Pacha and Yani have already been playing with Ollie the horse, who is infinitely patient with them. The pictures here say it all. We welcome you to come along and share this life.

5/22和訳

一日がゆっくりと短くなり涼しくなってくればくるほど、私たちの家は居ごこちがよくなります。朝、北から陽の光が差し込むとパチャとヤニは敷物の上にすり寄ります。オリーの温かい背中にまたがって森を散歩すると気持ちがいいです。紫外線から身を守るための帽子なんか必要ありません。

ここ数日間で私たちは薪を集めました。だるまストーブに火を灯す時期がやってきたのです。ストーブの上でスープを料理したり、マシュマロを焼いたりします。
スローハウスプロジェクトは少しスローダウンしています。と言うのも、今は庭に注意が必要だからです。フクロネズミとワラビーがサツマイモ、いちご、レタス、トマト、トウガラシといったあらゆる葉物をたった二晩で食べつくしてしまいました。幸い、彼らが背の高いバナナの木までは到達することができなかったので、なんとかお腹を空かせたフルーツハンターから守ることができました。ということで、私たちの食糧源である野菜畑を守るために、囲いを作らなくてはいけません！

最近、旧友が数日間訪ねてきました。私が最初にカレンと会ったのは金沢で、彼女がカフェバー'沖合'をちょうど始めたところでした。オーストラリア出身の彼女は当時まだ若く、日本語が全く話せませんでしたが、彼女のプロジェクトを「うまくいきっこないよ」と言う人たちの声にはまったく耳を傾けませんでした。

彼女はオーストラリア人的な温もりとお日様のような人柄で、カフェを軌道に乗せようとがんばっていました。時々、私はそのお店で歌ったり、彼女が外出している1週間、お店を切り盛りしたこともあります。それらは全くの新しい経験でした!
カレンはいわゆる活動家ではないけれど「自分の信念やハートをもって積極的に取り組み続ければ、どんなことでも成し遂げられる」と言う彼女の人生哲学は、私に共通するところでもあります。経験、つながり、そして人生の意義を見いだすことは「豊かさ」のための貯蓄より重要です。彼女は、ＧＮＨ的な思想を家族とも分かち合っています。

カレンは今、夫と子どもと、オーストリアのアルプスのようなところで、ハイジのような生活をしています。彼女たちが暮らす家は、彼女のお父さんが山から取ってきた木で建てた手づくりの家です。

その村は小さいけれど伝統的なコミュニティで、彼らが長年暮らす中で培われてきた経験が文化として根付いています。それはまさしく自給自足的なスローライフと言えるでしょう。けれども、今、外的環境の急激な変化により、彼らの伝統的な暮らしが脅かされているようです。

変わったもの、それは私たちの価値観です。長期的な視点でケアしていくという文化から、短期的で「今」しか見ない文化への変化。つまり、子ども、そのまた子どもが生きていけるよう、彼らを支える環境そのものを維持していこうという視点が抜け落ちてしまったのです。

現在、共同体としての土地は分割され、売却され始めています。伝統的な家は手入れされないまま放置され、人々は現代の便利さを追求していきます。そのことは私に日本各地の田舎を思い出させます。

カレンと彼女の夫は古民家の一つを救い出し、改修する計画を立てています。新しいものを建てるために取り壊すのではなく、低エネルギーで持続可能な家としてリデザインするのです。

さて、今の私にとって最大の課題は、他人の確立されたやり方を脅かさずに新しいアイデアを紹介していくことです。ＰＴＡ会長である私は、学校組織の中で、凝り固まった順応主義の意見に出くわしています。それらの意見が、より地球に優しい考え方や行動につながるよう、優しく、前向きに取り組んでいます。

自分の子どもたちを型にはまった公立学校に通えるよう私にできること、それは、私がこれらの組織に関わり、子どもたちを新しい考え方に導いてあげられるかということです。
現在、友人ティナと私は校庭で野菜を育てるフードガーデンと子ども聖歌隊に取り組んでいるところです。私たちが取り組まなかったら、これらの活動は子どもに手の届かないものとなってしまうでしょう。

時々、「私って、でしゃばり？」と思うこともあります。
でも、私がしなければ誰がするんでしょう？今やらなければ、いつ？
（翻訳：田中みのり）

5/22

As the days slowly become shorter and cooler, our family house gets cosier. Pacha and Yani snuggle on the rug in the morning as the sun comes in from the north. It’s comfortable sitting on Ollie’s warm bare back, riding in the forest, not needing hats to protect us from the sun. We start to collect some firewood for the few days that it gets cold enough to light up our pot-belly stove, cooking soup and toasting marshmallows over the embers).

Building projects have slowed down a little, and the garden needs attention. The possums and wallabies have taken a liking to all the greenery - with the sweet potatoes, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes and capsicum eaten up over two nights. Luckily they can't reach the big bunch of bananas, that I have protected from the hungry fruit bats! I must build an enclosure to protect our vegie garden food source!

Recently our good friends visited us for a couple of days. I first met Karen in Kanazawa, Japan, where she had started a café/bar: 'Offshore'. She was a young Australian woman, not speaking any Japanese, who didn’t pay much attention to the people who said it was ‘impossible’ to do what she was doing. She managed to find a way to make it work - bringing a little ray of Australian warmth and sunshine into Kanazawa. Sometimes I would sing at her café/bar and once I even looked after the cafe while she was away for a week – a totally new experience! While Karen is not what you would normally call an activist – I think we have a lot in common in our general attitude to life; anything is possible if you put your mind/heart to it and stay positive. Experiences, relationships and finding meaning in life is more important than the accumulation of wealth – and that approach is something she shares with her family as well.

