Project Air, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2007, has just announced an initiative to raise $1,000,000 in 100 days to fund its work in Rwanda and help to expand services into Eastern Congo. The unique yoga-based program it oversees is designed to help allay some of the trauma and mental health issues left in the wake of the 1984 Rwandan Genocide. "Focusing on HIV+ women and their children, Project
Air uses yoga to help genocide rape survivors manage the devastating
effects of catastrophic sexual violence and HIV/AIDS. For the past two
years, in collaboration with the medical NGO WE-ACTx, Project Air has
reached thousands of HIV+ women and children, prompting the UN to
endorse its work—the first time the UN has ever given formal endorsement to a yoga initiative."
The advisory board of Project-Air includes Eddie Stern, of Ashtanga Yoga, New York; Madonna, singer and student of Asthanga; Dr. Tobias Siegfried, Professor, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, and several others.
In addition to seeking funding, Project Air is looking for Asthanga yoga teachers to donate three months of their time teaching in Rwanda or Eastern Congo.
Aditional information on this initiative: Project Air and on the Ashtanga Yoga site; and the interview on YouTube with Project Air's founder and director,
Deirdre Summerbell.
