Our Community

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Currently at Avnø Oasis Ecovillage, our community consists of a core group of 7 adults and 3 kids, several explorers of the project, and 5-10 volunteers. The total number of people staying here varies from 10 to 60+ people of different ages at different times of the year, depending on events, how many people are home, as well as the number of volunteers, students, and guests. We aim to raise the number of permanent residents to 30 adults plus our kids.

By January 2025 our members are:

John (USA), Kristiane (Denmark), Lena (Ukraine), Olha (Ukraine), Lasse (Denmark) are partners of the project. Our kids are Rada, Timur and Zoryana.

Bob & Isabel are explorers. Hauke Christian is a co-liver. Activity partners include the board of Vitalitetsfonden, Rikke & Bernhard, Lucia, Karin, Alicia, Thias, Philippe, Christian, various members of LØS, who are teaching parts of our courses, and others.

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Meet our core members:

Kristiane Ravn Frost

Kristiane Ravn Frost

My name is Kristiane. I am in Avnø Oasis because I love to see people, plants and projects grow. I was part of starting this project because I wanted to create a greater impact than I could do alone. To witness the transformation that people who come here go through no matter if it is volunteers, explorers or students is absolutely fantastic. To experience that the connection with the other core members becomes deeper every time we together handle a difficult situation is very satisfying for me. I have only experienced that with some of my children before. Our focus on empowerment gives me hope for a brighter future on earth and motivates me to continue to do my very best to realize this project.

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John Hollman

I'm John, 79 years old, grew up in Oregon USA raised on a dairy farm. Graduated from University of Portland in Oregon with a degree in accounting and a minor in economics. Worked with my brother in a home building company and land development company. Later owned a manufacturing company, manufacturing, wood, lockers, and racquetball and squash courts internationally. Currently at Avno working with the maintenance and bookkeeping since its founding in 2020.

Olha Simon

Olga Simon

Defining myself in a few lines is tricky - I have many facets and many roles at Avnø. What seems to always stay is my passion for authenticity, depth, harmony, and connection. When I was 20, I went through cancer, - and that liberated me immensely. I realized - it is time for me to change my life and the world around, supporting myself and others in becoming who we truly are. So I came to Avnø in 2022 to facilitate the Community Education course - and since then it became my home, my expressive laboratory, and my version of Hogwarts. Here I coordinate, organize, facilitate, promote, offer community-building, educate, clean, and support people in enjoying their work and life at Avnø.

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Helena Marchenko

I am a permaculture designer and mother. I have three children. I enjoy growing trees from seeds, beautifying the planet with gardens. I garden and teach permaculture in our community. Personal development is also important to me. I feel like I have found the perfect place for myself here because I can learn and share knowledge and live surrounded by nature and wonderful people.

Rada, Timur and Zoryana

Rada is 12 years old. She is creative and likes to read books. Timur - 9 years. Open and sensitive. Like to play Lego and cars. They attend a Steiner school close by. Zoryana is 3. Goes to kindergarten. Active and independent.

Lasse Kofod

I joined the community looking for friends and a project to be involved in, which I have surely found! Having been involved since winter 2022/23, I am part of making the buildings and IT function. I enjoy fixing things, learning new skills, and writing a song every now and then. I hope to participate in making Avnø an even more awesome place to be.

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Life in our community:

We are often 7-10 different nationalities around the table 🙂

As an international community, our main language is English. However, we want to stay integrated into our local area, so Danish is learned by the residents, and spoken in situations when only Danish-speaking people are present.

Living in a community can be socially demanding, but it also provides opportunities for personal growth, healing, and deep connections with other people. It is an opportunity to learn to find a balance between taking responsibility for your personal needs and the community’s needs. There will be people and situations that trigger your weak spots or bring out your strengths. It’s essential for an enjoyable community life that you (and everyone else here) are eager to learn and develop yourself through your stay and that you are willing to work with tensions/conflicts that may arise. Here you can find our procedure for dealing with conflicts in a respectful manner.