Now Karen lives in a ‘Heidi’ village in the Austrian Alps with her husband and children, in the house his Father built with his own hands from the trees carefully harvested from the mountain. It is a small, traditional community with age-old customs and habits, formed from watching and learning from the environment they live in. It seems to be a very Slow life, self-sufficient in many ways, but under threat from outside pressures. It is the ‘thinking’ that is changing – short-term ‘now’ culture rather than long term care to ensure the children and their children will be able to maintain this lifestyle and care for the environment that has sustained them. Land that was held as a collective for the whole community, is now beginning to be cut up and sold off. Traditional houses are left to disintegrate through neglect, while people look for modern convenience. It reminds me a great deal of ‘inaka’ in Japan. Karen and her husband plan to ‘rescue’ one of these old houses and restore it, redesigning it to become more energy efficient and sustainable, rather than tearing it down to build something new.

What seems to be the greatest challenge for me right now, is introducing new ideas without threatening other people’s established routines and systems. I am coming across entrenched, conformist views embedded in the school system and struggle to find ways to gently, positively and safely promote more earth friendly ways of thinking and behaving. The only way I feel I can send my children to a conventional, public school, is if I am involved and supporting the children in new ways of thinking. Now my friend Tina and I have taken on the school choir, along with the school food gardens, because if we didn’t do this, these activities wouldn’t be available for the kids.

Sometimes it seems like too much – but if not me: who? If not now: when?

For Biodiversity Day

5/10：和訳

パチャとヤニは昨日の朝、両手いっぱいの手作りの母の日のカードを持って私を起こしました。パチャは「母の日の1日、奴隷になります」という一言メッセージを書いていました。なんということ！ 娘は私が一番欲しいものは奴隷だと考えているのかしら? 彼女は誰かが自分の奴隷となることを夢見ているのかしら？他人をコントロールしたり、支配したりすることは、果たして人間の本質なのでしょうか。

とにかく、私にとって、母の日はいつも厄介です。 いまだに、人々がより多くのものを買うようけしかける日でもあるからです。(平和と友好の誓いとして始まったものであるらしいのですが)。まるであなたが買物に費やす金額が、相手への愛の深さを証明するかのように。復活祭、クリスマス、ハロウィーン・・・。私たちはたくさんの「買物をする日」に囲まれています。こういう日がやってくると、私はとげとげした気分になります。
心が乱れ、機嫌が悪くなるので、子どもとマントラを唱えて心を静めます。「祝福しましょう、家族といることを。コミュニティとともにあることを。」
本当に大切なものは何か。私たちは、もう一度、オカネやモノではかる以外のモノサシを取り戻す必要があるようです。

しかし、現実の私は、学校でＰＴＡ会長に再選され、子どもたちのために「母の日用売店」を取りまとめなければなりませんでした。「お母さんを愛そう、地球を愛そう、自分を愛そう」というキャッチコピーを思いついたのですが、さすがの私もそれを売店のバナーに書く勇気がありませんでした。

既に、リサイクルの品を扱うことについて(表立ってではないけれど)不満の声（自分の子どもに「古い」ものを買わせたくない)が何人かの親たちからありました。それでも私たちは商品が魅力的に見えるように鉢植えの植物を準備したり、価格をとっても低く(1ドル)したり、手作りのテーブルをセッティングしたりと自分たちに出来るベストを尽くしました。

ここ最近、私のアイデアは新しすぎて、主流社会にとっては革新的で急進的であることを思い知らされています。まるで私の経験と能力がコミュニティの調和への妨げであるかのよう。他の言語を話したり、他の国に住むことが「怪しく」思われているのでしょう。ありのままの自分でいること、自由な意志と個の思想を持ち、質問したり、考えをわかちあったり、疑問を投げかけたり、ポジティブな社会変化を促していくことが、一部の人にとっては脅威に感じるようです。私のそれらの行動が、地球への深い愛から来ていることは、彼らにとってまったく問題ではない…。まあ、他人はともかく、私は自分に忠実に、謙虚さと慈悲を求めて、導かれる道を歩んでいきましょう。

さて、母の日の顛末ですが、パチャは終日、私の「奴隷」となり、ヤニは宣言した割には30分しか続きませんでした。
別の休日には、馬のオリーを連れて散歩にでかけたり、隣人を訪ねたり、馬糞(子供たちはお小遣い用にそれを袋に入れて売るんです)を拾ったりと、いつもスローライフを楽しみながら、素晴らしい秋の気候の中、素敵な日々を過ごしています。

【翻訳：田中みのり】

5/10

Pacha and Yani woke me yesterday morning with an armful of handmade Mother’s
day cards. Pacha wrote a note saying that she would ‘be my slave’ for the
day…My gosh – is that what she thinks I want the most? Is that what she
herself dreams of - having someone as her 'slave'? Is the human condition
really that geared to controlling and dominating others?

Anyway, Mother’s Day is always hard for me. It is yet another day that
encourages people to buy more stuff (even though it apparently started as a
declaration of Peace and Goodwill). As though the amount of money you spend
correlates to the love you have for someone. It makes me feel more cynical.
Like all the other ‘buy more stuff days’ like Easter, Christmas, Halloween –
I feel generally confused and a little bit grumpy and try to keep convincing
myself (and my children) with the mantra: ‘it’s all about celebration, it’s
all about family, it’s all about community’. There is so much we need to
reinvent in our culture.

But, since I am the re-elected president of the school P and C, I was
obligated to organise a Mother’s Day Stall, so kids could buy things to give
to their Mothers. I came up with a slogan: ‘Love your Mother, Love the
Earth, Love your Self’ – but didn’t have the courage to put it on a banner
for the stall. There were already rumblings of disapproval (not openly
declared) among some of the parents about using ‘recycled’ gifts (“I don’t
want my kids to buy ‘old’ stuff”). We did the best we could do, preparing
potted plants as well, keeping the prices very low ($1), and setting up a
craft table to go along with the products.

