Earth Prayers Letter - January 2025

10. Jan.

Dear People!

We wish you a wonderful start to the new year! May it be a year full of trust, abundance, wisdom, health, and love! May your heart's visions and desires flourish and come true! May our heart's wishes and financial support reach the people well, motivate them, inspire them, and contribute to making seeds sprout! May our joint efforts with Earth Prayers create benevolent connections, promote peaceful coexistence, and nourish and strengthen the field of trust in our heart's visions!

I would like to start today with a small story from Kenya. Recently, I've heard more and more about a communal savings system called CHAMA. Here in Kenya, it is very widespread, especially among women. A group of women, say 20 or 30, who trust each other, form an association and start a CHAMA. That means each woman puts aside money once a month and brings it to the CHAMA meeting. The frequency is determined by each CHAMA. It could, for example, occur twice a month. If 30 women each bring 30 Euros to the meeting, that makes 900 Euros. At each meeting, two women act as hosts. They each receive half of the 900 Euros. With this, the meeting is organized, food is prepared, and people eat. The rest of the money is kept by these two women, allowing them to afford something more significant. It's essentially a savings system that motivates people to set aside a little money. Additionally, it's very social and fosters unity among people. For instance, if there's an emergency in one of the women's families, the CHAMA participants will contribute financially to alleviate the crisis.

Within the CHAMA, one can also keep their money, and it can be lent out to members at a low cost. I really like the CHAMA stories, and I've realized that we, as the EARTH PRAYERS family, are doing exactly that: a CHAMA with just over 150 people! The difference is that we make the money available to projects, visions, and people around the world who need it most at that moment. However, we retain the joy of sharing, giving, and participating in the blossoming of many people's projects in many places on this planet.

If you set up a standing order in favor of our association with the purpose "Donation for all projects of the month", your monthly contribution will be equally distributed among the projects of that month. The second way to support a project on our platform is to specifically support a single project. This is possible in the week when the project is promoted on our channels. You can then support the specific project by stating "Donation for Project of the Week + Project Name" as the purpose.

So far, we have been able to send over 110,000 Euros to more than 120 projects around the world this way. It's becoming increasingly clear that our financial support is very valuable, but our heart's wishes for the respective projects might be even more effective than our money. Therefore, I would like to invite you, if you have the time and inclination, to read about the Project of the Week, for example on Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, on the website, or in the newsletter, and to send your blessings and heart's wishes to this project in silence. Imagine, the Project of the Week receiving the blessings and best wishes from 150 people. That gives momentum and uplift. This power cannot be overstated. In the material world, we send money, and in the subtle field of consciousness, we send our blessings and love to the respective project. Of course, not every Project of the Week will appeal to everyone, but if it speaks to you, it's an opportunity to send your goodwill there.

We've received wonderful messages from some projects of the months October and November! Thanks to a very large additional donation, we were able to reach the goal of the Community Empowerment Center project in Samburu, Kenya, initiated by Joseph Leremore. 2500 Euros reached Joseph, and the work began immediately. Two 10,000-liter water tanks, stones, sand, and cement were bought in Maralal and transported to Baragoi. There, a solid foundation was built, and just a few days ago, the two water tanks were installed and are now ready to catch rainwater from the downspouts of the Community Empowerment Center building.

Here's a small video from Baragoi! https://www.youtube.com/@earthprayers

This water is now to serve as the basis for a permaculture demonstration garden. I had the honor of being present for three days during the installation of the water tanks. Together, many young men dug trenches during this time to keep the water on the site during rainfalls. Between 20 and 30 young men and I were at work, and it was beautiful to see what's possible when many people work towards a common goal. Among other things, these young Samburu warriors are supposed to learn about permaculture, and the same group is then to create a permaculture garden each month at one of the young men's homes. A kind of CHAMA, but work-related. Here, Joseph Leremore has sent us some words of gratitude!

Our support for Simon Jatta in Gambia has also brought a lot of joy. Here are some words and pictures from Simon, who can now take on his jobs as an electrician much more easily with good tools. We will try to support him once more to enable him to acquire a few more tools.

Thanks to another generous additional donation from the association "Herzenswege und Seelenpfade," we were also able to reach the support goal for Vanessa Hernández in Caracas, Venezuela. At the association's festival at the beginning of December, I was invited to sing a few songs live from Kenya and to introduce the Earth Prayers initiative. This fell on very fertile ground, and 600 Euros were sent to us by the association for Vanessa! This way, we were able to reach her goal of 1200 Euros! Vanessa is overjoyed and will be able to start the new year with her four children, uplifted by this financial blessing!

