Our invited guest, Keibo Oiwa, a Japanese cultural anthropologist, environmentalist, and public speaker led his first 5-day residential workshop with KFBG. The workshop was very popular and we even had to turn people away as limited space meant we could only accept 21 participants. 

Participants sharing community work every morning at the Green Hub

Keibo shared his experiences of organising ‘Slow Small School’ and ‘Sloth Club’ in Japan alongside many other inspiring local examples and movements related to slow, small and simple living. Keibo gave lectures in different subjects, such as Unlearning Economics, Spirituality and Ecology and From Global to Local, which provide participants with different worldviews stemming from a holistic approach.
 

Keibo took reference to his "Slow Small School" project in Japan to explain the ideas of "Slow Living"

Every morning after breakfast, participants shared community work, such as wiping floors, watering plants and dishwashing, and then attended a brief session where they were able to exchange their learning and related articles, poems or exercises. The principle was that in the workshop everyone is a student but is also a teacher. Our participants were open this concept and so over the five days we shared many inspiring stories and much joyful laughter.

Apart from lectures, participants also had opportunities to sing songs, cook together, explore the nature trail and observe patterns in plants for Zentangle drawing, practice mindfulness activities, hike to Lai Chi Wo to visit the Sustainable Lai Chi Wo Project, make Hakka rice cake and experience organic farming together. At the end of the workshop, we sang a song about a little hummingbird* where the moral reminds us to try our best to do what we can even though it may seem small!


Making Hakka Tea Cakes at Lai Chi Wo

Helping the farmers of Lai Chi Wo to remove the large stones from the farmlands

Keibo in traditional Japanese kimono

At the last day of the workshop, all participants laughed and discussed excitedly in the sharing session

If you would like to join similar transformative workshops and stay in touch with us, please feel free to email us at holisticedu@kfbg.org

 

* The Story of the Hummingbird

One day a terrible fire suddenly broke out in a forest and soon a huge area of woodland was engulfed by raging wildfire. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream they stopped to watch the fire; they were feeling very discouraged and powerless and were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire, except for one little hummingbird; this particular hummingbird decided it would do something. It swooped into the stream and picked up a few drops of water then went into the forest and dropped them on the fire. Then it went back to the stream and did it again, and it kept going back, again and again and again. All the other animals watched in disbelief; some tried to discourage the hummingbird with comments like, "Don't bother, the fire is too great, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can't put out this fire." And as the animals stood around disparaging the little bird’s efforts, the bird noticed how hopeless and forlorn they looked. Then one of the animals shouted out and challenged the hummingbird in a mocking voice, "What do you think you are doing?" And the hummingbird, without missing a beat, looked back and said, "I am doing what I can."