Newsletter ~ April 2023

Hello dear ones!

Last week even southern Graz was once again dipped in snow, and yet the colorful, fresh energy of spring is sprouting and sprouting!

That's how it feels at Earth Prayers, too. Four years of the association "Seeds of Solidarity"!

Around 250 people currently receive our monthly newsletter. There are currently around 130 donors for the weekly projects and a staggering 60,000 euros in support has been raised for 93 projects so far since the initiative began! ❤️❤️❤️

This deserves a short review! 😊 How did the idea actually come about?

In November 2017, during a Vipassana retreat in India, Philipp received the vision to skip dinner once a week and give the money saved to a heart project. Sensing the deep desire "May all living beings be happy," he stuck with the idea and a year later there was the first meeting in his living room of a small group of people who skipped dinner together and instead put the money in a pot in the middle to donate.

After weekly, nurturing meetings, our club was finally formed in April 2019 and continued to grow in a wonderful way. In June 2021, the suspension of the act of consumption was dropped and "Earth Dinner" became "Earth Prayers." The focus became not to give out of abandonment, but to draw from the full abundance of the 2 euros or more for a weekly project.

From that time on, the Earth Prayers Family has grown amazingly once again and we are enjoying our wonderful, strong community! THANK YOU for this amazing journey together!!! ❤️

And now... our way continues to our April projects:

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🌞 4/3-9/4 * Heart's Desires * Montessori School Muhuchay ~ Peru ❤️

Carmen Susan has set up a wonderful little school in the "Sacred Valley of the Inca" following the teachings of Maria Montessori. She strives to give the children there a loving, prepared environment for their learning and growth.

Now she has approached us with a request for financial support for teaching materials, games, tables, chairs, shelves and a sandbox.

We would love to support this school project from the bottom of our hearts and appreciate all the contributions collected for Muhuchay! ❤️

Here is a sweet video of a school field trip to the "Sanctuary of the Bees", another project supported by Earth Prayers:

https://youtu.be/NLV_hsU7LoM

Here are some more photos from the school trip!

https://www.earth-prayers.com/peru-montessori-schule-muhuchay

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🌞 10.4.-16.4. * Free Seeds * Navdanya / Vandana Shiva ~ India ❤️

It's time once again to support the great work of Vandana Shiva and her NGO Navdanya!

Vandana Shiva, with incredible courage, has been a pioneer for free seeds, organic farming, and the rights and empowerment of Indian women smallholder farmers for years. To date, Navdanya has established more than 100 community seed banks ~ in 22 states, over a period of nearly 30 years!

Let's join together to nourish this worthy cause!

More info can be found here:

https://www.earth-prayers.com/navadnaya-indien

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🌞 4/17 - 4/23 * Sustainable Agriculture * Samburu Agriculture ~ Kenya ❤️

Peninah also continues to impress us with her commitment to providing for her Samburu people, especially women's empowerment.

"Words can never express the gratitude in my heart for each of you and the earth. You help people achieve the impossible and give hope to the world. A community that supports each other can overcome anything, including hunger, poverty, hatred and addiction. Thank you for making the world a better place!"

Peninah once sent us these words. The thanks is also on our side!

Here you can find valuable info about this wonderful project and many beautiful photos:

https://www.earth-prayers.com/samburu-kenia

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🌞 4/24-30/4 * Nature & Culture * Incary Love Arts & Education Festival ~ Peru ❤️

"Good afternoon on the other side of the world. We are sending you a short presentation of the Incary Love project that will run from April 29 to May 20, 2023. We hope we can count on your support in this wonderful task. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!"

Incary Love is a social and cultural community project. "Here we promote, dream and create spaces for artistic education in the middle of the jungle of Peru."

The Kosñipata district in the department of Cusco is full of ghost towns on the side of a road leading to Incary Love.

"The small houses of the towns were breakfast, lunch and dinner for hungry termites and the jungle devours what is left. With Incary Love, we have opened a residence here for creative artists and educators. A place that exudes creativity and sees itself as a space of exchange with the local community. Since 2021, we have been working with different educational institutions in the region and with grassroots organizations, which has allowed us to support the strengthening of schools and develop artistic training workshops for women, children and youth, which are the only cultural spaces offered in the region.

Our project is sponsored by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture to carry out the annual Incary Love Art and Education Festival. In this event, we host artists from different fields who create works on themes that raise awareness about the care of the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people's cosmovision. Another focus is to address the needs and issues of young people. We want to fill unexpected spaces with color, to install art as medicine in the retina, because we know that art heals, even the most pitted wall."

This year, our challenge is to expand the festival's activities and create a permanent art workshop at Patria School to encourage young people's participation in projects to improve the quality of life in Peru's jungle areas."

We are happy about this beautiful inspiration and would like to support this project!

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A year ago we were able to help Manuela from Venezuela to finance raw materials for the production of natural cosmetics and natural remedies as well as one for an electric mill. With her work, she wants to make her own contribution to women's self-empowerment, which for her goes beyond earning her own money. "For me, it means seeking, feeling, living the knowledge of my ancestors. That's what I want to express and share with all women who are searching."

Recently, this video from Manuela reached us ❤️

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-sRQUuTbY

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Here you can still find the overview of our contributions for the March projects: