Jimbere Fund
Hello Strong & Beautifuls,
I hope this finds you well and approaching some sense of balance amidst end-of-year deadlines, holiday parties, errands, and travel. I rely heavily on Pilates workouts, beaucoup walking, and my own barre and dance classes to keep me fit and sane throughout these times, and I hope you also see the class space as one to renew, balance and strengthen you in both body and mind.
Jimbere Fund
This may not have anything to do with barre class or fitness, but it's connected to one of my other life's passions: participating in a positive future in Africa. (If you don't know, now you know).
My friend Obadias and his wife Adele have started Jimbere Fund, a nonprofit to provide assistance to rural communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they grew up. (And by rural, we're talking a 3-day walk to the the nearest dirt road). Obadias' stories of his home place painted for me a picture of a beautiful jungle mountain existence, simple, pastoral, and not totally unlike where I grew up (minus the jungle part) - but also an impoverished, war-torn world out of reach of American media and virtually absent from our consciousness. For a sense of the contrast, at the time I was a little kid playing blissfully in the woods behind my house with sticks and Barbies, Obadias was a little kid hiding from enemy soldiers in the woods behind his house which had no electricity or modern plumbing.
Here's his synopsis of what Jimbere does:
"Communities in Itombwe Mountains - and similar communities all across Congo - arguably face the most acute needs in the country (of D.R. Congo). The state doesn’t exist there. Nonprofits working in the country are mostly clustered around Goma, Bukavu, Uvira and other small cities. They go up to the last dirt road. That means those who live beyond the reach of the road are left out of development efforts and have to fend for themselves. It also means that people who need help most - the poorest and most vulnerable - don’t get it. I know because my parents still live in the village I grew up in and they tell me what’s going on.
That’s why I co-founded Jimbere Fund, a startup nonprofit on a mission to revitalize distressed communities in Congo. We’ll be working with Congo’s most remote communities to design and implement individualized high-impact development interventions that expand economic opportunities and access to critical services, create jobs and lift people out of poverty in a sustainable way. Our approach blends community organizing and development interventions. Communities identify their most pressing needs in areas such as agriculture, healthcare and education, and we work with them to find solutions and co-implement them.
Here are ways you can help:
1) Sign up to stay in touch and think of 5 people/groups who might be interested in our work and introduce us to them.
2) Invite us to speak to your groups/churches/events so we can share our work and build support
3) Host a fundraiser next year to support our work or a fund specific community
4) Donate what you can on the website.
Check it out, babes, and let's put some of the good energy we build in class to work for others who need it!
music
Treats for your ears :) Follow me, annieforeal, on Spotify. And send me the songs you love to work out to! I'm a professional music listener and love to know what your ears are craving.
Last Barre Playlist 2016
Last BodyRhythm Playlist 2016
