Boodaville Fete of Fun – Party in Barcelona
Posted on Feb 27, 2017
So many people gave their time to help organise and run this event – huge thanks to Marina, Sara, Guim, Laura, Mike, Duncan, Edgar, Alice, Prithika, Orla, Aoife, Polly, Frank, Alessandro, Helen, Gilard, Roger, Aroa, Ricki and to everyone who came along and got involved to make it so much fun and to run so smoothly. Thank you to each and every one of you who contributed at the event.. we feel blessed to have so many supporters to make awesome things happen here in Barcelona and from April at the Boodaville site during 2017. A special mention to Barbara who let us use her local for the party and a very special mention to my family – Bernat who is always working really hard to support the project as well as providing photos and videos, and Kira who is just happy and joins in with us all. (as we saw from her dancing on the table….)
What does Anna think about it all?
I shouldn’t spend too much time writing a long article about this.. we still have a crowdfunding campaign and a Youth in Permaculture project to work on! But I can’t stop myself from sharing a few reflections, and thinking about the impact of the event.
Overall that was a pretty intense way to raise 500 euros, a lot of work preparing and organising as best I could (not perfectly by any means) but what really strikes me about the event is that it was the permaculture way to raise money! The event was so much more than euros – we are building and strengthening a beautiful Boodaville community, we had loads of fun, people are making real and strong connections by getting together at events like this.
I hope you noticed the lack of disposable cups at the fete! The negative ecological impact of doing this was absolutely minimal – we didn’t break a single glass and I spent forty minutes on Sunday washing them up, which was a pleasure because of the plastic I knew was being saved. I also believe that designing tasks like washing up into your day makes life more balanced (tip – design to have time to do it as well!).
We generated about 2 plastic bags full of cans and about 12 glass bottles, which went for recycling obviously, and maybe some people had napkins with their focaccia! Very few people travelled by car to arrive. We printed 20 sheets of paper and burst a few balloons. All the prizes were donated, the dough the kids played with was organic material only, and all the left over stuff has been donated to charity or recycled. There were a few bags of ice. All the bread was organic from the local bakery and the apple juice organic too! (although bought from Lidl..)
On a positive note many of us peed in the park – that helps the plants, honest!! People came to a park and enjoyed the view and a sort of natural setting for the afternoon.
The thing that has really stuck with me from the event is a reflection about stuff, consumption and economics. To see all the perfectly good stuff that people don’t want, yet don’t know what to do with, highlights a huge fault in the economic system. Forget money, the real subject of economics is to share the resources we have so that people can cover their needs and wants. It is insane that there is not a more obvious standard way to shift all this stuff around in a way that doesn’t waste it. There are people who want kids shoes, and a funky dress, or a costume for a day, or toys.. but how are you supposed to get all this stuff to them?? You want to create employment? there’s a chance right there! Even in our ridiculous age of consuming cheap low quality crap, there is an insane amount of perfectly good stuff which is being wasted. Well luckily Oxfam accepted the clothes, and they are a genuinely good organisation, and Polly accepted the costume stuff for her awesome cabaret event next week.
Go enjoy yourselves people.. if it’s not fun it’s not sustainable!
Love
Anna
2 weeks ago…
It’s exactly two weeks since OJ passed away. Just two weeks since he was partying and dancing. I can think back to the horror of the phone call when I found out. Yesterday I walked past the exact spot I was standing when I heard the words “he’s dead”. I can think of the conversation I had with Maja about how it felt the moment when they switched off the machines in the hospital while she was holding his hand. His ashes will be taken back to his home city of Brno and scattered next to the grave of his father. Who died at 30 years old. I can think about his mother, but I cannot imagine what she is going through. With my own daughter, just three years, I already share so much love and so many memories, multiply that by nine then imagine having it ripped away from you. I only knew OJ (Ondra) for 20 months.
But I am also starting to look forward. I’ve been through shock, disbelief, asking why, and now I am deeply sad that when I look to the future I won’t be sharing it with him at Boodaville. I really loved him. I’m thinking about how much I looked forward to seeing him pick me up from the station, and how connected I felt to him. I would like to create a suitable to memorial to him.