The foundation of our work is the many people who contribute to each weekly project. However, individual larger donations are always welcome and a wonderful complement, often allowing us to reach support goals more quickly!

Now let's move on to the projects for the month of January 2025! Our first projects of the year take us to India, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela!

🌞 6. - 12.1.2025 Free Seeds Navdanya - Dehradun ~ India ❤️

Most of you are probably already familiar with the work of Vandana Shiva. She is an inspiring woman who has already achieved a lot and advocates for organic agriculture, especially for women in farming. She has also established more than a hundred seed banks in various states of India. Navdanya is a major NGO. In our opinion, the work of Navdanya is so important and moving that we support it repeatedly as the Project of the Week, even though we are not directly in contact with Vandana Shiva or the Navdanya NGO in Dehradun. In my opinion, it's one of the most crucial pillars ensuring that our seeds remain organic and in the hands of farmers. There are global trends towards the privatization and genetic manipulation of seeds. This is exactly where Vandana Shiva steps in, bringing much knowledge, wisdom, and strength to keep seeds natural and in the control of ordinary people! Feel free to get inspired on their website!https://www.navdanya.org/

🌞 13.-19.1.2025 Sustainable Agriculture Community Kilampá - Water System ~ Argentina ❤️

Last September, we already supported the Kilampá community in building a greenhouse. The second goal was to enable a permaculture water system. This time, we want to promote the efforts of this community regarding the water system! Permaculture is undoubtedly now and in the future the agricultural system with the most potential for healing on this planet. It's a holistic interplay between humans and Earth, a natural coexistence.

The Kilampá community is located in the state of Córdoba, Argentina. Besides the simple, natural lifestyle with self-sufficiency, a goal here is to help young people find their calling. Thus, young individuals often come to the community to search for their deep inner calling. There, they discover hidden talents and visions. Many young people have already left the community strengthened and connected with their soul, ready to pursue their visions.

I am very moved by the work and vision of the Kilampá community, and we are very pleased to be able to support them again! Here we received a video message from Argentina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haeymCfe0qU

Here are also some pictures from Córdoba, Argentina, from the Kilampá community!

🌞 20. - 26.1.2025 Nature & Culture Museum of Sacred Plants - Cuzco ~ Peru ❤️

Marisol lives with her husband and children in Cuzco, Peru. The family runs a small museum there called "The Museum of Sacred Plants." Visitors can enter for a voluntary donation and immerse themselves in the world of plants. Marisol is aware that every plant has a soul and that different plants support various aspects of human health. This knowledge and wisdom she shares with the visitors.

People also come to her and her husband to experience healing, to be advised on which plants could lead to healing and development in their specific cases. The house is an old, traditional Peruvian house, and since it's located in Cuzco, it must legally be maintained in that style. There are currently many maintenance tasks to be done. At the moment, it's about getting the small garden café in shape. We would like to support this family, who have dedicated themselves to sacred plants!

By the way, Marisol came across us because an Austrian man approached her. She organizes a feast during major religious and spiritual festivals of various cultures and religions around the world, where all people are welcome. At one such event, there was also an Austrian. He spoke almost no Spanish but reportedly celebrated and danced wonderfully. In the end, he handed her the project application form from Earth Prayers. It's beautiful how we are all connected on Earth! We wholeheartedly support the work of Marisol and her husband!

Here is a video message from Milagros to us! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d57M_2nfUY

🌞 27.1.2024 - 2.2.2025 The Empowered Woman Aruna Ekohábitat - Building with Bamboo - Workshop for Women and Children ~ Caracas, Venezuela❤️

Verónica lives in Caracas, Venezuela. She is a very spiritual woman. Among other places, her life has led her to India, to Auroville. There, the trained architect deeply engaged with bamboo, particularly with bamboo as a building material.

She has turned this love for bamboo, for sustainable building, into her profession. In Venezuela, bamboo as a construction material is not as advanced compared to other Latin American countries. In addition to bamboo itself, she also likes to incorporate sacred geometry and special shapes, angles, and combinations into her constructions. She views building as both a material and a spiritual process.

From Earth Prayers, she has requested support to hold a workshop for children and women near her place of residence. This workshop aims to empower women and children to become active and creative themselves. She states that bamboo does not require the strength of a man because it is very malleable. It is excellent for women and children. Since bamboo thrives wonderfully in this region of Venezuela, it would be very enriching for the people to learn about building methods with bamboo. We admire Verónica's vision and want to actively support her by contributing approximately 500 Euros for the purchase of tables and other materials for the workshop!