Recently I feel like I am being constantly reminded that my ideas are too
new, innovative and radical for mainstream society. It seems my experiences
and skills are a set back to ‘fitting in’; speaking other languages or
living in other countries regarded as somewhat suspicious. Just being who I
am; of free will and independent mind, asking questions, sharing thoughts,
challenging assumptions, encouraging positive change, seems to make some
people feel threatened. It doesn’t seem to matter that my deepest motivation
comes from love. Oh well, I can only be true to myself and continue on,
asking for humility and compassion to guide the way…

So, Pacha was my ‘slave’ for Mother’s day and Yani lasted for about half an
hour. We enjoyed another glorious day here with this lovely autumn weather,
taking Ollie the horse for a walk, visiting neighbours, picking up horse
manure (the kids sell it in bags on the roadside for pocket money) and
generally enjoying our slow life.

4/21：和訳

私ほど「スロー・ブログ大賞」にふさわしい人はいないのではないかしら。 この4カ月間、時間があっという間に過ぎていって、こうやってパソコンの前に座り、みなさんと意見を共有する時間をとれなかったんです! 私たちのスローライフ・アドベンチャーの続報を心待ちにしてくれていた人、ごめんなさい。 以下が最新の情報です。

昨年12月、日本での「森の声キャンペーン」中に、ケイボー（辻信一）と、スローとディープエコロジーについて、長く、深い会話を交わしました。そのときのやりとりが、来月「ゆっくりノートブックシリーズ」として出版されるそうです（『しんしんと、ディープ・エコロジー～アンニャと森の物語』）。私たちの数日間に渡るディスカッションは、私が長い間意識してこなかった感情や思い出たちを思い起こさせてくれるよい機会となりました。また、今回の対話を通じて、私が何者で、どうしてここにいるかが明らかになり、未来に向けての新たなビジョンをもたらしてくれました。

オーストラリアに戻って私が新しく決めたことの1つは、家族のために馬を探すことでした。 実は、私は幼いころから馬にずっと魅了され続けてきたのです。自分でもどうしてかわからないのですが、多分それは、本能が求めたコミュニケーション、つまり、馬と触れることによって「野性の」パワーとつながりたかったのだと思います。エクアドルにいたときにも、パチャとヤニが私たちの馬（シャンティ）と同じ生きものとして交流しているのを見て、祝福の気持ちでいっぱいになりました。そのときの体験は、子どもたちが自然との信頼関係を深める（ディープ・トラスト）きっかけとなったと思います。

今、窓から外を眺めると、美しい野性の馬オリーが見えます。私たちの家の近くにあるガイフォークス国立公園(http://www.guyfawkesheritagehorse.com/)から連れ去られ、処分されようとしていたのを譲ってもらいました。毎日、私たちはオリーとの散歩が待ち遠しくてたまりません。森林の中や雨の中、日光、おいしい空気。彼は私たちにとても多くのことーー敬うこと、慈しむこと、理解すること、「群れる」こと(優しく、謙虚に、社会と相互に関わり合うこと)、さらに責任やケアの精神について、私たちに教えてくれます。

オリーは私たちにとって特別な生きもの。凛として、やさしくて、安らかで、広い心で接してくれます。パチャとヤニはもちろん、 近所の子どもたちも愉しませてくれます。オリーをなでたり、ブラッシングしたり、彼にまたがって森へ出かけたりすることによって、子どもたちは生きものと「つながり」を持つことができるのです。

また、彼は日常の小さなストレスに対する素晴らしい解毒剤、いわば私たちの生活‘療法でもあります。私の小さなストレスというのは、morinokoeキャンペーンで忙しかったり（www.morinokoe.comを見てください）、どうすればより効果的にインターネットを使用できるかを研究したり（ウェブページ等www.anjalight.orgを見てください）、定収入を得る方法を探したり（まだとってもスローだけど！）、PTA会長に再選されコミュニティをサポートしたり、家づくりを続けたり・・・と言ったことです。

家を建てること。それは、私にとって、最高の「癒し」であり、見た目にも生産的な活動です。今、上の階には断熱材を敷き、パチャのすてきな部屋も完成しました。 新しい台所もできたので、みなさんが我が家を訪れたら、ゆったりくつろぐことができるでしょう。敷地内にフェンスを作ったので、週末を馬と共に過ごすこともできます。

最近オーストラリアのメディアが、この低価格で持続可能な住宅プロジェクトに関心を寄せ、記事としてオーストラリアの大衆雑誌に掲載されました。この記事に感動した読者たちから「自分たちもこんなエコハウスを建てたい！」という投稿があったと聞きました。

持続可能で幸せな生活をどう実現していくのか。具体的なアイデアや解決策への関心にはまだまだ個人差があるようです。理論や哲学はもちろん重要です。けれど行動しなくっちゃ！みなさんはどんな風に取り組んでいますか？
もちろん、私たちも今のライフスタイルに辿りつくまでには長い道のりがありました。もしかしたら、このスローで、スモールで、シンプルなライフスタイルが、これから多くの人たちにより魅力的に映っていくのかもしれませんね。 自然の中で、いのちを祝福しながら、自由に暮らしていく。私たちにとって、これ以上に素晴らしいことはありません。
【翻訳：田中みのり】

4/21

I think I get the prize for the slowest blog. My life has been so fast over
the past 4 months that sitting down to share reflections just hasn't
happened! My apologies if you have been waiting for some word about our
latest slow life adventures. Here, finally, is an update.

The visit to Japan last December involved a long, deep conversation with
Keibo ・one that is forming the basis of a new book to be published this
May: Slow and Deep Ecology. Our discussion, over several days, revealed
thoughts and feelings and memories I hadn't visited for a long time. It
clarified, one again, who I was and why I am here ・and it brought new
realisations and resolutions for the future.

One of the things I decided was to look for a horse for our family. From my
early childhood I have been quite obsessed with horses, I'm not sure why--
perhaps that sense of communication by instinct, that connection to the
power of Child's nature a horse can bring. During our time in Ecuador, I
watched and celebrated the link that Pacha and Yani had with our horse
(Shanti) there ・that I think helped them deepen their trust and connection
with nature.

