Village Life
A social enterprise launched in 2011 wanted to draw attention to city dwellers to an alternative way of life.
România Internațional, 25.08.2013, 13:27
A social enterprise launched in 2011 wanted to draw attention to city dwellers to an alternative way of life. ‘Village Life’ was set up by a Romanian economist and an American working in IT. Their conclusion was that they no longer want to live in Vancouver, Canada, they want to raise their children in Romania. Alexandra Vasiliu and Greg Bugyis founded Village Life with a double purpose. Alexandra told us what that double purpose is:
Alexandra Vasiliu: “Village Life wants to help the development of rural communities in a rather innovative way, by bringing together two very different social and economic environments, the rural and the urban. In this way, people in the countryside can, in a very natural way, start to take better advantage of their own resources, while city dwellers, if they come to the countryside and appreciate certain things, may understand their value and maybe have an idea of what they could do in support of them. Our organization brings closer these two social environments, so that village dwellers may get inspiration from city dwellers who go there and appreciate what they have, while people from the city may get some distance from the semi-virtual environment they live in. Besides the fact that city people get to relax, they also have the opportunity to remind themselves where their food comes from, how animals are cared for, activities in which they can get involved when they visit the families we have in villages. We don’t want to do things for people, we only want to urge people to do things for themselves.’
Alexandra and Greg hold workshops in which visitors learn how to graft trees, milk the animals, they learn various kinds of leaves in the forest, their coloring and shape, also how to make cheese, they also see how a lamb or a goat kid are born, and they take part in village events and traditions. The other kind of activity they organize involves larger groups, no bigger than 20 to 30 people, involving larger events. It may be a collective activity, or sheep shearing, for visitors to get involved in. Both activities have a participation fee, of which 25% goes to the social enterprise, the rest goes to the villagers for the resources consumed. Accommodation is in traditional peasant homes. The third type of activity is volunteering, participating in community projects needing expertise or additional labor. An expert may participate, or someone who wants to do some physical labor, and then the fee goes down. Groups may not stay less than 10 days. Village Life’s profit is reinvested in its activities, as the rule goes for social enterprises.
Visitors are both foreign and Romanian, most of them with average incomes. They are delighted, especially those Romanians who still nurture the nostalgia of spending their childhood summers in their grandparents’ village homes. As for the villagers who get into this game with the city people, things have changed as far as they are concerned, and not necessarily for the better, Alexandra says:
Alexandra Vasiliu: “People are very suspicious in the beginning. That is not how the Romanian village used to be, Romanians are well known for their hospitality. Since people started owning TVs, with all the negative information they get through it, they are more and more frightened, they are afraid to bring strangers into their home, and no matter how much they would like that, or realize what help it brings, they are initially reticent. They get over it, and if someone gains confidence in us as an organization, they take people in, they see the kind of people we work with, and they are delighted afterwards. Somehow, this state of delight spreads across the community very fast, and then more and more want to get involved in the program.”
So far, Village Life brought guests in three villages in the counties of Arges, Dolj and Prahova, but it wants to expand in communities in Valcea and Sibiu. One of the aims of the project is to encourage small entrepreneurship in rural areas. The villagers are encouraged to receive guests with local product fairs, held especially for them, and in this way they have the opportunity to see what sells better.
On the Village Life website, Alexandra writes: ‘Before going to Canada, the Romanian village, which was right at my fingertips, was not a preferred travel destination for me. Its peace, harmony between people, animals and nature, seemed to me natural and I took them for granted. However, living in the West and traveling around the world, I understood, and started to appreciate it at its true value. Therefore I came back to Romania trying to reconcile two needs. One was the serious need of the Romanian village to develop socially and economically, the second was my own need for simplicity and authenticity in a crazy world.’. This need for the simple and authentic seems to be felt by more and more people. Alexandra and Greg are not the only ones to rediscover life in the countryside, there are plenty of Romanians born here who choose to return for this reason.
