2010 Fellowship | Rwanda Project | Seed Grants | Get Involved

Overview

Since 2007, Anahata International has brought yoga instruction and yoga therapy to Rwanda in order to extend the healing benefits of yoga to people affected by violent conflict.  Anahata International’s strategy has been to provide yoga teacher trainings targeting young Rwandans with the potential and drive to help their own communities heal.  In under a year Anahata facilitated two teacher trainings in Kigali, Rwanda. There are currently fourteen Anahata International trained yoga teachers consistently leading classes in and around the surrounding communities of the capital, Kigali, and at the University of Butare.  Their reach ranges from working with young children, to the elderly, women and adults. (For more information on the yoga teachers please see their bios.) Through their own initiative, the teachers have organized themselves and their students into two clubs – the Kicukiro and Butare Peace Clubs – to better promote yoga and provide support to each other.

Seed Grant

Inspired by the hard work and dedication of the peace clubs, Anahata International has set up a modest seed grant to strengthen the institutional capacity of the peace clubs to become viable, thriving organizations that will continue to sustain the growing yoga community in Rwanda. The seed grant will support the expansion of yoga classes into new communities, the creation of yoga materials to educate the public about the benefits of yoga, and establish partnerships with local organizations to incorporate yoga into their services.  The seed grant will also help to strengthen the leadership skills of the peace clubs and empower the yoga teachers and students to work collectively towards achieving their goals.

Become a Peace Club Sponsor!

As a peace club sponsor you can make a difference by supporting yoga activities that bring peace and healing at a grass roots level. You can be part of an innovative approach to spreading the benefits of yoga in the world to communities that need it most.  Think how much yoga has changed your life, and then consider what it could do in a place desperately in need of healing– you can make a real difference!  Anahata will send you newsletters so that you can stay abreast of the important work being done by the peace clubs.

The following excerpt is an example of the kind of impact you can have:

“I hadn’t the peace, the hope and love, because of the war during the 1994 genocide.  Now I have hope, peace and love because with yoga you teach me, so thank you for what you did. I thank you because you remember me in your work and in your mind. I wish you shanti, shanti, shanty, shantihi in all the parts of the world.”

-Rolando Abel, yoga teacher and member of the Kicukuro Peace Club

Comments are closed