Now, from my window, I look out to a beautiful brumby (wild horse), Ollie,
rescued from slaughter by being taken out of the Guy Fawkes National Park,
which is near where we live (http://www.guyfawkesheritagehorse.com/).
Everyday
we have a wonderful added reason to be outside, in the forest, in the rain,
in the sunshine, in the fresh air. He teaches us so much: respect,
compassion an understanding of a "Herd" instinct (gentle, humble and
socially interactive) and a sense of responsibility and care. He is an
exceptional creature, solid, gentle and stable, with a big heart. Not only
have Pacha and Yani been enjoying every moment they spend with him, many
children in the neighbourhood have been able to 祖onnect・with him,
stroking, brushing or riding in the forest.

He is also a wonderful antidote to every day little stresses. ・our living
Therapy・ I've been busy with the morinokoe campaign (see・
www.morinokoe.com) , studying how to use the internet more effectively (web
pages etc, see www.anjalight.org), finding a way to get a regular income
(still very slow!!), supporting the local school as the re-elected President
of the Parent and Teachers Association and in continuing the building of our
house.

Building the house is by far the most therapeutic and visibly productive
activity. Now upstairs has insulation and Pacha has her own lovely room. The
new kitchen is complete and people can have a very comfortable stay here
when they visit. I built a fence so our horse can stay here with us on
weekends.

There has been some interest by media in Australia in this low cost,
sustainable housing project, with an article in one of the most popular
magazines here recently. I heard that people have written in to the magazine
saying it was one of the most inspiring stories and they also want to build
their own eco-house.

There seems to be a building wave of interest in practical ideas and
solutions about how actually to live a sustainable, happy life. Theories
and philosophies are important, but how do you actually do it? While we
still have a long way to go here, perhaps our slow, small, simple lifestyle
will become more attractive to everyday people. For us, it is a truly
wonderful existence; living in nature and living in freedom; celebrating
Life.

12/9

9th December, 2009

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well. Thanks for your support for our ‘slohas’ tour
last year. I’d like to let you know I will be visiting Japan again next week
and hope you can let your friends and networks know. You can find more
information about my schedule at http://www.sloth.gr.jp/top/top.html

During this short visit, the Sloth Club, Keke the Koala (
http://keke.sblo.jp/ ) and I will be launching ‘morinokoe’ - a movement to
protect the worlds remaining native forests.

Twenty years ago, I first visited Japan. I was following the trees being
cut down in Sarawak, Borneo. I quickly realised that most people in Japan
did not really understand or think about where the products they were using
every day came from. Most people were so busy just trying to live.

Ten years ago, we started the Sloth Club. We wanted to make it fun and
enjoyable, empowering and inspiring to be involved in the environment
movement. We encouraged people to consume less and enjoy life more. And
there are many positive changes, as more and more people are feeling
empowered enough to find true happiness without destroying life.

But the world’s last native forests are still being cut down and we’re
probably the last generation that can save them. In the case of Australia,
almost all the trees are turned into woodchips sent to Japan to make paper
products like tissues, toilet paper and office paper. So we are asking for
your help to use less paper and to ask paper companies to please import only
woodchips from plantations. After the 20th December, please check out
www.morinokoe.com to find out more.

Pacha, Yani and I live in Australia now (
http://anjaslowmotherdiary.blogspot.com/) in our ‘slohas’ house (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ2fgaz5se8), but my heart (like yours) is
beating for the whole Earth. It is challenging time and an exciting time.
People are hungry for positive solutions - models of a lifestyle that is
gentle to the Earth and is full of joy and happiness. We are creating new
cultures together by having the courage to face the truth of the global
crisis.

I look forward to staying in contact with you,

For Life,

Anja Light

PS. If you do twitter, you may have fun following "kekethesloth".

11/27

November 2009

My head and heart are bursting - I’m on the rollercoaster of campaigning
again and its not very slow. Over the past few months, I’ve done less house
building and put more energy into trying to protect our native forests. It’s
a familiar feeling, after 20 years of campaigning, with lots of highs and
lows. It’s empowering and frustrating at the same time, and I am so lucky to
have my children, a beautiful place to live and my garden to bring me back
down to Earth when it all seems too much to bear.

The great news is that our house is almost complete. The composting toilet
is running well (no smell) and the solar panels on the roof produce more
electricity than we use in the house. Our garden is feeding many native
animals (possums, kangaroos, bandicoots) – and even we get some of the
produce from it! There are many projects for the New Year, including a
pirate ship treehouse and chicken coop (anyone want to come and help me
build it?!). I’ve had some wonderful Sloth visitors (Tomoko, Hikaru, Kai and
Sara) recently and we fantasize about future projects here: miso making,
straw bale constructions, a forest rotenburo – really, we can do anything!
(Actually Hikaru even made a great little video about the house construction
so far – here’s the link: )

Pacha and Yani love their little school and they are progressing well,
despite their unusual life experiences! I had an enjoyable time as the
President of the P and C Association this year being able to set up the
school food gardens, and sharing many ideas about alternative approaches to
education. The children absolutely love the garden and we have shared some
of the vegies. We cut up and shared one perfect organic tomato into 17
pieces for every class member, yummm! We were also able to feature the food
gardens in our little action to support the 350 climate change campaign –
growing our own vegies is such a practical and life-enhancing response to
the climate crisis.

