Under A Tree
is a movement
toward a life in harmony
with nature
and
each other

Our Vision

Under A Tree is a movement with a simple vision:

Life would be infinitely better if we humans lived in harmony with nature and each other.

In a world with an ever growing focus on money and things, we believe it's time to take a big step back, reconnect with our roots and reinvent ourselves for a brighter future.

We intend to build interconnected, voluntary communities in Africa — and around the world — and we wish to connect with existing communities that share our vision.

If you believe in communities based on voluntary participation — following the principle of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you — you are essentially already a member of our movement.

Welcome!

Journey

We refer to Under A Tree as a movement, because our vision outlines a goal that we are moving towards. Exploring new ways of living together in communities of various sizes in different environments. All with the ultimate goal of achieving a life in perfect harmony with nature and each other.

But as with all goals, what really matters is the journey toward the goal. And so it is with our movement. Let's have a closer look at the journey.

Our journey is cyclical across four main environments: City, village, bush and nomadic. Each of these environments play a crucial role in establishing and maintaining the web of small, interconnected communities that is a key component in exploring our vision. Continuously evolving and changing, communities based around these environments will support each other in various ways — as well as allow members of our movement to freely choose which environment is right for them. Let's explore each environment.

City

Modern life is heavily focused around cities. It's estimated that more than half of the world's population live in urban environments. One of the major advantages of living in an urban environment is that it may offer financial opportunities that are not accessible in a rural area, as well as access to a bigger variety of education. Not to mention that cities usually offer better Internet access and opportunities to connect with likeminded people.

Despite our movement being focused on exploring simpler ways of living in harmony with nature, we acknowledge that cities have their advantages. Our city communities will be focusing on self reliance — through urban farming, water management, solar power etc. — and will also be communication and outreach hubs. In addition, our commercial projects will be closely tied to our city communities.

By serving as an inspiration to the neighborhoods in which they are located, it is also our hope that our city communities will have an impact that goes far beyond the members of our community. Inspiring people to adopt more sustainable practices for everything from waste management to education.

Currently we have city communities planned in Kumasi and Accra in Ghana. Follow us on social media if you are interested in updates on our progress.

Village

Many people view village life as somewhat old-fashioned, but to us it represents an immense, transformative potential. Having seen how large scale monoculture farming has had a devastating effect on ecosystems in large parts of the world, we are excited to join the growing movement of permaculture and regenerative farming.

We wish to experiment with concepts like food forests and explore ways to achieve a much more balanced relationship with the land and the plants and animals that we share it with. We will seek inspiration from the cutting edge of the permaculture movement, as well as from traditions dating back to the time of our ancient ancestors.

Our village communities will have a heavy focus on innovation in education and knowledge acquisition. As well as using that knowledge to strengthen the village community and ensuring that it becomes as self reliant as possible whilst simultaneously becoming an important ally to surrounding villages.

We see the modern village as the key to re-inventing human life for the future, and we hope to help inspire a trend of people everywhere wanting to experience village life for themselves.

Bush

For many, many millennia, human beings lived in small hunter-gatherer communities. These days, such communities are increasingly rare. However, our vision dictates that we must explore ways to revive this way of living. Not only can nature be an abundant source of food, but there is also reason to believe that the lifestyle and the food consumed by hunter-gatherer communities promotes longevity and quality of life.

The challenge is that modern society is very poorly suited for traditional hunter-gatherer communities with their typically semi-nomadic lifestyle, but we believe that our movement will be able to find ways to overcome those challenges. By drawing on inspiration from both modern and ancient wisdom, we are confident that we can come up with ways to make a hunter-gatherer lifestyle desirable for people in the 21st century.

Nomadic

Tying all the other 3 environments together is our modern version of nomadic life. Our 'nomad divisions' will function as couriers between all our other communities and effectively be what ensures that they stay connected enough to be considered a single movement of likeminded people.

