internship in ecovillage
and permaculture farm
Join us in our day to day life and immerse yourself in community living, permaculture practices, and ecovillage design!
The Gaia Ashram internship is a hands-on experience that is meant to deepen your knowledge and sharpen your skills with experiential learning through head, heart, hands, and spirit.
This Internship program is for whom?
Our Gaia Ashram Internship is an ideal opportunity for those who want to gain (more) knowledge, skills, and experiences in regenerating ecosystems, permaculture practices, and living in harmony with Mother Earth.
This Internship Program is appropriate for;
– college & university students who gap year students who need close mentorships.
– people who have completed Permaculture Design Certificate Course(PDC) or Ecovillage Design Education(EDE) and want to gain more practical experience
– People who want to start Permaculture or Ecovillage project who want to learn in dept to how run such project.
– This Internship program is appropriate people who are already quite skilled and experienced (maybe even completed a PDC or EDE) and want to use their skills & experiences to help to evolve our project or to share with other people in the community.
We are looking for interns that are self-motivated, committed, and flexible with a strong desire to serve Mother Earth, the community, and themselves.
What is the structure of the internship?
The Gaia Ashram Internship will follow the practice of experiential and project-based learning where the learning will follow the following steps:
- Knowledge
- Design
- Implementation
- Feedback & Evaluation
- Documentation
- Presentation & Sharing
Knowledge
After building a foundation in the first weeks of your stay with us, you’ll have designated time for yourself to research and study relating to your project. We will share our knowledge with interns as much as we can, however, you have to do your research and study by yourself, with support and guidance of your mentor. This will help you to gain more knowledge beyond what you learn from your mentors.
Design
Once we agree on a specific project together, you’ll be guided to design your project and to complete a project design document. A project design has to cover the following questions: What is the project about? Why do we need this project? How to do and implement this project? When will it start and be completed? What is needed (materials, resource, money, etc.)
Implementation
Once the design is agreed and set, you will start implement your project with support from your mentors when necessary. At some stage of the project you might need extra hands. In this case you can announce your request in the community and ask for support. For specific technical support you’ll have to consult with your mentors.
Feedback & Evaluation
Towards the end of your internship, you’ll evaluate your project whether or not it achieved the set goal, and whether or not what you created is functioning as expected. The evaluation will happen per step/stage of the project together between intern & mentors.
Documentation
We ask you to document your project design, including step by step implementation, completion, and how the project helps to improve any aspect of Gaia Ashram. The documentation can be done by photograph, video, writing, or in any creative way. We expect you to make at least one writing, slideshow, or video of your whole learning cycle. This documentation will be posted on our website and social media presences.
Presentation
You’ll be presenting your project idea and design to the community to keep the community aware of it, share your knowledge, and to get feedback. You will also be expected to do a presentation of your project during and after completion which can be done in many different and creative ways according to what feels good for you.
What are the requirements for the internship?
We ask all interns to join our ECOVILLAGE LIFESTYLE EXPERIENCE WEEK and volunteer with us for a month. If you want to dive deeper into Permaculture, Ecovillage Design, and holistic living, and you are motivated, dedicated, and committed, you are most welcome to join us as an intern!
We offer you with tools and understanding of permaculture and ecovillage design. There is no guarantee on what you will take away from this internship but be sure that the more engaged and active you are, the more you receive in return.
Please be aware that
- You have to take responsibility for yourself and your duties
- Our day to day work can be physically demanding
- You have to take responsibility for daily chores
- Our facilities are basic. Our buildings are made out of natural and/or recycled materials, and mostly open and in harmony with nature
- You have to find your role on how you could support the community. This is why we ask all the interns to join the ECOVILLAGE LIFESTYLE EXPERIENCE WEEK and volunteer with us for a month before. Those are the period of experiencing and exploring your area. Internship stage is empowering stage where you take more leadership (in the area you choose)
We are looking for someone who is eager to learn, committed, able to accept feedback, self-motivated, working well with others, has an open mind and heart, and is honest and clear in communication.
What are the Fees?
Interns first need to join our ECOVILLAGE LIFESTYLE EXPERIENCE WEEK as well as volunteer with us three weeks i.e. total one month prior and fees apply for those programs.
