Team

Alicja is born in 1986, in Poland. Sociologist of Culture, socio-cultural animator of local communities and master in Sustainable Planning and Management of projects for Rural Development. Passionate about cultural diversity, she lived in seven countries and studied at the University of Ljubljana, the University of Lisbon, the Polytechnic of Madrid and University College Cork, conducting various research and projects in the areas of non-formal education of young people, intercultural education and agroecology.

Since 2002 she has worked as coordinator, secretary and vice-president of the Semper Avanti association, and after moving to Slovenia in 2007, she worked in the Youth Council of Ljubljana, where she was creating, coordinating and implementing social, educational and cultural projects, such as concerts, workshops and activities for children during the holidays, neighborhood festivals and parades, international youth exchanges, trainings, etc. In 2009, she got actively involved in the movement for food sovereignty and since then she has dedicated herself to the transition to a low carbon economy and permaculture, collaborating in various collective projects, cooperatives and local movements. Since 2016 she lives in Portugal, developing agroecological and cultural projects with Biovilla, Project 270, Equivicentinos, Quinta Vale de Lama and AORCA.

Karen is a Belgian, although she feels above all a citizen of the world. He was born in Bandung, Indonesia, and spent most of his childhood abroad, having lived among others in Morocco and Suriname. He took a master’s degree in translation at the Higher Institute of Translators and Interpreters (HIVT), at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He also studied at the University of Coimbra and took a post-graduate course for teachers of Portuguese as a foreign language at the University of Porto. He lived in Coimbra since 1999, having moved to the Algarve in 2004.

Since he was a child, he has a passion for dance and other cultures and languages. He practiced classical and modern dance, pencak silat, Indian, Latin American dance, oriental dance and yoga, having also taught at the Lagos Dance Association and at the Gymnastics Club of Lagos, as well as private gymnastics classes adapted for people with disabilities. back and knees. She also works as a translator, interpreter and language teacher and is one of the founding members of AORCA.