Pathways to Inner Guidance

Leona Aroha Graham & Rhiannon Hanfman

Saturday 5th June, 2010
Faced with a variety of environmental, social and economic crises in the world plus our own individual lives all demanding difficult personal choices, how can we find ways to walk the talk and create positive change in our lives?

This week offers you an opportunity to connect with your innate inner wisdom, ‘the still small voice within’. As guidance comes in many forms, we will explore what form works best for you through the sequence of expressing gratitude, finding the right questions, using intuitive tools such as meditation and/or prayer, learning to be open and receiving answers, and then acting upon them. Such tried and true disciplines encourage us to live more authentically and creatively.

Learning to receive and follow true guidance creates a useful pathway to negotiate life’s complexities.

Income related price (click here for more information): £545 / £695 / £875
Includes 7 nights accommodation and all meals.

Leona Aroha Graham lived at Findhorn for 10 years, working closely with co-founders Peter and Eileen, moving onto community activism and conservationism in UK, USA and Canada.

Rhiannon Hanfman has lived in the Community for 23 years. She is an editor, writer, astrologer and a Guide for the Game of Transformation.

For further information on this opportunity please visit: http://www.findhorn.org/programmes/programme393.php

The Wilderness Foundation UK is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.  This course is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wilderness Foundation UK.

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Sat 23rd Jan: One Day Ecopsychology Conference at The Node, Nr Knebworth, Hertfordshire.

This one day conference will be an exploration of the potential dance between eco and psyche. It will draw on dreams, dialogue, ritual and play. We hope that it will bring a different perspective to both clinical issues and the role of psychotherapy within our present cultural troubles. With Mary-Jayne Rust, Chris Robertson, Michael Whan and Joan Crawford.

Fee: £115 including hot lunch and refreshments

To download a programme prospectus click here

For further information on Mary-Jayne and her ecopsychology work please visit: http://www.mjrust.net

Please remember to mention the Wilderness Foundation UK.

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The bigger picture

For me, this year has highlighted the need for personal integrity, mirroring the need for us to show integrity and respect for the planet and nature. We have to start by respecting ourselves and each other and keep this foremost in our minds in all we do.

This was the theme of the talk delivered at the Wild9 Congress in Mexico (Humanising The Enemy – Wilderness and the Peace Process) by myself and Alistair Little (an ex-loyalist paramilitary and now a respected leader in reconciliation processes). Many scientists and participants reflected back how it had complemented the event’s outstanding scientific initiatives and environmental learning and touched them personally.

Social benefit from wilderness experience has been a strong focus this year. In May we were part of the cutting edge conference on Wild Europe held in Prague. This highlighted the need to protect tracts of old growth pristine forest which still remain in countries such as Romania and sections of unchanged landscape that ironically have been protected by the military no-go zones dividing East and West Europe. Here insects and flora remain untouched by any intervention giving huge opportunities for conservationists to maintain their status under protection.

To prevent the loss of these areas of forest and meadow to industrialisation and development, we have to offer alternatives demonstrating the benefits of social health, water and tourism alongside biodiversity protection. Toby Aykroyd, our Vice Chairman, is working at the highest political levels in Europe and maintains a steely determination in keeping this battle right at the top of what is a vital agenda.

A new story to tell

We know scientifically through the work carried out by the University of Essex that the wilderness trail experience is a highly effective tool in raising self esteem and lifting mood. This has once again been demonstrated as our second group of TurnAround youth have graduated. The seven young people who came to us with violent histories, vulnerable to crime, drugs, school exclusion and a lack of self belief now have a new story to tell thanks to this ground-breaking project that supports them for the long term. Having braved -15 degrees wind chill with snow and ice in the Scottish wilderness, they carry their coping strategies and personal learning in the wilderness as a badge of honour, paving the way to a brighter new future.

Tomorrow’s leaders

This year we launched a new wilderness trail initiative called Wild Swans. Young women from South Africa and the UK came together for a fifteen day wilderness trail in South Africa – aimed at growing their leadership skills, environmental and cultural understanding. It was challenging for them, but the learning was significant. In 2010 we hope to work with young women from across communities in Derry in Northern Ireland, girls from London and from two communities in South Africa. This will be the start of a three year programme building up for the London and Derry historical celebrations in 2013.

Our Sirius Programme for Environmental Leaders, in partnership with Tellus Mater, entered its second year. The outcomes and vision that the young people share with us through this experience leaves us almost breathless with excitement. It is a real privilege to spend time in the wildest parts of Scotland with the brightest young people. We are convinced that their youthful wisdom, energy and passion will ensure a positive future. The trail experience gives them a deep understanding of the balance required to see environment not just from human need perspective, but in a holistic way incorporating wild nature and biodiversity as part of the spectrum. This theme was followed up at our youth conference in November, as we invited some key and current thinkers in the field to put the hard contradictions of climate change and other issues on the table. It was a challenging day but all felt worthwhile and gave huge food for thought.

