My absolute favourite day in KL was the time we spent at Noble Gateway. Even though our timing was less than optimal (we went there towards the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations), we were welcomed with opened arms and had a wonderful time. In total we only spent a day there, which was filled with meaningful conversations, tasks and amazing food.
The Vision
Noble Gateway was founded about 4 years ago, with the goal of creating an ecovillage. However, out of the ten founders, only one couple, their daughter and an enthusiastic newcomer remain, and they therefore are in dire need of more helping hands and pro-active, engaged members to reach their goals. Their vision is to become the biggest ecovillage of Asia, expanding by including their neighbourhood. They are already the first ecovillage in Malaysia and are thus fighting a very uphill battle, as awareness for climate change and other ecological problems is not as widespread here as in Europe. However, I’d like to point out, that the government and big corporations are taking action here as well, implementing policies to reduce waste and become more sustainable, so the typical European narrative of “Asia doesn’t do anything, so why should we” most definitely does not apply.
The Place
Situated just outside of Kuala Lumpur it only takes 1hr from KL Sentral by car to reach this haven of nature. The area is dominated by ponds and small farms, most of which use pesticides etc. Their land was used to bread exotic animals before they bought it – this is still visible in their infrastructure, including small ponds and a cage they currently use as a seminar space. Some of the iguanas previously bread there escaped and are causing some trouble as they are an invasive species in Malaysia without any natural predators. Apart from that they own many turtles, some quite big, Donald the duck, who thinks it’s a dog, and two lovely dogs. Across the road from the headquarters are their fields, where they grow food. Over the last 3 years, they spent a lot of time increasing the biomass of their ground and composting, creating nutritious soil for their plants. They even have some bronze poles energetically connecting the ground to the sky, which give the place a very peaceful and healing energy. Some people visit simply to enjoy the silence and peace right outside the city.
The Projects
As we only spent one day there, we only got a small insight into the projects, but what we have heard sounds amazing! We helped with filling some small plastic beds with soil and planting Brazilian spinach for an orphanage nearby. They also work with local disability centres and retirement homes. Additionally, they offer courses of sustainable organic gardening for children and farmers who want to restore their soil, often inviting experts to share their knowledge. Currently they are developing a new program, in which employees of a certain firm can come volunteer at their farm together with their family and learn basic gardening skills in the process. All in all, I was super surprised and impressed by all the projects they are organizing – even though they are so few people there and all of them have regular jobs in the city as well!
Overall, I love their project and visions and talking to them felt so natural, it is hard to grasp that I hardly know them. I felt our visions, motivations and mindsets aligned incredibly well and I am super curious, how their project is going to develop. As some of you might know, David and I are thinking of starting our own project once we are home, and seeing these people persist and working together to build their dream, just made me even more confident, that we can do it, if we really try. Once our project is set up, I’d love to build a partnership with them and exchange experiences and tips, maybe even visiting them from time to time.
In the meantime, let me know what you think in the comments below! Have you heard of eco-villages before? Would you consider going to volunteer at a project during your travels?
xxx
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