The Go(o)d Seed Project

European Solidarity Corps · Learning & Reflection Beyond Words: What I Learned About Listening Reflections on Nonviolent Communication during my European Solidarity Corps experience John Elhami  ·  The Good Seed Project  ·  Luleå, Sweden I remember sitting in one of our project discussions and realising that I was already preparing my answer before the other person had finished speaking. I was listening, but I was also waiting for my turn. That small realisation made some of the ideas in Nonviolent Communication much more personal to me. During our European Solidarity Corps project with The Good Seed Project in Luleå, our project coordinator, Joshua Armfield , introduced us to Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg . We read and discussed the third edition together, looking at how the ideas i...

Good Seed Project · January–July 2026 Five Activities, One Community: A 6-Month Impact & Reach Review A comprehensive review of participation, repeat attendance, and international reach across Tweenies , Young Adults & Bible Study, the Community Meal , International Meeting Place , and Sunday School . Written & Compiled  by:   John Elhami ,  Egle Davydovaite & Sarah Medhat From January to July 2026, the five activities recorded 58 gatherings , at least 1,130 visits , and 252 participant records . The registers also show participation from at least 26 countries and places of origin . Note: Participant totals count records within each activity, so individuals involved in multiple programs may be counted more than once. Each activity served a distinct role within the community: the Community Meal brought together the largest overall ga...

Trading City Noise for Farm Life: My Journey into Eco-Gardening For the long time, I wanted to try to live on a farm, to escape the noise of the city, and simply live. To care for animals, plant seeds, work in the garden, and watch real life grow from a tiny grain to a big garden. To be honest, my gardening experience used to be pretty short. Growing up, I planted a few peas on the windowsill and watched my grandparents tend to their tomatoes and greenhouse cucumbers. I’d water a plant here or help harvest there, but I had never witnessed the magic of the full cycle. And now I get to experience every single tiny step of the process, from the first touch of soil to the final leaf. The Eco-Awakening: More Than Just Planting Seeds It was only after stepping onto the farm that I realized how many small choices determine whether a garden is truly ecological. I never imagined that gardening was a series of micro-decisions that directly impact the planet: Composti...

Faith & Life  ·  Luleå, Sweden Freedom on Two Wheels — On Courage, Community, and God’s Grace Along the Road Learning to ride a bicycle as an adult in northern Sweden wasn’t something I had planned. But sometimes it’s in the most unexpected challenges that faith finds its depth. John Elhami ·  The Good Seed Project  ·  ESC Volunteer , Luleå For a long time I held on to the belief that learning to ride a bicycle as an adult would be an enormous, perhaps impossible, undertaking. I pictured months of frustration and wobbling — an uphill battle that most people had left behind in childhood. But God has a wonderful way of surprising us the moment we step out in faith. As it turned out, all it took was a day or two. Those days were anything but easy. The humbling was real. I learned the hard way — falling again and again, scraping my knees and elbows, and eventually realising I had barely thought about the brakes. Rolling along out of control is n...

By Sarah Medhat I had never really stopped to think about the meaning of the word Solidarity before.  In March I went to Stockholm for a training connected to the European Solidarity Corps. During the program, the twelve of us volunteers were asked to go out into the school’s backyard and choose something that, in our own eyes, represented solidarity. Then, one by one, we were invited to place what we had chosen at the moment we felt was right. Each person chose something different. Some picked twelve leaves, others picked twelve small stones, someone brought a plant pot, and someone else chose a tree branch and a rope. Everyone expressed the idea in their own way. As for me, I chose a large, strong tree trunk. At that moment, I found myself asking: "What makes something like solidarity possible in the first place?" And the answer that came to my heart was this: "Solidarity needs a strong foundation." That foundation can only be love and acceptance. When Jesus came ...

av Sarah Medhat One day, I said to myself, “Stop running.”  I was just working. My life was waking up for work and sleeping for work. Sunset at Sundet  (Photo by John Elhami) I know how hard life can be, and how difficult it is to quiet my mind for a few minutes, whether I am thinking about the future or the past. But then I said to myself: I am not in a race to see who wins. I am only creating my own mental race.  I tell myself: I must do this. I must achieve that. I must reach. I should change my life. And that will never happen without money. Even achieving my goals no longer brings happiness, because I have lost the sense of value. I am always looking for more.With all these self-imposed duties, I forget things far more important: God, others, the world around me, nature, and enjoying life simply. I recall a line from the movie "Soul", when the pianist dreamed of performing on stage. When his dream came true, he asked his supervisor, “What will we do tomorrow?” S...