The Peace Villa is in my head right now.  How it manifests itself in real life remains to be seen.  It is a team effort and the team is still out there somewhere.  What I have laid out is a huge project, and maybe it will never grow to that scale.  It needs to start small, stabilize and build itself on a strong foundation.  Building the dwellings may seem like the difficult task, but my experience has been that people are more challenging than structures to maintain.  I am looking for a team that is hard-working and that laughs hard, that can bend with the wind and that has experience with other cultures.

We would all have to live on site, or close to it, and a commitment of at least five years is essential.  I envision this project structured as an s-corporation with a social mission, but am also open to it being a not-for-profit with income generating programs.

I think a small, but efficient, team is best for the start-up.  Ideally, I would like people skilled in the following areas:

1. Architectural design: manages the design and construction of the new sites.
2. Landscape design: oversees the harmony between buildings, nature and people.
3. Marketing: fundraising, advertising and grant-writing experience.
4. Finance: experienced in accounting, budgets and responsible for bill payments.
5. Hospitality: actual work experience in a resort, bed and breakfast or hotel.
6. Mediation:  someone aside from myself needs to be in charge of interpersonal relations, crisis resolution, and have experience in multi-cultural environments.
7. Events coordinator: experienced in planning and executing events.

This could be a group of four to seven people, plus their families.  Ideally we can each build our own houses on the property, close to the grounds but private.

Another important aspect of the Peace Villa to me is that it is pet and child friendly.  This does provide a competitive edge to other vacation destinations, but it also is core to my vision that there is life here, people, plants and animals.  I myself have four dogs, a bunch of birds and a cat.  Ability to live with a certain amount of chaos and noise must be considered.

Well, I am putting this out there and am excited about the potential of meeting whomever this vision calls!

-Rachel