People Who Inspire Us...

Greetings!

I am writing to you from Nairobi, Kenya on New Years Day. On this day last year, I WAS AFRAID. As I watched TV coverage of the Kenya's presidential election, feeling helpless, I found out that all roads were closed and that the country was being rocked by violence that would take over 1000 lives and displace over 500,000 people. I remember my sister's call to me.
"Paige, you have to leave, what is a yoga teacher going to do?"
We have all heard the stories about women who pick up cars when their children are under them. Ironically, even my moment of great challenge, I felt more committed, strong and unwavering than ever to offer the abundance of our community to the community I was living amongst. I wanted to see yoga, UNITY, coming together, more than ever.
As Patanjali says "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
So I started writing letters to you guys and telling the stories of what was in front of me. In two weeks we raised over $15,000 dollars and started a program to bring relief in the form of MOVEMENT to internal refugee camps around Kenya. We called this program "Amani Circus" , Amani meaning peace in Kiswahili.
I stayed in Kenya until late April.
And came back again in July. And came back again in November.
What I will try and do in this newsletter is document and celebrate our successes by sharing them. I hope each story plants a seed for what we will create together in 2009. I am fully committed to being here, with you, to facilitate our dreams of making a difference right now.
Each time I went home I met people who got inspired with my story and my work. A whole community matched my commitment with their commitment. You donated money to keep the programs going. Baron Baptiste, my teacher and friend, inspired by the transformation he saw in me, came on board to cultivate the seeds of transformation that were being planted in Kenya. Yoga studios around the country had benefit classes. A single individual bought a plane ticket for a Kenya to come to teacher training in Mexico. I Love Yoga and the Urban Zen Foundation became retail partners to begin a successful, sustainable business element to the project. My dear friend and teacher Jason Nemer began a sister program called "Yogis for Peace". Friends flew to Kenya to volunteer. So many people came together, new friends and old, to support unity through the movement arts.
I did not do this by myself, but TOGETHER, we did this.

Non-Violence : Amani Circus
Reaching Out through AcroYoga, Yoga, Acrobatics and Dance

In February 2008, Tara Quinn, Michael Saab and I , in partnership with Sarakasi Trust developed Amani Circus. Amani Circus is an educative and engaging process iactive participation allows the participants, all personally affected by the post-election crisis in Kenya, to transform their negative experiences and traumas into art and creative expressions. Cultural diversity is celebrated and used as the inspiration for creation. Creating together builds trust; performing together means learning from one another and sharing si the ultimate expression of community. The Amani Circus is Sarakasi and Africa Yoga Project's program for community artists and trainers taking a role as ambassadors of peace through specific well structured activities in local communities, advocating peace, unity, healing and reconciliation by using performing arts and culture
yogis In 2008....
- We had 8 outreach Amani Circus programs that reached over 20,000 displaced people
- Funded a 9 month training program for the performers in the Amani Circus Show.
- 12 Amani Circus performers were contracted for a three week Italy tour to perform and share ideas about Social Circus .
In 2009...
- Amani Circus continues! Sarakasi has adopted this program to be it's official training outreach program. Over 50 part time trainers will be put into place in 40 slum communities teaching acrobatics, dance and yoga.

Unity : Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga in Africa

Although Yoga is not always done on the mat, an important part of the project is remembering that the asana practice is what got us here. It opens up the body and frees the limitations of the mind. It heals on so many levels. We are not just teaching students but empowering future teachers.
In 2008...
- We held over 10 weeks of intensives & workshops with various international teachers.
- Partnered with Mkombizi In Moshi, Tanzania to teach vulnerable school age children and their teachers how yoga can be used in the classroom
- Had vegetarian cooking lessons for our students
- Sent Moses Mbajah to Tulum, Mexico to take a two week teacher training with Baron Baptiste
In 2009...
- We will hold the FIRST Kenya Yoga Teacher Training with Baron Baptiste
- We will employ 15 part time Kenyan Yoga teachers
- We will host volunteers from all over the globe to share and become part of this thriving community

Possibility: "I Love Yoga" Masai Women's Group
In partnership with I Love Yoga, Wildlife Works and The Urban Zen Foundation, we have created a yoga driven business in the heart of the bush. 100% of the profits of this project are split evenly between supporting or yoga projects in Nairobi and community educational projects that the Masai Women choose. This program creates work, empowers women with choice and voice. Through a cultural exchange with the students in Nairobi , it also promotes unitya nd cross cultural understanding. The handmade goods are also super hip and beautiful.
In 2008...
- Provided fair wage work for over 20 women
- Sponsored two orphaned children to primary school in the villagewomen
- Provided each woman in the group with a goat for milk during a drought
- Broke ground for 2 new classrooms where over 30 girls will be educated a year!!!!!
- Hosted 20 youth from Nairobi to experience traditional Masai lifestyle as a means of cross-cultural healing and reconciliation
In 2009...
- We will launch an online store
.........UP TO THE WOMEN....


My wish for this year is for all of us to commit ourselves to the realisation of the world as a united nation, whose communities live and work together as one people, sharing a vision of a common destiny where we are all a powerful force in our own lives and in the lives of others.


With a swell of gratitude,

Paige Elenson
Director, Africa Yoga Project
for more information or to make a donation:
www.africayogaproject.org