Meet Our Volunteers

There are several volunteers from every corner of the world working hard at Jiwa Damai to help maintain our beautiful permaculture garden and retreat center. In the spirit of community, we'd love to introduce you to a few of them!

Luz, Argentina

Luz from Argentina

1 month at Jiwa Damai

It´s been a long time since Luz first came to Indonesia. For 16 months she’s been living in East Java, in Malang city, where she is an international lecturer in the communication department at the university. Often you can find Luz working in the garden, where she likes to learn about plants, but her main duty at JiwaDamai, because she studied Image and Sound design, is shooting a promotional video about our various on-site activities. In her free time, she likes to watch movies, read books, and cook. She wants to fulfill all her dreams and keep them real.

What is your life goal? To make people think, and to leave some inspiration in the people around me.

Favorite Quote “Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

Marina from Slovakia

Marína, Slovakia

6 weeks at Jiwa Damai

Marína came to Indonesia 17 months ago. She works together with Luz at the same university in Malang city, as a lecturer of Journalism. Before coming to Indonesia, she worked as journalist for more than ten years. She spent two years in Barcelona and now she is living out a big Indonesian adventure. You can find her watering the nursery in our garden or scrubbing floors, which she considers one of her favorite tasks. She is afraid of worms, spiders and snakes. She is responsible for our newsletter, so she spends the majority of her time writing articles and thinking about new, interesting topics. Marína is a huge fan of Crossfit, yoga, books, and swimming in the sea. She adores everything related to her dream country – Spain.

What is your life goal? I want to always be happy and satisfied with my actual work and the life I live. And I want to always be able to follow my dreams and to change my situation if I am not content.

What is your life dream? I would like to meet a nice guy, settle down and have my own family. I would like to feel the taste of the sea on my skin as often as I can get it.

Favorite Quote When a student is ready, a teacher will appear.

Calsae, California (USA)

Calsae from USA

1 month at JiwaDamai

Calsae arrived in Bali with her best friend Gloria two months ago. “We were traveling together all around the island. After that, we’re going all across Asia. We start in Indonesia, and hopefully we will see all of South East Asia: Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, all the way up to India and Nepal. After that I think we’re going to Eastern Europe. Maybe I’ll end up in Berlin and live there for a while. Or maybe I’ll go back to Netherlands and live there for a bit, because I have a lot of family on my Dad’s side there. And I’ll go back to California eventually. I don´t know,” she smiles carelessly, this highly optimistic girl who graduated in June with a degree in English literature. You can find her working on our new Chinampas project, struggling in the mud or cutting up heavy coconut leaves. Besides this she takes care of our marketing, contributes to the newsletter and gives morning yoga classes. She likes reading, writing, playing the guitar and banjo, cooking, baking, hiking, swimming, and practicing yoga.

What is your life goal? That´s what I am trying to figure out. I guess my life goal would just be to have a happy and fulfilling life.

What is your life dream? My life dream… That’s kind of what I am trying to figure out on this trip. I want to travel the world. I want to keep learning and growing and eventually I want move to a beautiful place close to the people I love. After that, I want live a happy life with my family.

Favourite quote "I saw that my life was a vast, glowing, empty page and I could do anything I wanted." - Jack Kerouac

Gloria from USA

Gloria, California (USA)

1 month at JiwaDamai

Gloria is Celsae´s best friend, but they’re really more like twins. Blonde, dreadlocked, and always smiling, Gloria majored in Environmental Studies in university, and is a perfect fit for the lush permaculture haven that is Jiwa Damai. Passionate about permaculture and the environment, Gloria is enjoying her time at Jiwa Damai, describing it as intensive labor with many opportunities to learn and meet new friends. Her favorite work here is using the machete to liberate trees from crawling jungle vines, and she has plans to design and build a medicinal herb spiral during her time here. After Jiwa Damai, Gloria´s travel plans are about the same as Celsae´s, as they are traveling together.

What is your life goal?

“I want to see the world, and learn about different cultures, ways of thinking and ways of doing things. I love adventure… and I don’t have a real job, so I’m free to wander! Her favorite place she has been so far are the hidden beaches on Bhukit peninsula, “secret spots,” she says laughing. Already an avid traveler, Gloria lived in South America for a year, during which she learned fluent Spanish, trekked Machu Picchu, and backpacked for six weeks through the wilderness of Patagonia. Her life goal is to have lots of wild adventures and make the world a brighter place, spreading positive energy and reconnecting humans with our Mother Earth. She like cooking, hiking, and surfing… or as she puts it “shredding the gnar.”

What is your life dream? To continue traveling and never stop meeting beautiful people.

Favourite quote? Be unique,  just like everybody else.