In October, Pacha, Yani and I travelled to Tasmania and to Australia’s South
East to visit the forests being cut down to be sent to Japan as woodchips. I
went back to the magnificent forests I visited last year and saw that they
have now been smashed to produce tissues, toilet paper and office paper. We
were all very sad, but determined to do something positive and we feel very
lucky that we can offer to share this message in Japan. Please help us with
our campaign and check in with the Sloth Club to find out more. I’m
including some photos of our journey and you can see Yani talking about
forests on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZYG3Miork Actually,
I have been trying to learn more about video editing and youtube and am
starting to get a few more clips on line. You might also want to check out
the movie we have about El Milagro in Ecaudor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67f0QBUOkBE

The Australian forest Japan consumer campaign and the 10th anniversary of
the Sloth Club is bringing me back to Japan in less than 2 weeks! It is very
exciting, the campaign will be fun and light-hearted and I look so much
forward to meeting my Sloth friends again! Looking forward to seeing you,

For Life, anja

5/21

The rain is causing a percussive symphony on the shed roof, the wind adding whining and roaring in the background. In the spaces where there is stillness, the crashing of the waves in the ocean fills the air. It is a perfect reason to sit here with a cup of dandelion tea and catch up with some story telling about our adventures in Woombah.

Over the past month there has been a lot of activity here. Taka has been helping us as a WWOOFer and we have been visited by Hiroko (from Yakushima and Tasmania) and Misako and daughter 3 year old Hanaka.

It’s kind of embarrassing to say that the building project here is still going on and is taking so much time and will probably go on forever! Even though I am supposed to be a Sloth, I have deeply programmed conditioning to ‘achieve’ and ‘produce’ and ‘progress’. I make impossible deadlines to get building done using recycled materials, very little money and being highly creative dealing with the authorities and the regulations needed to be followed in this kind of project. There has been wonderful help from local handy people who give their skills and creative ideas for very little cost and let me do whatever I can to help.

Over the past month we have:
Travelled 20 hours by train to Ayr in north QLD to hold a garage sale that cleared out most of our belongings and check on our old house there, Continued with the permaculture plan in Woombah, putting together banana circles and swaling to help capture and direct the water flows on the land (Yani has been especially helpful in gardening and figuring out the best place for a pond).

Had a big cement tank delivered for the grey water system, Put in cedar shutters inside the house to be able to allow for airflow and light between rooms, Installed another louvre window, Created the framing and inner cladding for the bathroom (and found a nice deep tub to put in there), Picked up a big truckload of assorted bits and pieces of recycled materials (sliding doors, tiles, splashback, pavers, staircase stringers, doors, etc, etc) from the Gold Coast – a huge adventure (and not possible without the help of Taka).

Built a staircase to the mezzanine floor using metal stringers from the dump, hardwood treads from a local salvage timber yard and our own wattle trees for the handrails.

Set up a ‘dance floor’ area upstairs for Pacha and Yani in front of two huge wardrobe mirrors on the extra carpet our neighbour Mick gave us a couple of days ago.

Last week came the excellent news from the local council that I have had the
building approval for my design in converting this shed into a dwelling. I am now an official ‘owner-builder’ with the legal right to create a home made from things that find their way to the dumps and secondhand shops.

Though sometimes frustrating, it is also immensely satisfying to be doing things this way, creatively, originally, organically. The design moves and shifts depending on what I have been able to scrounge and scavange. Last week I saw a pile of thrown away building materials beside a new house construction. I timidly asked if I could recycle some of the material – no problem. On our fishing trip to the local beach, I picked up a few pieces of driftwood to make a towel rack.

As the weather cools down there is a little more urgency in putting in the insulation and interior cladding (and a bathtub!) – yet, the temperature is still so mild here (10 to 20 C), that we can really just put some extra layers of clothes on.

Pacha and Yani are coping wonderfully well with everything and are still enjoying school very much. The Iluka Public school is lucky to have some specially talented teachers and assistants, including their dance teacher, Mandy, who directed them in a prize winning dance competition last week. As the President of the P and C, I have not been able to do much yet, once our bathroom is done I hope to get onto the school gardens.

Yani changes his life ambition at least once per week. Last week, when our neighbours gave him a hand repaired fishing rod, he wanted to be a ‘fisher’, this week when there was a school presentation about cane toads, he wanted to be a wildlife ranger...

This past month was also about ‘visitors’. We are lucky to have friends who don’t mind a ‘simple life’. Both Taka (for a months), then Misako and Hanaka (for a few days), stayed in the caravan and I hope they were comfortable there. For Taka it was the first visit to Australia and the first experience of Wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms). He was great with Pacha and Yani and tried his best to adjust to a completely new lifestyle. I pushed him pretty hard to ask more questions and try to learn more about where he was and what he was doing. I realised that my childhood was probably much more ‘hands-on’ than a normal person in Japan where academic success is probably the most important achievement.

I remember looking at Taka after we had just spent 14 hours loading secondhand materials onto a truck, driving 4 hours in it, then unloading in the dark and the rain in Woombah and asking him ‘do you think your mother would ever do this?’ He answered: ‘I don’t think so’… Yes, I admit, our lives are a little bit out of the
ordinary…

One the day Taka left for the Jarlanbah permaculture community in Nimbin, Misako and 3 year old Hanaka arrived in Woombah. I think it was love at first sight with Hanaka to Pacha (and vice versa) – as the girls danced and sang and jumped all over the place. I will never forget the look of sheer joy and abandon as Hanaka ran down the beach at Shark Bay with Yani and Pacha – her spirit flying free! This is the feeling that connects us with Life – everyone should make the opportunity to do this whenever they can! I seriously think that Pacha could guide groups of young people from cities in Japan about how to ‘set their inner wild child free’!

We are very much looking forward to more visitors to nurture and be inspired by this part of the world.

For Life, anja, pacha and yani

3/26

Dear Friends,

The sounds of nature around Pacha, Yani and I have changed. Kookaburra’s
laughter has replaced the shrieking of the Cock of the Rock in Intag,
Ecuador. The roaring of the river has changed to the sound of occasional
cars, playing kids and lawnmowers. The trees are taller and sleeker and not
covered by bromiliads and other epyphites. The smell is of eucalyptus and
clean, dry air - no longer the moist, rich air of the cloud forest.
Kangaroos replace horses and cows grazing on our front lawn. We miss our
raw, wild life in Ecuador, but life is much easier for us here in Australia.