Essential community building activities that we all aim to participate in are:

  • Daily morning circles at 9:00 — starting the day with a song/activity and hear announcements
  • Weekly sharing circles at 19:30 on Sundays — to share what’s alive in our minds and hearts
  • Weekly wellbeing-at-work meetings
  • Monthly coordination group meetings
  • Opening and closing circles for people coming/leaving.
  • Some sessions in spring and autumn at the beginning of the long courses to integrate residents, students and volunteers in one community.
  • Community meetings, when matters that touch all of us are explored/decided. (Short meetings connected with morning circles a few times a year).
  • Frustration release meetings, when tensions emerges in our community (A few times a year)

You are invited to participate in or initiate optional community building activities such as women’s circles, biodanza, morning yoga/exercises, video evenings, game nights, workshops, courses and events organized by volunteers, students, residents or as part of Avnø Højskole. You are also welcome to spend time alone, or explore the surroundings.

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Decision-Making & Organisation

Legally, all activities of Avnø Oasis are run through Vitalitetsfonden (CVR 417046). We use sociocracy for decision-making and organisation, because it gives everyone a chance to be heard and provides transparency (if practiced correctly 🙂). Residents, community members and volunteers participate in one (or more) working group matching their skills and interests. You can read more about sociocracy in our library, or participate in our sociocracy courses during your stay. 

Our responsibilities are organized in working groups, where each member takes responsibility for a smaller or larger part of the activities. Besides that we have community service teams taking care of daily tasks, such as drinks, cooking, after meal cleaning, dishwashing, cleaning, driving, etc. Students, guests, volunteers and most residents and community members participate in the community service teams.

As a new volunteer, you start in one working group and one service team doing simple routine tasks. As you become more integrated in your working group and our community, you may gradually increase your level of responsibility to smaller or larger work areas, depending on your interest and capacity. Once the work in your first working group flows with ease and joy, you may join a second working group, depending on your interest and capacity. 

Our working groups

Every working circle has clearly defined aims and a mandate to make decisions within their area of responsibility. Our working groups are:

  • Vision Keeper circle
    4 core members who are elected to hold the long term vision & strategy and address structural problems and tensions.

 

  • Core member circle
    People who are committed to Avnø Compass, live here all year, and carry major areas of responsibility on a regular basis.

 

  • Member circle
    People who are committed to Avnø Compass, spend some of their time here in various formats and positively contribute to Avnø.

 

  • Coordination circle
    Responsible for designing and deciding areas of responsibility for the working groups, so that everything is taken care of and nothing overlaps. Consists of 2 members from each working group.

 

  • Hosting circle & subcircles
    Responsible for creating an indoor environment where people thrive and hosting members, volunteers, students and guests, and making sure they are well integrated in our community, happy, and satisfied.
  • Kitchen sub circle: Prepares meals for the community. Keeps the kitchen clean.
  • Avnø Carshare association sub circle: Makes cars available to members of Avnø Carshare. Vitalitetsfonden provides transport to and from bus and train through Avnø Carshare.
  • Volunteer sub circle: Volunteer coordination and mentoring.

 

  • Education (Avnø Højskole) circle
    Responsible for creating and coordinating courses, events, students and teachers, facilitating workshops…as well as Erasmus+ programs

 

  • Promotion circle
    Promotes our activities on our social media and website. Creates and maintains our visual branding. The area includes graphic design, promotion, SoMe, website, article writing, creation of flyers etc.

 

  • Economy & Administration
    Responsible for economy (Bookkeeping, budget, overview over economy & liquidity), yearly reports, organizing information structures, administration of ESC volunteers etc. Vitalitetsfonden is our legal body, through which most administrations are done.

 

  • Land circle
    Taking care of all land and outdoor spaces. Growing food.

 

  • Technical circle
    Responsible for all matters regarding IT and buildings: daily maintenance, repairs, plumbing, electricity works, building permits, sustainable designs and solutions, renewable energy …

 

  • Green services (dormant)
    Develops small green enterprises at Avnø Oasis: Makerspace, Health Sanctuary, green cafe, etc.

You can read more about sociocracy here, in our library, or participate in our sociocracy courses.

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Would you like to grow with us towards a sustainable future?

 

 

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