Midweek Connect 11/11/20: Community Building
Greetings and Happy Midweek!
It being almost mid-month again, I thought we would revisit a previous blog post and go a bit more deeply into the topic. This process mirrors one of Global SKILLs core principles of grounding lifelong learning in the strategy of ‘going ever more deeply’ into things one is learning about.
Since I am going to be participating later this week in a global virtual conference focusing on the tiny lifestyles movement of which I am a part, let’s look more closely at one aspect of this. You might like to check out my August 5th blog post, “One Tiny Step at a time” which introduced the Tiny Circles hub of Global SKILLs, and briefly described my own personal living choices which involve ‘tiny living’ (https://www.globalskillspartners.com/blog-1).
Here in the US, unlike in most of the world, living in small spaces is not the norm. However, based on many factors varying from region to region and individual to individual (financial, environmental, socio-cultural…), there is a growing movement (the Tiny Living Movement) to downsize and/or minimalize, and to do this in community settings with like-minded people. I could go on for hours about the kaleidoscope of resulting tiny housing options and tiny community models which are springing up. But for today, I’ll share an exciting cross-cultural dynamic connected with the tiny movement which has taken shape just in the past few days.
When I moved my tiny house built on wheels from Florida to Pennsylvania 6 weeks ago, I hired a professional transport company which is owned by Damian, a man from Guatemala. Through the process of arranging for the move, I got acquainted with Damian and learned that, alongside this business he is running here in the US which serves the tiny living movement, he also is involved in serving isolated often very challenged communities back in Guatemala. Well, when Hurricane Eta smashed that region this past week, Damian (who was in Guatemala at the time) sprung into action helping with the relief efforts. He sent out an appeal on Sunday, and although I am not able to help with finances at this point, I thought I perhaps could help with getting the appeal out to a broader audience - through the global tiny living conference I’d be attending!
So yesterday afternoon, I contacted the conference organizers, told them what I have just shared with you about Damian highlighting his connection with the tiny living movement, and described the current desperate needs which he is helping meet. Within a few hours, the conference team agreed to highlight this worthy cause throughout the conference, hoping to bring in finances and also perhaps help with disaster relief housing - something tiny house builders are already doing in other areas. How’s that for global community building?!
How about you? Have you been involved with or seen an example of global community building lately? If so, share it here or with a friend...and check out the Global SKILLs LINKs below for some other examples of how people are building diverse tiny communities.
Global SKILLs LINKs
https://www.squareonevillages.org/ - This is one of the most developed and sustainable tiny community models I have come across here in the US, and also one of the more effective attainable housing models I have seen to date (with integrated social services, job training and programming for residents)
https://www.archdaily.com/947194/minimal-homes-and-a-central-collective-space-tiny-house-communities-around-the-world - several interesting tiny community models from ‘around the world’ as well as a number more from the US
2020 - Celebrating Global SKIlls 10th Anniversary Connecting, Collaborating, Cultivating Community