The Ubuntu Yoga Project

Thanks to some generous donations from friends of Nourish and the Yoga community in Canada ,( amongst others) construction of our Ubuntu Yoga Pavilion is underway at Nourish Eco Village. Our eco brick foundation ( made of 2 liter plastic bottles stuffed with scrap plastic, removing waste from communities and landfill)  has been laid, and our tin can walls are rising. The earth is being compacted to lay our cow dung floor, and we are raising funds to put a rubber floor on top of it to eliminate the need for yoga mats, which don't hold up well in this environment. We plan to paint the outline of mats on the floor so each person will have their space. We still want to raise the funds for bolsters, straps, and blocks for the children and community members who will use our Yoga Pavilion. 

In the meantime we practice anywhere we can- sometimes in the library or even in the kitchen. :) The Yoga will continue!

We now have three tainees who are talented and dedicated. They will be instrumental in taking yoga into our local communities. Our goal now is to find a way to fund training to have Zandili, Dineo and Letsatsi become certified yoga instructors. We have made contact with the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya and have set up a Skype meeting to see if there is some way we can partner with them. It would be ideal to be able to send these young people to train with the project in Kenya, but the cost is quite high. We're exploring other alternatives; possibly having one of their instructors come here, or seeing if a senior yoga trainer here can affiliate with the Africa Yoga Project. 

So lots of exciting things happening! So for now-- Namaste; or as we say with the Ubuntu Yoga Project: Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu ( a person is a person becuase of other people) speaks to our connectivity, to each other and the natural world around us. xxx

In order to raise funds for the Ubuntu Yoga deck at Nourish Eco Village, we have set the target of some serious fundraising, to raise around R 100 000 to be able to start covering the costs of building the foundations, roof, storeroom and blinds.. and then start to kit out our commuity based studio with mats, straps, blocks and bolsters... 

At the same time, we are continuing to identify and train young women, nurturing the love of yoga and supporting the skills sharing process. This is happening slowly, but as we all know, Rome wasnt built in a day... and nor is Africa. Valencia is slowly working her way towards accreditation, coming to classes whenever she can and practicing by teaching her colleagues at the place she works. In the meantime we have indentified two other potential Yoga candidates and Jacquie is heading out in the next two weeks for their first Intro to Ubuntu Yoga class. So watch this space. 

In the meantime we have taken the first step towards our building, we have been collecting Eco Bricks ( plastic 2 L containers filled with unrecyclable scrap plastic) and storing them, ready to use them to build our buildings foundation. Also Jacquie has hosted two wonderful Ubuntu Yoga Classes in her home country of Canada. All proceeds from these classes and any sales come straight to the Ubuntu Yoga project, so we are super excited now that she is back, with funds in hand ( and thank you to those that donated via this GlobalGiving platform). 

We are ready to get going, so will set out the pegs next week and start digging the foundations, making our dream of a yoga space at the Nourish eco village a reality.. we are already putting together a Yoga Retreat in early September! 

Thank you to everyone for your support and for sharing our dream! 

Until next time, Namaste