We are Ioanna and Ray.

In the midst of the wildfires that have recently been ravaging Portugal. The space in which we were building a meditation center and self directed education center for young people has been destroyed.

We have returned yesterday to a barren wasteland of ash and metal frames. The food production agro forest is gone. The bees we raised for pollination and diversity, sadly died of heat. The guest and volunteer bell tents no longer exist..and unfortunately the water/irrigation and electrical systems are destroyed.

As part of this project, we are always striving to live by the principals we hoped to teach. In Buddhism we try to learn to accept with humility the vulnerability of the human experience. Tragic disasters happen to all of us. We must accept this. It is perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed. It is perfectly normal to feel grief and pain at losing your manifested hopes.

So how must we continue to practice what we hoped to preach to young people in the future?

We learn by doing. Just as self directed education teaches young people. Resilience is cultivated from realising you are strong and creative enough to endure hardship.

We will study what systems were fire resilient and what were not.

What trees survived that acted as barriers for the fire? We shall collect thier seeds and foster thier spread.

How do we fix electrical systems that are melted in places? We shall test each component and rebuild.

What beehives burned worse than others?

Now we must continue our path with these new experiences. We wish to reforrest native fire resistant trees and continue with our plans to develop this center.

• We need to cleanup the debris of the destroyed infastructure.
• Rebuild the outdoor kitchen and washroom.
• We want to plant as many native trees as possible that will resist future fires. The country is awash with fast burning money producing trees. We must consider a sustainable change to this.
• Create a water retention system that will nullify future fire.
• Regrow nutritious food to feed us and our community. We firmly believe in teaching young people self sufficiency.
• Re-establish our solar electric system so that we can run everything sustainably.
• Continue build the center out of sustainable materials to hold us and our guests
• Share everything we learn along the process so others can practice the lessons without such hardship.

If you can help us by donating that would be amazing but if you cannot, do get in touch with us to see in what other ways you can help. We need lots of manual help clearing up and if in doubt, plant seeds for native tree species. We will need as many as possible. Thank you!

With all our love

Ioanna and Ray