Broccoli Seeds and Bicimaquinas

Author: Aerin Dunford

My tasks this morning included washing clothes in a bicycle-powered washing machine and harvesting broccoli seeds from a flowering plant. If you had told me six years ago that these would be “normal” activities for me, I would have hardly believed you. In 2005 I was deeply immersed in a very different world: studying for a master’s degree in management in Vermont and on my way to becoming another cog in the non-profit industrial complex as an organizational consultant or NGO profesionista. Today, I live in Oaxaca, Mexico and work in urban gardens, host conversations about engaging communities, convene transformative gatherings and make jewelry, clothes and art from garbage. So what’s my Walk Out Walk On story?

I will tell you that it mostly has to do with the incredible web of relationships I have been fortunate to find myself in these past years. After my first year of graduate school I got an internship with The Berkana Institute. I was immediately introduced to an inspiring group of individuals who were forming a trans-local learning community called the Berkana Exchange. One of the first things that I learned from the Exchange was that another way is possible. I saw what these people were doing in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges in places like Zimbabwe, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico. They were constructing urban gardens, building with waste materials, re-thinking learning systems and working with young people in innovative new ways. That realization that there is another way was the first step toward walking out.

The second thing that I did was traveled around to visit as many of these individuals and communities as I could, doing hands-on work whenever possible. In this way, I learned by seeing and by doing, not just by reading and hearing stories. I saw the realities on the ground: the successes and challenges that my friends faced in their work to strengthen and make their communities more resilient. I pushed comfort zones by dumpster diving for recyclable materials in downtown Johannesburg, making soap from cow dung in India and constructing composting toilets in Greece. These new experiences helped prepare me to walk out.

What finally pushed me to declare an end to one life and offered me the opportunity to start a new one was not a single event, but rather a synchronicity of occurrences. In the fall of 2007 Berkana hosted a learning journey in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. On the journey I fell head-over-heels in love with another inspiring walk out (Sergio Beltrán, featured in Walk Out Walk On). My love for the city of Oaxaca and yearning for a different way of living also deepened. And voila! a path for walking out and walking on suddenly started creating itself.

During the year before moving to Mexico I had a break-through about how I wanted to walk on. After three years of working with the folks in the Berkana Exchange I had seen so many inspiring examples of individuals and communities “living the future now.” I knew of many practices for living a more fulfilling and sustainable life. Yet, somehow, I was still sitting in front of a screen 8 long hours a day. My promise was that when I started my new life, I would walk on to growing my food and upcycling my waste. In this way I walked out of being an employee at a non-profit living in New England, U.S.A. to being a hands-on learner and mentor, connecting with new communities and strengthening networks of relationships in Oaxaca, Mexico.