Giving it Forward

We have all taken strain in different ways this year but one thing binds us:

We need real connection - with nature and each other - more than ever.

In this spirit, Masiyembo guides & facilitators are adapting so that they can continue to facilitate connective nature experiences during these challenging times.

We know that nature is an essential service for societal health and wellbeing.

To achieve this, we seek your support. The Masiyembo Association offers two options:

1. Wild Nights Out: an annual program providing scholarships for diverse South African school-leavers (Matrics) to have a transformative wilderness experience at a pivotal time of life transition. Wild Nights Out consists of a 6-day wilderness trail in the Cederberg Mountains, followed by a year-long support process that ensures that the impacts seeded in the mountains help grow future leaders for our society. The next Wild Nights Out begins 12-17 January, 2021. Help get our Matrics onto the mountain!

2. The Masi Fund: a social impact fund dedicated to giving historically disadvantaged South Africans facilitated access and connection to nature areas to enhance wellbeing. This fund supports a range of initiatives in our Masiyembo network: youth-at-risk wilderness rites of passage, outdoor care for the COVID caregivers, all-women hiking clubs, and tailored nature-based skills training.

Join us in brightening the future of South Africa.

Your kind donations cover everything from transport costs to nature reserve permits, from outdoor equipment to a portion of the skills facilitators' (i.e. guides, social workers) time.

For as little as R150/$10/€10, we can give a participant a day-long "nature recharge" to support their health and resilience during these tough times.

(The GivenGain options below allow for credit card payments. It also gives you the option to become an independent fundraiser for the charitable cause of your choice)

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https://pos.snapscan.io/qr/AoALqDHk

EFT

EFT / Online Banking

Account Name: Organisation for Noetic Ecology

Bank: First National Bank (FNB)

Branch/Bank Code: 250655

Account Number: 62815892147

Reference: "MasiFund" OR "WildNightsOut"

For International Transfers:

SWIFT: FIRNZAJJ

Address: FNB Plettenberg Bay, Cnr. Main & Kloof St., Plettenberg Bay 6600

Organisation for Noetic Ecology NPC

Secretariat to the Masiyembo Association

Registered CIPC 2019/306713/08

NPO Registration Number 230-712

What’s the motive?

When we first gathered at the 2018 workshop that sowed the seeds for Masiyembo, we were all crammed into a residential living room. Our invitees from local townships were unable to attend. This wasn’t how we had planned it. Not at all.

We had instead intended for a weekend in a beautiful nearby National Park immersed in indigenous coastal forest. Where wild nature could be our inspiration.

Yet street riots initiated by frustrated communities over shortage of housing and lack of basic services blocked access to the areas that we had wanted to go. Access that we often take for granted.

This was a watershed moment for us.

With this came the palpable and humbling realisation that while thousands of overseas tourists comfortably visit and soak up South Africa’s incredible wild spaces unhindered, the vast majority of local citizens are unable to access, connect and benefit from their own natural heritage.

We sat together in silence and then shared openly from our hearts.

We knew this had to change and we wanted to play our part in that shift.

It is absolutely imperative that all people have the means to reconnect with their heritage, and to rediscover their sense of identity and belonging through nature.

This helps revitalise the health and social cohesion within our communities. And much more.

Your generosity helps us take concrete actionable steps in this direction.

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"Masiyembo" is an isiXhosa word that simply translates as "[Let's go] back to our roots".

Yet as several elders have shared, it has a deeper resonant meaning - a profound remembering of the human spirit and our origins with nature.

"Come... let’s go there, let’s go back to that special place where we remember our ancestors, our humanity, and where we are warmly welcomed by one another. Let's bring that back into awareness" ~ Mncedisi

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