Update: Volunteers for the Isle of Erraid
Written by Britta Schmitz and Elizabeth Montgomery
Dear Friends,
Last month we asked for volunteers to come and join our small community on the Isle of Erraid to help us with the daily tasks of island life, while being immersed in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. We encouraged people to apply via our newsletter and posts on social media and we are OVERJOYED – and humble – by your response! Thank you so much to everyone who has applied, commented, shared, and liked …
In the picture from left to right: Kegan, Barry, Elizabeth, and Magnus. Barry came as a volunteer in the beginning of February. Kegan, Elizabeth, and Magnus live in the community permanently and look after our gardens, animals, houses, food, firewood, each other, and our participants.
Over one hundred people filled in our application form and expressed interest to come and join us as a longterm volunteer for one or two years on Erraid. Encouraged by this positive response, we created a second post to see if some people could give us a hand for a shorter time period and would like to come for one or two months. We linked the post to our help exchange page, which has been up for many years. On Facebook this post reached over 1.5 million people (!), 6,800 liked it, more than 700 commented, and 888 shared the post. The link has been clicked by over 10,000 people! WOW! This is a lot of interest for a small island of only one square mile at the end of the world, with a community of about 6-10 people …
Our facebook post - looking for short term volunteers - which reached over 1.5 million people
I have no idea if any of our posts in the past have ever reached so far out into the world? In over 760 comments some have been asking in which country our community is located? A sure sign that it reached into all corners of the planet …
It is amazing how much interest there is from people to come and visit our remote little island community and reading back through our post again, I am not surprised why … I am sure many people would love to live our community’s earth based, sustainable lifestyle, embodying spirit in everyday life, transforming our lives through our core practices ‘Inner Listening’, ‘Co-creation with Nature’, and ‘Work as Love in Action’. Living on Erraid myself for over five years surely transformed my life completely and I can not give enough gratitude for this magical time of my life.
Our sanctuary with views over the sea towards Iona and Mull.
I still believe that living on Erraid was one of the best things I allowed myself to do with my life. Living in an old lighthouse keeper’s cottage, surrounded by breathtaking nature everyday, meditating, helping in the gardens, eating organic food, drinking rainwater, heating our cottages and our water with wood burning stoves, meditating in our sanctuary with views towards Iona and Mull, exchanging life stories with our participants with whom we are sharing this amazing experience with on a weekly basis … you can tell that I could go on about this forever …
At the moment Elizabeth, who is looking after the island and all its volunteers, is very busy processing and replying to all of you who have applied to come.
Elizabeth says:
Elizabeth practicing to fly on the Isle of Erraid :)
We’ve had an overwhelming response to our call for volunteers, who we welcome on Erraid all year round. On average our longterm volunteers stay around 2-3 years and enjoy taking care of the island, our old lighthouse keeper’s cottages, the organic gardens, our participants, and each other. They also take part in our daily practices like meditations and group sharings, our seasonal Celtic Festival celebrations, bonfires, and spend time in the stunning landscape of the west coast of Scotland. Our short term volunteers offer help for shorter periods, between 4-12 weeks.
Cleaning the chicken byre with Magnus, Nicola and happy chickens.
The Dutch family, the Van der Sluis, have owned the island since 1978 and are passionate about people being able to come and visit this remote part of the world. This passion, the willingness of the Erraidian, and the support from the Findhorn Foundation, has allowed as many people as possible to experience this wonderful and truly unique place with all its raw and wild beauty. So many have and continue, to join our community’s earth based, spiritual lifestyle, where everybody is invited to take part in our community activities every day. There’s always something to do and projects to help with. I most enjoy the group tasks where we all come together to achieve something, like the weekly wood run delivering logs to our cottages, going down to the beach with the tractor and collecting seaweed, sowing seeds, etc.
Like many others, over the past years we have been affected by big changes in our world: the pandemic, Brexit, new legislation and laws, the rising costs of living, etc. So we have been reviewing what we can offer to strengthen the foundation for volunteers to come and thrive. We are happy that we can welcome you into what will hopefully be a nourishing and joyful experience.
Spring is coming: daffodils are blooming in our gardens, while Magnus and Martha are sowing oat seeds for our next growing season.
There’s a real sense of spring arriving and fresh energy in the community. It’s very exciting to invite people to come out and join in with our daily and weekly community rhythms, whether that’s as a volunteer, or as a participant for one or more of our island experiences: our new Erraid Experience Weeks, Love in Action Weeks, Celtic Festival Weeks, and Retreat Weeks. Longstanding feedback from visitors from all walks of life is that one week is not enough, there should be a warning on the website!
With lots of Love and Springtime Blessings from Elizabeth and Britta xx
Log party, Erraid, January 2025
Come and visit us for a week or more and join one of our Retreats, Experience Weeks, Celtic Festival Weeks or Love in Action weeks.