Touching lives and gaining new ground

Over the course of 2009, more than 100 young people from a variety of schools and partner groups across the UK went to South Africa on various trails, including our first trail in the Kgalagadi Game Reserve with a San-Bushman, a totally remarkable experience. We are really proud to have a long term relationship with our schools and cadet groups and value the relationships that we have forged over time. Thanks to all the staff who work with us to deliver the best life experiences possible to young people.

Back home we have a dynamic hands-on team working in local schools. From building wildlife and climate change gardens to running outreach to young people in Chelmsford, we are teaching sustainability in a variety of ways. It is a great way to engage ‘little’ people who are too small to go on a trail but can learn to love nature and benefit from it in other ways.

Our allotment programme, under Richard Corby, is also gaining new ground with regards to mental health and nature, as we aim to become a centre of excellence where people can come and learn how to run their own gardens and be more self sufficient. Not ‘wilderness’, but it really does reach people who want and need to stay local and change the way they do things.

All of this work continues in 2010, a year which marks a new outreach programme for wilderness therapy activities in Scotland, and hopefully another hub opening up in the North East to include activities such as walks and talks and social events. So as you can see we’re on the move…

We would also welcome your feedback on how you would like to hear from us. Would you prefer we kept you up to date by post or via online communications such as emails, blogs and website updates? We would value your thoughts on this and any other matters that are important to you, so please do contact us via email, letter or just give us a call on 01245 443073.

We look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your continued support

Seasons Greetings

Jo and the Wilderness Team

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Join a group of women on a wilderness trail that is guaranteed to give you time out, peace and quiet, a good laugh, adventure, and time to just be yourself…

Your journey begins with an evening flight on Friday 5^th March departing the UK for Johannesburg.  You arrive on 6^th March and will be met by a local representative who will assist you to your flight to Durban, home of the Wilderness Leadership School, for your overnight stay.  Sunday 7^th March after breakfast starts your journey to the Umfolozi Game Reserve for an unbelievable experience of true wilderness, spending 5 days without mirrors, daily pressures or watches.

Participating in wilderness trails highlights the need for wilderness protection through a visceral and felt understanding of why nature and the wild is so vital to our social, personal and spiritual survival.   Trails offer people a unique opportunity to experience wild nature in the simplest form – carrying everything you need in a backpack and sleeping under the stars.

Estimated cost:

£710 exluding flights

which should be in the region of £700

Add On Community Stay

For those who have more time to spare, there is an opportunity to continue your travels in South Africa and engage in a community project in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains for a further 4 nights. Living with Zulu families you will have an opportunity to really experience rural life, understand the issues that local women face and make a difference to the community.

Additional cost in the region of £450.00

A minimum group size of 4 and maximum of 8

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.”

Rachel Carson

For more information please

email info@wildernessfoundation.org.uk or telephone 01245 443073

Related posts:

1. Two more youth groups set off for South Africa
2. Wild Swans in Africa

Representatives from Mexico, Canada, and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a framework for future cooperation and coordination between the three nations for wilderness conservation.

“This is a historic moment for the National Park Service and one that is long overdue” said Jon Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service. “Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for increasing our understanding of global climate change, ecosystem adaptation and resiliency. As some of the least manipulated environments left, wilderness provides connectivity and wildlife migration corridors amongst other values. This MOU reaffirms the National Park Services’ commitment to conservation and we look forward to moving forward with our two closest neighbors and other federal partners on implementing this framework.”

The MOU provides for the development of an intergovernmental committee that is comprised of agency heads or their designated representative to facilitate collaboration. Topics of mutual interest include examining wilderness conservation and management with a special concern for understanding climate change, fire, and invasive species as well as exploring broader trans-boundary conservation initiatives.

For additional information, contact Karen Taylor-Goodrich, Associate Director of Visitor and Resource Protection, at Karen_Taylor-Goodrich@nps.gov or (202) 565-1020.

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Graduates with Jo and Lady Diana Kemp Welch

On Saturday 21st November TurnAround Two came to a close.  Surrounded by families, friends, mentors, patrons and funders, the young participants enjoyed an evening of celebration to mark their successful completion of the programme.  We were delighted to be joined by Mr Rupert Gosling, The High Sheriff of Essex, together with Mr Andrew Sheepshanks, one of our Trustees, and Mrs Lilia Sheepshanks, a great supporter of the project.  We were also pleased to welcome Councillor Peter Martin.  Lady Diana Kemp Welsh, our Patron, kindly presented our young people with a number of certificates (such as Duke of Edinburgh Awards)  that they had achieved over the course of the last nine months.  They also received an album of photographs to remind them of their time with us, along with a sweatshirt, which they all wore with pride!  It was a wonderful evening, and we are very grateful to Lisa-Jane Spence of The Tea Rooms, Olivers Nurseries, Maldon Road Witham (01376-503215) ,who kindly donated all the food for a delicious celebration dinner.

We would like to thank all the young people for completing the course, and wish them the best for the future.  We also thank all our mentors for giving so much time and positive guidance to our participants.  We shall continue to keep in touch with everyone, and look forward to our reunion in January!