We are still in the process of moving here permanently. I have been busy as
a builder, drawing up plans to convert the big shed into a house and
applying for permission from the local council. It has been a big learning
experience and again, very different from our lives in Ecuador where there
are far less rules! Hopefully within a month we will have permission to
build a bathroom and composting toilet that will make our lives here more
comfortable. (Luckily we are well trained in simplicity from our lives in
Ecuador!).

I have finally been able to connect onto the internet here in our
‘semi-house’ and am excited to be able to share this next stage of our life
adventure! Last year was wonderful, but exhausting, it seems like we have
been moving for years. I am trying to trace the fragments and people, my
global family, of the past 20 years, that have been scattered over many
countries and many places in those countries. I am longing to plant and
nurture the trees that the children will be able to pick fruit from in 10
years, in one place. It seems, right now, that Woombah, in northern NSW, is
that place.

It’s hard to imagine a place that is more like the paradise I grew up in on
the Gold Coast 37 years ago – river, ocean, forest, mangrove, rainforest,
sacred Aboriginal sites, small school, small community where people really
know each other and enough space to provide food for ourselves. Our
neighbours are kind and always helpful and we share seeds and plant
cuttings. We’re starting a local seed network and many people have joined
the call to put solar panels on their roof for electricity production. It’s
good…really good.

And Pacha and Yani seem very happy. They love going to school and, to my
surprise, don’t seem to be behind the other kids in schoolwork, despite not
having formal schooling for most of last year. I did a little bit of home
schooling in Ecuador, but it seems the excitement of travel and new
experiences and new languages has stimulated that part of their brain where
learning happens. It has confirmed to me that while formal school is
important, real learning happens in many different ways. The challenges of
the world that our children are growing up in makes new demands - of
adaptability, flexibility, creativity and knowing what ‘enough’ is. Pacha,
Yani and I learning and growing in this quest to find a happy, healthy life
in this changing world.

A big part of my happiness comes from being of service - and it seems that I
still can’t say ‘no’ to an active campaign. This month I ran for the Greens
in the state election for Queensland (I am still officially living there).
It’s always pretty tough, and we never have money to spend on the campaigns,
but I think it was worth it to offer a Green choice to voters on election
day. A highlight was running this campaign with my sister, Inge, who also
juggled her campaigning with her duties as a parent to 3 children. We did
well considering what we could put in, though generally people seem more and
more disconnected from politics - busier in their own lives, in despair that
there will ever be a real change. But society is changing – shouldn’t
politics reflect that? Maybe we just have to wait a little longer.

I didn’t win the state election for the Greens, though I was recently
elected President of the Parents and Citizen’s association of the Iluka
Public School! And, who knows, maybe this will have a more positive outcome
in the long run. I am so excited to work on establishing food gardens and
putting solar panels on the roof – there are so many ways that parents can
become involved in making school a place where children learn not only
reading and writing, but how to live. As always, the hardest part is
finding enough time to do it all!

Love to all, For Life, anja, pacha and yani.

10/13和訳

世界経済の市場は危機的状態です。しかしいったいそれが何だというのでしょう？私がいる山深いコミュニティからはグァバの木や植林されたばかりの庭が見えます。そんな社会問題はとても遠くの出来事に感じられます。

ここでは、世界経済の混乱よりも地球温暖化の方がはるかに生活に直接的な打撃を及ぼします。気候変動は種まきや収穫を左右する大問題。今後変化していく可能性もありますが、インタグのコミュニティは、都会の消費依存型のコミュニティより、確実に生きるための本能的な知恵が豊かと言えるでしょう。

ここエル・ミラグロでの先週からの仕事といえば、種を植えることでした。一粒の種から百あるいは千もの種になり、それが私たちの食料になるだけでなく、地球に豊かさを取り戻すことを心に描きながら、植えていきます。

私たちのDNAの奥深くに刻まれた、本質的な「生きるための知恵」は、「経済成長神話」に依存してきた結果、失われつつあります。 「限りない成長」という経済至上主義が本質を乗っ取り、自然を迫害してしまった。でも、お金はただの紙切れなんです。アメリカの先住民たちは前から言っていました、「お金は食べられない」ということを。

インターネットをするために訪れたオタバロの町で、私はオバマとマケインのアメリカ大統領選挙演説を見ました。全体的にどちらの候補者も、地球の直面する問題への現実味のある新しい可能性や勇気のある決断を持っていなく、私は落胆してしまいました。

しかしながら、バラク・オバマ氏の一言が私の心に響きました。このように言っていたと思います；　９／１１以降ブッシュ政権は単純に民衆にこう言うだけでした。 すべて丸く収まるであろう。すべてのことにおいての責任を政府がとるのであるから、民衆はただひたすら「購入」し続けることでアメリカ経済を強くささえていればよいのだ、と。

問題に直面した国としての建設的な決断を下す絶好の機会が失われたときでした。裕福な国に住む人々は、ようやく自らの人生に意義をもたらすかもしれない犠牲を払う心の準備をととのえたかもしれませんが。このたった一つの望みのようなもの
が経済破綻という結末をもたらしたかもしれない、と私は考えるのです。

私たちのような裕福な国に生まれた人間には、もはやスローで、より小規模でシンプルに生きる事しか選択の余地はないのでしょうね。そんな今こそ自信を持って、私たちは手を取り合い地球の生態系を考慮した、持続可能な、お金にそんなに頼らない幸せな生活を営みましょう。

まず、とても基本的な事として実用レベルでの新しい生活習慣のためのお手本が必要になってきますので皆さんで地球への負担を出来るだけ軽くするためのアイデア、日々出来る事などなど話し合ってください。
SLOHASの時です！

