With a passion for sustainable living and goal to be fully self sufficient, Samadhi Eco Resort is the only accommodation in Chile that is bronze benchmarked by EarthCheck – the world’s leading certification and benchmarking organization in the world.
To further support this, a manager recently received her GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) certification in Sustainable Tourism to help extend this knowledge and way of being – not just onsite – but also beyond our team, guests and volunteers.
We are also the first and only organization in Chile, and proud member, of Pack for a Purpose, an initiative that allows travelers to make a lasting impact in our local community by bringing supplies for donation to the local village school.
What can you expect when you Volunteer with Samadhi Eco-Resort?
Volunteers (and management staff) volunteer hours not only at the local village school but also at another school a little further away from where a team member regularly volunteers. We also volunteer with the local town, Vilcun, in any way we can. For example face painting, packing lunches and setting up for the Children’s Day Festival; teaching English and playing games with English-learning students during their night lessons at the Vilcun library; hosting and fully supporting day trips onsite for schools and universities; hosting and supporting onsite organic seed-exchange gatherings; donating to the local village annual elders lunch and preparing little gifts for each of them; donating money for an entrance gate to the local village, etc.
We further like to show our appreciation to our team, and constantly look for ways to express this. For example, making packages of organic produce from our greenhouses for them to take home; making home-made organic blackberry jam and gifting each team member with one; and, most recently gifting all team members locally hand-made hats, socks, chocolates and cards for Father’s Day (including the female team members), as well as winter hats for the children of all team members.
How can you Volunteer?
The majority of volunteer time has been on the agriculture side where we have two organic greenhouses and organic crops. We also ask for help feeding the dogs and cat (three wonderful stray dogs that adopted us over the years; and, a cat we rescued) and giving them fresh water each day, as they have all moved (voluntarily) to the volunteer side of Samadhi.
Projects constantly come up (for example making owl houses as a natural pest control initiative; making guest walking sticks with our onsite-abundant collihue; sewing curtains) and helping the team as needed.
Volunteers also help with preparing team appreciation meals and gifts and discovering creative ways to recycle and use materials (example, we are currently experimenting with making wine bottle plant holders as a result of our volunteer’s suggestion, and she is leading the project).
When we have guests, volunteers help with all aspects of the visit. However, we collaborate a great deal with volunteers to determine their best fit and interests – for example, doing art projects with the children versus accompanying guests on an intense trekking experience.
What makes you proud of your organization?
The willingness and genuine desire to help support the local community; the constant desire to be better and live more sustainably; the openness to new opportunities, which has enabled community members to feel comfortable to approach us with different initiatives/projects (for instance, we were just approached by a couple of ladies who live on a farm nearby about us helping with building a library in the local village – we will be having lunch with them this week to discuss the project).
We are definitely not perfect, but we are trying, and by just that constant effort, there is a difference being made.
Contact Information
Learn more about the position by contacting Samantha Reguieg at info@samadhiecoresort.com.
Or you can also visit their website here.