The Sanctuary

by Jacki
(Grand Forks, B.C.)

The Sanctuary is a place of peace and tranquility about fifteen minutes drive north of Grand Forks, built almost single handedly by one man.

Sean has lived two lives - one as an emergency room doctor in one of the busiest hospitals on the North American continent in San Diego; diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of thirty nine, he started his second life.

Stressed, ill and totally disheartened, he gave up his well paying job, and started traveling the globe, doing all the things he had never found the time to do. In India, he found his true passion, and learned how to take care of his soul, and his body.

Cleared of cancer and now a vegetarian, he found a beautiful place here in the Kootenay Boundary country with his long time companion, and built a most amazing Sanctuary.

Bruised and battered but still hopeful people have shown up to help build domes made of stacked rocks, mortared in place with roofs of timbers and hand made shakes, or green roofs covered with Sempervivum of many colours.

Fed by a pipe run over ground from the nearby creek, water is clean and fresh. Solar panels provide all the power needed by a simple man with few needs.

A sequence of raised beds, also mortared rocks, provide a multitude of different vegetables and fruit, all grown organically and sustainably.

Eating off the land and welcoming all who arrive to gaze in wonder, or work, or partake of a study course in cordwood building or simply to visit, Sean is the ambassador of the round kivas in this Sanctuary.