Written by Marloes Lagaaij, Tribe 10, from her lovely blog Soul Studio
Knowmads Business School Amsterdam: Sounds fancy pancy doesn’t it? Knowmads is something that is hard to explain and can only really be understood when it’s felt with the heart by being there. Being in the building, being in the community, seen with the eyes and touched by the energy. But to give you a slight idea I will tell you my story, how I ended up there and how it became my home, my family and my starting point for a new life full of possibilities!
By ‘coincidence’ I ran in to a guy named Frank while I was at a random city farmer’s cafe in Amsterdam. It was only because it started to pour rain when I was about to leave that we started to talk and he turned out to be a current Knowmads student.
The way he spoke about it resonated in my whole body. I [had been] on quite a wobbly road for a long time already looking for direction – Although I already knew I wanted to do something meaningful with my life, something that made a positive change in the world, and ideally something ‘green’. But what? I had done all kinds of thing from Urban being to Permaculture, from home gardening with kids (definitely not my thing) to working in a Conscious hotel, that turned out not to be as conscious as the name would make you think. From volunteering at Food Film Festivals to Earth ship building workshops, you name it, I did it. But nothing was really what I was looking for.
Knowmads, we educate changemakers… They had me at hello. The moment I walked into the school at an open day, I can remember very clearly that someone called out to a guy, who I no
w know as Thomas, ‘a new person!!!’ Yep, that was me, a new person.
It was the classic romance. I walked in and never left. The sign at the door said Welcome Home and that was exactly how I felt. Finally, after all these years of wandering, seeing beautiful places, meeting amazing people and experiencing great adventures, I finally found a place where I felt truly home. Safe, seen, held and home. There was something magical about this place. Maybe it was the swings in the hallway, maybe it were all the pictures on the wall with happy smiley faces, the long table where everybody would eat together and have true, open and meaningful conversations. But even more it was the energy, the way people spoke to each other, hugged each other and shone.
Right away I felt that whatever this place was, I wanted to be part of it. And oh boy did I became part of it. I’m in all over my head and I love it. I truly love it to my bones but also hate it at times. Knowmads is not only lovey-dovey but also challenging and mirroring a lot. It’s confronting and what you see is not always nice. But it is definitely one of the most amazing, inspiring, motivating and growing years of my life.This place became my home at the moment I was lost. The people became the big family I have always longed for. Full dinner tables, bullying little brothers, fights with sisters, harmony, singing together, crying together. Being totally accepted for who I am and being seen. Maybe most of all truly being seen for who I am.
Knowmads was and still is a big partner in my process of finding myself and finding love for myself. I’m so grateful for the weather gods that made it rain on that specific moment at that specific time in that random place in Amsterdam where a stranger who became a friend told me about this place. I can honestly say that that moment has been a turning point in my life and it could not have been any other way.