Well equipped, versatile and highly mobile, the nomads will serve as problem solving and logistic experts for our movement. Specializing in exploring ways to minimize the environmental impact of moving people, goods and equipment from one place to another, and simultaneously serving as a very important means of face-to-face communication necessary to ensure that our movement stays rooted in real, interpersonal relationships.

Last but not least, our nomads will function as adventurers. They will be the ones to explore new areas and interact with communities that we wish to establish bonds with.

These four different ways of life that we have just described, will represent the backbone of our movement. Each equally important and all of them interconnected and crucial for the success of our movement. By encouraging members to freely move between these different environments, we believe that each and every member of our movement will always be able to find a lifestyle that suits them. One where they will be a lot less dependent on money and things, whilst simultaneously having more meaningful relationships with other people and living in more harmony with nature than most people in the modern world currently do.

Adventures

An important part of our vision is the idea that we need to take a step back and reconnect with our roots.

But what does that actually mean? Well, for us it means going on a series of adventures to connect with people who are living lives closer to what we believe to be the ideal. We wish to learn from them, but at the same time we are hoping that we may also be able to help them in various ways. There is balance in a fair exchange.

Lake Bosomtwe

This lake, near the 2nd largest city of Kumasi in Ghana, has captured our hearts. During a day-trip to the lake, attending members of our movement experienced how peaceful and tranquil the environment around the lake is, but also how challenges like plastic pollution, deforestation and overfishing are causing problems for the small communities surrounding the lake. We wish to learn from these communities, but we also hope to be able to help them solve some of the problems they are faced with.

Densu River Village

A friend of our movement — the talented wood carver, Mr. Mandela — has generously offered that we may come and visit his small village by the Densu River near Koforidua. There we will be able to experience Ghanaian village life — which some of our members are already familiar with — and experiment with ways of reinventing village life for the future.

Beyond these two specific destinations, the idea is to always have one or more groups of members on adventures around Ghana — and in time all over Africa — to interact with local communities, connect with likeminded people interested in joining our movement, and constantly exploring new ways to fulfill our vision. If you would like to be a part of these adventures, then feel free to reach out and be a part of shaping them.

Projects

In accordance with our vision, we are on a journey to make ourselves less dependent on the world of money and things. We believe that a simpler life in harmony with nature and each other is the key to a more meaningful life.

However, we also acknowledge that most of us are currently very dependent on money for our survival. That is why our projects are initially focused around ensuring that each and every member of our little community has a reasonably sustainable way to ensure that their most basic needs are met. Once those needs are met, we encourage each member to invest any excess income into our shared journey towards a more meaningful life together.

Same Face Herbal Care

The Same Face Twins from Kumasi are a couple of very unique characters, who truly embody a lot of what our movement is all about. In their shared dream visions, they are inspired — quite possibly by ancestors — to create herbal remedies that have already helped a number of people. We are working to bring these products to as many people as possible, and we also aim to come up with packaging solutions that are entirely biodegradable as well as ensuring that the products will always be produced as close to the final consumer as possible.

All members of our movement will be able to market and sell these products through an affiliate program, and in time there will be opportunities in manufacturing both products and packaging also.

The twins have made a commitment to investing 30% of their profits into projects related to the movement.

zancofa

A very fundamental need for us humans is the need for clothes. In addition, clothes are also one of the most basic ways we can express our personality to the world around us. That is why we have chosen to start zancofa, which is a clothing brand with a bold vision to re-invent what brand clothing is all about. Similar to what we aim to do with Same Face Herbal Care, we want to source local and recycled materials for our products, and we aim for production to be small scale and as close to the consumer as possible.

The first line of products we are working on is a series of T-shirts inspired by traditional Ghanaian art, but also taking inspiration from other cultures. We are looking for talented artists to work with us in designing these T-shirts, so if that sounds like you then please be in touch. An affiliate program will be available to members interested in marketing and selling any of our products.

In the future, zancofa will be about a lot more than T-shirts, and all excess income will be invested into projects related to the movement.