それではエル・ミラグロへもどりましょう

２、３週間前私の大親友のナマケモノ倶楽部の世話人中村隆市さんが日本から新旧の素晴らしい友人たちをつれてエクアドルへAACRI （インタグ有機コーヒー生産者協会）の１０周年のお祝いをかねて訪問に来てくれました。わだあやさんがエクアドルの典型的な遅延状況にも関わらず、１０日間の滞在期間すべての手配と準備をしてくれました。

パチャとヤニと私は１０日間のすべての行程に参加しました。（皆さんの寛大さに感謝！）というのも出来る限りのお手伝いをしたかったし、友人たちとつながり分かち合えるチャンスだったからです。

皆さんが到着する前、ここエル・ミラグロでは新しくコーヒーの育つ森を育成するための区画を広げました。そして果実やコーヒーの苗木をみなさんが植えられるような準備を整えることに励みました。これは持続可能な発展のお手本としてのエル・ミラグロの展望を強く、新たなものにするべき素晴らしい機会となりました。

私自身ここを訪れたすべての人がエル・ミラグロの役割を良き思想の反映と、平和、静穏の場所であり、持続可能な生活習慣のお手本である事に気がついてくれていると感じます。というのも「本格的」なSLOHASは「現代社会」に戻ったときの持続可能な生活習慣への変換をラクにする手助けをしてくれるからです。

ここで生活していてとても楽しいと感じるもののなかに、イケる、イケてないそれぞれありますが、新しい食材や、植物、デザインを試すことに挑戦し続けているというのがあります。なぜそんな事をしているかというと、いつもここで育てている物を使おうと心がけているからなのです。

私は今日キャベツと青パパイヤのサラダを昼食に作りました（もちろん定番の豆と米も一緒）。これがとってもおいしかったんです！子供たちもおかわりに戻ってくるほどでした。こんな新発見をルイスや地元の人たちに教えることが、私の何よりの楽しみです。多分これは地球上どこでもつながりの深い小さなコミュニティでは同じだと思いますが、ほとんどの人が本来自分の行ってきた事をそのままやり続けているだけです。外の人間が入ってくるか自身で外に出て行くかしない限り何かが変わる事はありません。

パチャはどこに行っても敬愛に満ちて楽しそうに動物たちとの新しい接し方を試しています。今日は馬のシャンティが休んで横になっている所に一緒に座って、シャンティに一曲歌ってあげながら優しく頭をなでていました。その光景がどんなに美しかったか、教えていないのに自ら自然にふるまう彼女をどんなに誇りに思ったことでしょう。

ここでは馬たちは他の動物と同じく重い荷物を運んだり、人間に支配され労働を強いられています。それは仕方のない事なのですが、それでもすべての生き物を尊敬と愛情を持って接する方が素晴らしい生き方ではないでしょうか？

生と死はこちらではより身近な事です。日本の皆さんが滞在していた間に、川向いに住むロベルトとノルマ夫妻の幼い娘で、４歳のエメリーに悲しい事件が起きてしまいました。パチャとヤニとよく遊んでいた明るく美しい女の子、駆け回り、笑い、 滝で遊んでいました。２週間ほど前に、彼女はコタカチ近郊でタクシーにひき逃げされ命を奪われてしまいました。残された家族、プラザギテレスのコミュニティ、サンタ・ロサとプカラのコミュニティにとって深い悲しみとなりました。

パチャ、ヤニそして私は３人にとって人生初のお葬式で、家族や他の参列者たちと、かつて彼女が短い人生の中で遊んだ美しい森の風景を背に地中に沈んでいく姿に嘆きました。カトリックのお葬式では、私は、信仰というものは、誰でも知っている事をみなで一緒にすること、例えばみなで同じ歌を歌ったり同じ形式や儀式を行う事を通じて、 ショックに直面したときや死のトラウマ（心的外傷）から人々を精神的に救えるという重要な役わりを持つ事に気がつきました。

人間はこのような宗教的な儀式を必要としているのではないか、人間以上の存在の力を求めているのではないかと私は考えるのです。例えばお香や聖水を用いたりすることなど、宗教的な形を全く持たずにこのような儀式や慣習を行うことがはたしてできるのでしょうか？「私たちの信仰こそが唯一の神である」と主張したりせず、すべての信仰の根底にある真実を受け入れるべきではないでしょうか？このようなことこそ強いコミュニティを作る為の本質であり、人類として今立ち向かわなければならない大きな挑戦なのではないかと私には思えました。

地中深く棺が沈むその前、最後に一度だけ棺が開けられた時、ヤニは棺のそばにいました。彼女の姿がすっかり変わってしまったとヤニは言っていました。私たち人間は体から魂や精神が抜けてしまった事を感じ取ることができます。人は彼女は天使になったんだよとか、姿は見えないけれど時々は遊びにきてくれるよと言ったりします。

私たちは一緒に楽しく過ごした時を心に刻んで前を向かなければなりません。生きる事は過去の出来事よりもほんの少しだけ大切なものなのです。子供たちも道路は危ない場所にもなり得ること、そして死がこんなに近くに存在する事を前より理解してくれるでしょう。

日本とオーストラリアに行くまでの６週間の計画を立てている時点で、私たちのエル・ミラグロでの時間はもうそろそろ終わりに近づいてきました。私たちは今月（１０月中）海岸部とアマゾンを旅して、その後エル・ミラグロでの最後の数週間は新しい長期ボランティアのカリンにここでの生活に早くなれ親しんでもらうことと、コミュニティに彼女を紹介する手伝いをしたいと思っています。ボランティアの人たちの為の食物がたくさんこれから育って来年になる頃には収穫できるし、日本の「お風呂」（星や蛍を眺めながらお風呂につかれる日が待ち遠しい！）も作り始めています。どのくらいで帰れるか分かりませんが、健やかで新調されたような気持ちでエル・ミラグロを離れることはとっても気持ちがいいです。

いのちのために
アンニャ・ライト

10/13

The world's financial markets are in crisis. What does that mean? From here, looking out at the guava trees and newly planted gardens, the distant community of Plaza Guiterez in the mountain above, the problem seems far away. To these communities the climate crisis has had a more direct impact than global economic chaos so far – predicting the weather is vital for sowing and harvesting crops. This, of course, may change – but the communities of Intag definitely know more about basic survival than our consumer dependent communities in the cities.

