Today the OTM group met representatives from Timmy Global Health and Hombro a Hombro. These organizations are providing direct medical assistance to local people through a primary care model. They are on the front lines in the fight against health inequality.
Typical of the Amazon in the rainy season, the weather changed our schedule today. We started with a tour of the community, San Pedro de Sumino, until the rain drove us inside.
Today we traveled into the Amazon highlands with Randy Borman, an American who was born and raised among the Cofan in Ecuador and has created a non profit organization called the Cofan Survival Fund (www.cofan.org)
We are here on International Water Day. I invite you: take a moment to think about the role that clean water plays in your life. Think about how drastically your life would change if you did not have reliable access to clean water.
As the people of West Virginia recently discovered, it is much more than an inconvenience. Now imagine that this was a permanent problem, and that you couldn’t just run down to the grocery store to pick up some bottled water. Sadly, this is the reality that many people around the world deal with on a daily basis.
Today we were invited to share some yoga with the children of a Cofàn village, one of the indigenous tribes of the Ecuadorean Amazon. I teach preschoolers at home, and was amazed to witness how much of the teaching can transcend the borders of language, culture, and nation. Handstands are the universal language of joy, it seems Such a fun day!
Today we ventured from Quito out into what we came here for – the Amazon rainforest. As we left civilization and headed into the wilderness, we were suddenly surrounded by massive waterfalls, misty mountains, vibrant wild orchids…and the ever present oil pipeline, which flows the road all the way from the oil pits in the Amazon to the coast of Ecuador.
Today we traveled by bus from Quito to Lago Agrio. The 9-hour trip took us across the Andes mountains and into the Amazon Basin. Our guide, Amparo, shared lots of interesting information about Ecuador along the way. One thing I hadn’t known is that Quito is famous for their beautiful roses, 75% of which are shipped to the United States.
Well, I’m here. The First Day. Those words seem so loaded, so full. Of promise and expectation. Of trepidation and fear. Of anxiety and excitement.The day has been full. Introductions, names, yoga, intention, grounding, presence, sharing, listening, exploring boundaries, learning, laughter, connection, information, heartbreak, overwhelm, hope, sleep.It’s easy for me to feel disembodied. Part of me is still at home with my husband and kids, part of me is here with this
Bhakti Chai, a major 2013 partner of Off the Mat Into the World™, culminates this year’s partnership with the first ever “Living Your Bhakti” Grant Contest. The contest sought Off the Mat Into the World Leaders who are “living their bhakti” (their devotion through social action) via a non-profit or project that significantly benefits the global community and that furthers the mission of Off The Mat, Into The World (OTM).