Fee Breakdown:
Ecovillage Lifestyle Week:
7,500 baht
Volunteering for 3 weeks (21 nights):
350 baht per night
Internship (minimum 60 nights commitment)
300 bath per night
If you have joined the 1 week Ecovillage Experience Week and have Volunteer With Us for additional 3 weeks and then join the Internship stage for two months (that made total of three months) then you could sign up to join us as a Gaia Resident. For residents we ask a minimum commitment of a year after having joined the previous stages. Regarding Gaia Ashram Residency please email us and we can organize a zoom call.
Living together
Gaia Ashram’s core team consists of Om and Tom. From time to time there are long-term residents joining, and we’re having volunteers staying with us. We are an international community and we expect you to be joining in our day to day community life. You’ll be joining the general daily rotational chores such as preparing meals, doing dishes, and cleaning the communal spaces. There is a weekly Monday morning communal cleaning blitz to take care of collective spaces.
At any given time there are short-term volunteers staying at Gaia Ashram. If you feel ready, you can take volunteers to support you and your project and guide them in your work area. Furthermore, you can share your gained knowledge & experience with volunteers through presentations and teachings.
About us
Gaia Ashram is an education center on Permaculture, Deep Ecology, Ecovillage Design Education, and other sustainable living practices. We are a learning center that provides workshops and courses for both international and national participants. Feeling the urge to regenerate Mother Earth, Gaia Ashram was founded in 2013 by Tom and Om.
Over the years, we’ve hosted over a thousand people from all over the world and from all walks of life. Through the hard work by those who are involved in Gaia Ashram project, the volunteers, interns and long-term community members Gaia Ashram land has completely transformed from a bare rice field that didn’t even produce a lot of rice, into a beautiful biodiverse forested landscape that harvests water and serves the biodiverse community of all beings. In the social and cultural aspects, Gaia Ashram has found a way of life that deepens our connection with the earth through the head, heart, hand and spirit.
FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION
Included in the internship fee is accommodation in the shared dormitory and 3 vegetarian/vegan meals per day.
Our facilities are basic but functional, comfy, and most importantly, out of natural and recycled material!
We have limited single rooms available if you want to stay in a single room it would be an additional 150 THB per night. If you join the PDC or Ecovillage Lifestyle Experience Week the single room course rates are charged for the single rooms.
Facilities:
- Toilets and showers: We have compost toilets and showers that are shared.
- Single Rooms in Bamboo House, Fairy House or Dormstay depending on occupancy.
- Shared kitchen where volunteers and interns prepare meals together.
- Gaia Sala is the community space where we eat, learn, do yoga and meditation and have fun together.
- Gaia Office and library, internet, space to work study, has a printer, plenty of plugs etc.
- Gaia Cafe our in house coffeeshop, restaurant and shop also has good internet here.
- Small pool sala next to our swimming pond. A space to relax after swimming in our magical ponds.
General:
- Internet: We recommend getting an AIS simcard which has good reception here:
https://www.ais.th/travellersim/
We have wifi-spots in the Gaia Sala and in the office/library that is for common use, in the cafe and at the fairy house private accommodation.
- We have a printer available. Prints are 5 baht per page.
- There also is an internet shop in the next village that is usually open every day.
- Please let us know if you have any specific dietary needs or allergies.
Travel Information:
Please check your local Thai Embassy for the current and local visa regulations. You can get a visa on arrival that is generally 30 days maybe more depending on country or current rules. This can be extended for one month at the local immigration office in Udonthani.
You can also get a tourist visa that is valid for 90 or 60 days at this stage. This can be extended at the local immigration office in Udonthani for one month for a fee of about 1.000 thai baht.
Please be aware that the important date to keep in mind once in the country is the admitted until date you got on the stamp on the arrival in Thailand! So make sure you check the stamp the Thai immigration officer puts on arrival at airport/land crossing.
WHERE TO FIND US?
We are located in the Northeast of Thailand, in between Nong Khai and Udon Thani. Where exactly we are and how you can get to us can be found here.
HOW TO APPLY FOR THE INTERNSHIP?
Please make sure you have communicated with us to make sure you have clarity of what the internship program means for you.
We’re happy to hear from you!
***Please be aware of our policy on drugs & alcohol***
We don’t allow alcohol or drugs on our property. We ask people to smoke at the smoking corner only to provide a healthy environment for learning and living together. We encourage people to take this course as an opportunity to have a break from smoking or drinking.