Over the past week most of our work here at El Milagro has been in planting seeds – knowing that one seed can produce not only food for us but produce hundreds or thousands more seeds to replenish the Earth. Perhaps this is what the 'great economy myth' has 'banked' on – suspecting that deep within our DNA is the knowledge that life is abundant, even seemingly infinite – so
it is easy to substitute the 'infinite growth' model of financial markets to our innate knowledge of the abundance of nature. But money is just paper. And as the native American prophecy fortells, we can't eat it.

On a brief visit to Otavalo for the internet, I watched a US Presidential debate between Obama and McCain. Overall it left me quite depressed – neither seemed to offer a real alternative or courageous response to the crisis our planet faces. Though one thing Barak Obama said struck me. He said something like this: that after 9/11 Bush basically told people that everything would be alright, the 'government' would take care of everything
and all they needed to do was to keep 'buying' to keep the American economy strong. An opportunity for a positive collective response to a crisis was lost. People in wealthy countries may finally be ready to make sacrifices - it may even give their lives more meaning. To me this is one great hope that may come of the financial crisis – we, in the rich countries, may have no
choice but to live slower, smaller and more simple lives. It's time to feel confident that together we can live more ecological, sustainable and happier lives without depending so much on money. On a very basic, practical level people need examples of new and alternative lifestyles – please share your ideas and inspiration and daily practices in living more lightly on the Earth. Its time for SLOHAS!

Anyway, back to El Milagro.
A couple of weeks ago our good friend and Sloth Club founder, Ryuichi Nakamura, brought a group of wonderful old and new friends from Japan to Ecuador to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the community coffee association in Intag - AACRI and to visit Intag. Aya Wada managed to organise a ten day visit despite the typical Ecuadorean changes and delays in preparing things. Pacha, Yani and I joined most of the tour (thanks for everyone's patience!) - hoping to help where we could and having the chance to share and connect with our friends.

Here at El Milagro we had a great incentive in getting everything in order before the group came to visit, preparing a new site to extend the agroforestry/coffee growing area, so participants could help plant some new coffee and fruit trees. It was a wonderful opportunity to reinforce and renew our vision for El Milagro as a model for sustainable development. I think most people who came could sense the role of El Milagro as a place for reflection, peace, tranquility and a place to practice a sustainable lifestyle – the 'hardcore' slohas that helps make it easier to make sustainable lifestyle changes when returning to 'civilization'.

One of the most enjoyable parts about living here has been trying new things; experimenting with new recipes, new plants, new designs – some work, some don't. Because we try always to use food that we have growing here - today I made a cabbage and green papaya salad for lunch (along with the usual beans and rice) – it worked very well! Even the kids came back for more helpings. I especially love sharing these new discoveries with Luis and other local visitors. Perhaps it is the same in all small, tight knit
communities, all around the Earth, but most people do things the way they have always done and until either they go outside of these boundaries, or someone comes in from the outside, things don't change.

Pacha has been demonstrating a new way to connect with animals everywhere she goes, respectful, loving, playful. Today she sat with her horse Shanti as he was lying down resting, composing a song to sing for him and stroking his head softly. How beautiful it was and how proud I feel for something I have not really taught her, but comes naturally from her own heart. Here horses are treated, like most animals, as beasts of burden, to be controlled
and forced by humans to work. That's fine – but isn't life more beautiful when we treat all living things with respect and love?

Life and death seem closer to us here. During the time the group visited from Japan, a terrible tragedy happened to a little girl, Emely, the daughter of Roberto and Norma who live on the other side of the river. Pacha and Yani would often play with this happy, beautiful 4 year old, running, laughing, playing at the waterfall. About 2 weeks ago she was killed by a hit and run taxi near Cotacachi. The grief of her family and the communities of Plaza Guiterrez, Santa Rosa and Pucara continues. Pacha, Yani and I went
to the funeral - the first one that any of us had been to in our lives, and cried with the family and many other mourners as her body was lowered into the Earth on the mountainside – with a view to the beautiful forests she had played in all her short life. It was a Catholic memorial service, and I recognised the important role that a collective spiritual belief has in helping people face the shock and trauma of death – everyone knew the same songs and phrases, the same rituals and forms – they knew what to do. I
think we have a need for rituals like this, invoking powers greater than us, using incense, holy water, earth…Can we create these ceremonies and rituals without the dogma of exclusive religion? Accepting the essential truths of all spiritual beliefs without claiming that 'ours is the only and true way to God'? It seems to me that something like this is essential in building strong communities in the great challenge we face as a human species right
now.

Yani was near the casket and before they lowered it into the earth they opened the lid one last time. Yani says she looked different. We can all sense when the soul, the spirit, Life has left the body. They both say she is an angel now and sometimes comes to play but we can't see her. We remember the joyful times we had together and try to keep positive. Life is that little more precious. The kids understand a little more how dangerous the roads can be and how quickly death can come.

Our time here at El Milagro is running out as we make our plans for the next 6 weeks before our return to Australia and Japan. We will travel to the coast and to the Amazon this month, then settle in for the last few weeks mostly at El Milagro, helping our new long term volunteer Karin get used to the place and introducing her to the communities here. There will be a lot of food growing here for volunteers, ready to harvest over the next year or so and we have started building the Japanese 'ofuro' (looking very much forward to a hot bath under the stars and fireflies!) It is a good feeling
to leave El Milagro refreshed and renewed for however long it will be before we return.

For Life,
Anja Light