Other business projects are in the pipeline. All of them based around ideas of sustainability, small scale production, human power over machine power and meeting needs rather than wants. If this sounds interesting to you, then you are very welcome to join us.

Contribute

If you wish to contribute to our movement, there are multiple ways for you to do so. Contributing doesn't come with a long list of requirements, all that is really needed is that you share our vision.

Here are some of the many ways that you can contribute to our movement:

Artists

We are always looking to partner with talented artists, who share our vision and wish to contribute their artwork to furthering the cause. There are both commercial and non-commercial opportunities available.

Video & Photography

If you are into video/photography, we are very keen to hear from you. Whether you want to come along for one of our adventures to capture something unique, or contribute existing work to our movement, we would be very happy to hear from you.

Social media

If you are a master of social media — or you wish to become one — we would be delighted to hear from you. We are determined to harness the positive, transformative powers of social media to spread awareness, and we welcome participation from anybody interested in being a part of that mission.

Web

Our website is only just starting to take shape, but we have big plans for the future. If you volunteer a portion of your time and talents to our web team, you are sure to be presented with unique challenges and opportunities that will add to your toolkit. Whether you are programmer, writer or SEO geek, we gladly welcome you.

Doctors & Nurses

Unfortunately we have come across people on our journeys who were in desperate need of basic medial attention, but did not receive any treatment. In addition, we have come across local healers who posses a lot of knowledge about traditional medicine. If you are a doctor or a nurse — or even training to become one — we would love for you to come along with us on one of our adventures to help those in need and to learn about alternative methods of healing.

Teachers

There is no doubt that knowledge is incredibly valuable, but what constitutes knowledge and what is the best way to teach? If you are a teacher — whether by profession, passion or both — we would love to have conversations with you about teaching and being a teacher.

Administration

Although we are a voluntary movement of likeminded individuals driven by a shared vision, and not a registered organization in any way, we do have a certain need for administration. In the world that we all inhabit, there is a seemingly endless need to understand legal requirements, accounting practices etc.; and that is also true for our little community. So if you have skills which fit that description, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Donations & Investments

Our movement doesn't accept direct donations, but individual members may qualify for private donations or investments into their small business. Not only is this a great way to help those of our members who may be struggling a bit to make ends meet in the tough economic environment of Africa, but it is also a great way to indirectly support our movement since members are encouraged to spend excess income on projects that benefit both themselves and the movement. So if you are curious about options for donating or investing, please get in touch with us through email or WhatsApp or join our Discord community.

Other Professions and Talents

If you've made it this far down the list, but have not found anything that matches your particular profession or talent, please don't hesitate to reach out anyways. We would love to hear from you about how you believe you can contribute to our movement. And if you're not sure yet, don't be shy to just join us and participate in the conversation. Sooner or later, it will become evident to you how you can contribute.

Join Us

As a voluntary community united by a shared vision, the only requirement for “membership” of our movement is that you share our vision. If you do, then you are essentially already a member. Welcome, it's great to have you with us!

Below are some ideas for how you can become more of an actual member by participating in our community in various ways:

Discord

The easiest way to join our movement is to become a member of our Discord community. That is where we connect on a day-to-day basis, exchange ideas and coordinate our activities. We would love for you to come and hang out with us!

Social Media

If you are not yet quite ready for a “full membership” then you can join us as more of a passive member by following one or more of our social media channels. Not only will we be sharing information about our activities, but we will also announce any public events — such as future gatherings under a tree near you. Social links are in the page footer

Contribute

Whether you feel like becoming a member of our movement or not, there are still ways that you can contribute your talents, time or even a bit of cash in support of our activities. Read more about how to contribute.

Your Way

Each and every one of us have unique talents and ideas, and who are we to dictate exactly what membership of a voluntary movement should look like? We gladly accept suggestions for any kind of membership that suits your needs and dreams. Simply reach out to us through one of the many channels found in the footer — or reach us via carrier pigeon, singing telegram or smoke signals.