With your support, we can greatly increase our impact

We are celebrating Giving Tuesday with a fundraiser for our March 2025 trip to Rwanda.*

By donating to Meditation Without Borders you are supporting those in most need at the most fundamental level. Right now we are about three quarters of the way to funding the trip and are looking to reach our goal with this fundraiser.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORK IN RWANDA HERE

ABOUT THE PROJECT

In March 2024, Meditation Without Borders traveled to Rwanda in partnership with the Rwanda Women’s Network as a pilot program to teach the staff members of RWN along with the women they serve. In March 2025, we plan to return to Rwanda teach Vedic Meditation to teach at Berwa Kinunu, an organization that helps teen mothers with life and technical skills and psychosocial counseling, at Foyer Inge Baho Cooperative, a co-op for women that provides vocational support for widows of the genocide. We also will be hosting another four-day “Mothers of Rwanda” meditation retreat for women leaders on the national and community level.

Three decades ago, the global community witnessed the horrifying genocide in Rwanda, claiming the lives of over 800,000 people in a mere three and a half months. The aftermath seemed insurmountable, yet today, Rwanda stands as one of Africa's safest destinations, boasting a stable political environment. This remarkable transformation is indebted, in large part, to the women of Rwanda.

Evidence shows meditation has the power to help heal trauma and release toxic stress.

In a collaborative effort, Meditation Without Borders joined forces in 2024 with the Rwanda Women's Network to support the women who have been victims of gender-based violence, most of whom are also genocide survivors, as well as the change-makers that are tirelessly working to bring peace and harmony to their communities by offering them a simple mental technique to calm the mind, relax the body, and dissolve the lifetime of stress and trauma many have suffered.

We are raising funds for our March 2025 return trip to Rwanda. This will be an even more robust teaching tour in partnership with Odette Nyiramilimo, Berwa Kinunu and Foyer Inge Baho Cooperative and the second of what we hope will be many trips. Your invaluable assistance can make a meaningful impact from any corner of the globe. We firmly believe in the transformative power of even the smallest gestures, knowing that every action has the potential to bring about positive change.

About Odette Nyiramilimo, Berwa Kinunu and Foyer Inge Baho

Odette Nyiramilimo is a physician who with her husband founded the first private maternity and pediatrics clinic in Rwanda as well as being a doctor for the Peace Corps, and she also served as a senator and as Minister of State for Social Affairs under the government of Paul Kagame. Her account of the genocide is featured heavily in book “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families” by Philip Gourevitch and is also depicted as a character in the film Hotel Rwanda. She now believes that wellness is the path to helping continue the reconstruction, so she founded the Rushel Kivu Lodge on Lake Kivu, where we host our “Mothers of Rwanda” retreats.

She currently plays a major role in multiple local organizations that support women in the Lake Kivu region of Rwanda.

One of these organizations is Berwa Kinunu, an organization that provides teen mothers with life and technical skills in the form of tailoring training, childcare courses and pscychosocial counseling directly contributing to alleviating poverty among single mothers of Boneza, Mushonyi, Musasa, and Ruhango Sectors.

Another one is Foyer Inge Baho Cooperative which provides woodcarving, weaving and knitting vocational support for widows of the Rwandan genocide.

Odette Nyiramilimo on her experience with meditation

We are currently about $5000 away from covering the costs of the March 2025 trip. Thank you so much for considering making a donation.

*This is an unrestricted fund so that if there is any unused funds, they can be allocated to other projects if necessary.

Meditation Without Borders Giving Tuesday

By Meditation Without Borders

Meditation Without Borders Giving Tuesday

Help us get to Rwanda in 2025!