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Joseba Attard, is English whose mother is Basque, and is someone who isn’t afraid to take a 180 in his life and jump into an adventure.  At the age of 27 he came to the Basque Country to live so that his family wouldn’t lose Euskera.  Here, he has been a graphic designer, surfer and sheep shearer. Now, with his wife (who is also English) and their daughter, he has embarked on the recuperation of a 400 year-old baserri in Bedarona, Bizkaia to convert it into a cultural center. 

Bedarona, Bizkaia.   Leaving everything behind and beginning a new life is a common experience among many in the Diaspora, before, as well as today.  In the area of Ispaster, Ea, Natxitua, and Bedarona, for example, was the starting point for many Basques who immigrated to the US as sheepherders, leaving their homes behind.

Now, on the other hand, one of these homes, the Olabe farmhouse in Bedarona, is getting a new family, the Attards, Joseba, Joanna and their daughter Nahia, after starting a new life and converting it into a cultural meeting place.

Slow life, in Basque and English

On this adventure they have left behind another life in Elorrio, where Joseba had worked as a graphic designer – working for Korrika, Durangoko Azoka…and Joanna working as a professor.  His dream of renovating the baserri and saving it from ruin, turning it into a meeting place based on the slow life, a traditional and natural way of life, besides culturally, mixing both Basque and English.

“The idea is to teach courses, workshops for ikastolas, seminars, teaching about baserri life, nature,” Attard explained to EuskalKultura.com.  “We live at 200 miles an hour, surrounded by technology, but we are losing basic skills.  That is why we want children to come here and while they learn English, also

Surfer and Shearer

And the older ones may learn to shear sheep, one of the curious hobbies that Joseba has.  His father was a herder in England, and since he was little he was in touch with the rural world.  “I always wanted to learn how to shear, but I’m left-handed and all of the shearing machines are made for right-handers.  I couldn’t do it well until I went to Artzain Eskola in Arantzazu and that’s where I learned,” he said.  Now, every season he goes to baserris that call him to shear small flocks.

Surfing is another of Joseba’s passions that will also be included in the project with the waves of the nearby beach in Laga, for example.  Attard, is the creator of Cross Culture Surf, a cultural exchange project that takes kids from Euskal Herria to surf in Ireland or vice versa (video available here).  Following the waves, Attard has traveled half-way around the world surfing, from the beaches of his native Devon to Irán.

Call for Auzolan

The work at Olabe has just begun and it is getting intense, because there is a lot to renovate.  In order to do it, Joseba and his family are counting on the support of family members and friends, and also invite anyone interested in the project to participate.

Over the last few weeks, friends in Euskal Herria as well as those in England have passed through Olabe, where they have worked cleaning brush, working on the foundation and helping wherever they could.  This is becoming more like Basque auzolan, and in the English refrain that Joseba uses “Many hands make light work.”

Do you want to join in the adventure?  Follow its evolution?  You can do so in the Facebook page: Olabe. 

Some support has come to the campaign, from places as far away as Belgium, where there was a Txitxiburduntzi last Saturday, with the participation of the Txalaparta Choir from the Euskal Etxea in Brussels. 

We will follow the project closely, and from EuskalKultura.com we especially invite Basques in the Western US, who come from this area, to get interested in it.