Company: Windward Education and Research Center
Address: 55 Windward lane
Location: Wahkiacus, WA
Application Deadline: September 1, 2013
Position: 3 Full-time, Unpaid
Connections
Description
"The restoration of vibrant, fierce communities of women across the globe would eradicate much of the world’s injustice almost overnight." --Christiane Pelmas, MSW, www.therewilding.com
The foundation for resilient, equitable culture is laid when women create alliances with one another and form mutually supportive circles that protect the long-term welfare of the community, and that inspire and require integrity and character— first in themselves, and then by their example in the other members of their community.
The Windward Center's Women in Community Sustainability Living Internship is a 3 month, full immersion experience intended to develop the baseline of skills needed for young women to play a key role in creating and maintaining thriving, sustainable community.
This internship will involve:
1.) The study of historical and modern examples of matrilocal cultures.
2.) On-going dialogue about the impact of patriarchal and consumer cultures on female sexuality and empowerment.
3.) The experience of daily living in a small, land-based community with ample opportunity for putting theory into practice.
Participants will be exposed to conceptual frameworks, practical techniques, and living examples of ways to maintain ecologically sustainable community. As a part of the curriculum, interns will contribute to the daily life associated with sustainable living systems; such as watering plants, harvesting from the garden, and feeding animals.
Creating sustainable culture is truly an inter-disciplinary task, requiring the integration of a variety of skills and backgrounds, interests and passions. So we encourage women from all academic background to apply. But more than academic interest, however, creating sustainable culture requires courage of heart, strength of spirit and a determination to create a better way of living. If this describes you, we look forward to hearing from you.
Employer Description:
The Windward Center is a village-scale sustainability research cooperative, dedicated to maintaining and developing the knowledge and skills needed to live well with the Earth and one another, managed by an intentional community of over 30 years in the making.
To learn more visit www.windward.org
Application Instructions:
To apply, send an email to Windward@gorge.net with Ping! In the subject line, with responses to following questions:
1.) Why do you want to participate in the Women in Community Sustainable Living Internship?
2.) Describe some of your experiences living in community, or working towards creating a sustainable culture.
3.) Describe your academic background, personal interests, hobbies and passions.
4.) What do you consider your strengths and weaknesses, particularly as it relates to living and working collaboratively with others?
Our internship programs run from March to November.
Responsibilities
Learning Culture:
We believe that sustainability ultimately requires diligence and consistency; working everyday to nourish an grow our knowledge, our relationships, an the living systems which support us. This is a paramount lesson which is found across all internships.
Self-direction and autonomy are also important aspects of our approach to sustainability and community. We believe any strong resilient group endeavour is composed of strong resilient individuals.
Windward provides an opportunity to see first hand how well grounded and centered individuals- people who take responsibility for their own personhood- can work together to envision and realize a sustainable culture.
Our combined focus on both research and hands-on work allows interns to develop their ideas, and see them come to life through hard work and adaptation. Interns have a unique opportunity to learn and get comfortable in working with their bodies and with a variety of tools and equipment.
Our work with living creatures, from sheep and goats, to permacultural food forests and annual gardens provide the opportunity to learn how the threads of life can be woven together to meet the basic needs (food, fuel, clothing, housing, intimacy, pure water, fertile soil soil and more) of a human community.
Length of Internship:
Internships are 12 weeks on average although longer or shorter stays are acceptable under some circumstances. The full-immersion experience of an Windward internship necessitates at least a three month stay in order for an individual to become acclimated to the flow of life in community, and to have adequate time to exist comfortably in this context once they get their bearings.
Estimated work load and schedule:
About of 5 hours a day, 6 days a week, totalling 30 hours a week. Approximately 3 hours a day with group work, writing, and general tasks associated with a sustainable community (feeding animals, washing dishes, etc). 2-4 hours a day working on individual sustainability internship project(s), having conversations or getting guidance from coordinators, researching, reading and studying as needed.
One blog post (1-2 pages) every 2 weeks outlining their projects progress or some experience living at Windward.
Internship Location:
Internships are hosted at Windward's rural 131 acre campus near the town of Klickitat Washington. Interns are housed on-site in individual billets, and share a common kitchen facility and workshops.
Requirements
Interns should want to live in a rural community context, and should expect to learn and define their projects in terms of how it serves human communities.
We desire self-motivated people who come here to pursue their purpose and projects; who take work and safety seriously and want to make a difference; and who will accept the guidance of Windward members.
Individuals should have the capacity for research, critical examination, a desire to learn new skills and put ideas into practice.