Related posts:

1. TurnAround Too!
2. TurnAround – An Appeal
3. TurnAround – A participants view

What Wilderness Foundation is doing to address the epidemic…

In 2005, the Wilderness Foundation launched the Umzi Wethu Academy for Displaced Youth, which targets impoverished young people on the verge of adulthood with job opportunities and life skills training, then makes these youth community and peer leaders on the topic of HIV/AIDS.

The Wilderness Foundation is the only environmental organization that tackles the problem of HIV/AIDS head on with a poverty alleviation strategy incorporating wilderness experiences and on-the-ground conservation work.  Its executive director, Andrew Muir, recently received the Rolex Award for Enterprise for founding the Umzi Wethu program.

The Umzi Wethu Academy taps the success of ecotourism in the Eastern Cape by delivering employable graduates to partnering game reserves and national parks that can offer secure, well-paying jobs in field ranging and hospitality.

To date, over 80 youth from some of the poorest urban and rural communities in the Eastern Cape have graduated, most placed in jobs as game rangers, chefs, and front of house in typically five-star establishments.  An additional 40 students are currently enrolled.

Gender equity is key to breaking the HIV/AIDS cycle, and the Wilderness Foundation strives to balance gender in its recruitment and job placement efforts, including game and field ranger jobs that are traditionally occupied by men.

Two academies now exist, one urban focused on hospitality and the other rural focused on field ranging.  Wilderness Foundation seeks funding to support other conservation and social development NGOs with seed money to replicate the Umzi Wethu model across Africa.

What Umzi Wethu does about HIV/AIDS …

Job preparation and placement are the priority accomplishments of Umzi Wethu, as well-paid, stable young people are less likely to succumb to the disease.

But hand-in-hand with the training and internships leading to secure employment are the life skills with which Umzi equips each youth.  Umzi students are trained in HIV/AIDS awareness and mitigation methods as well as peer mentoring skills that allow them to encourage other youth to avoid the disease, engage in voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), and where necessary, use antiretroviral medications.  Approximately 800 youth are reached through Umzi student leadership on wilderness trails organized for other youth as part of the Wilderness Foundation’s  Pride, Imbewu and Khula Nam programs.

Students also promote HIV/AIDS awareness and VCT through community projects.

Umzi Wethu outreach includes the families of students, resulting in benefits to some 1,200 additional community members.

For further information:

In South Africa, contact:  Andrew Muir, Executive Director, 27 (0) 41 373 0292, Andrew@sa.wild.org, or Pinky Khondlo, Program Manager, pinky@sa.wild.org

In the United States, contact:  Julie Anton Dunn, U.S. Program Director, 703-864-7770, Julie@wild.org

In the United Kingdom, contact@ Jo Roberts, CEO, 01245 443073 jo@wildernessfoundation.org.uk

Related posts:

1. Andrew Muir honoured with the 2008 Rolex Award for Umzi Wethu
2. Andrew Muir’s Rolex Award for Umzi Wethu remains a highlighted story in the media
3. Umzi Wethu launches blog site

Zintle Berma, Pamela Mbandezi, Busiswa Mabinza and Amanda Matha all attend Percy Mdala High School were chosen and then trained as amateur environmental conservations – the Wild Swans of the project name. They then embarked on a ten day wilderness trail in the Umfolozi and Drakensberg wilderness regions and together with their UK counterparts slept beneath the stars at night and walked in the footsteps of lion, rhino and elephant duirng the day.   Sian Davies, consultant and environmental education officer for Cape Environmental Assessment Practitioners – our partner in South Africa who was involved in coaching the girls before undertaking their wilderness challenge says:

You must realise that a wilderness experience of this sort is indeed life changing.  It’s all about back-to-basics and leave no trace principles, carrying everything you need in and out of the wilderness.

When they returned to school after their time in the wilderness with our highly trained, experienced and skilled guides from the Wilderness Leadership School, the girls started work setting up an environmental club in their school and will then go on to develop their own environmental initiative, utilising the skills that they have learned as part of the Wild Swans programme.

Congratulations to all the girls on their fantastic achievement.  We will continue to bring you news of their progress in the coming months.

Related posts:

1. Two more youth groups set off for South Africa
2. Women’s Umfolozi Wilderness Trail 2010

Date: 29th January 2010

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Venue: Natural History Museum, London

Come and experience a unique night out with us viewing this stunning exhibition, visit the futuristic Darwin Centre, listen to live music and relax with tapas and drinks which can be purchased from the Blue or Red bars.

We have a limited number of tickets for those of you who would like to join us at a cost of £10 per person

To purchase your ticket click on the link below

http://www.wildernessfoundation.org.uk/support-us/events/?event_id=11

If you have any questions please contact Leigh on

leighferris@wildernessfoundation.org.uk or telephone 01245 443073

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Sundarbans in West Bengal is the estuarine phase of the Ganges as well as the Brahmaputra river systems. This littoral forest is the only ecological habitat of the tiger of its kind in India.  The typical littoral forests of Sundarbans comprise a host of tree species adapted to the particular estuarine condition of high salinity, lack of soil erosion and daily inundation by high tides. The tidal forms and the mangrove vegetation in Sundarban are responsible for a dynamic eco-system cycling both terrestrial and aquatic nutrients.  The whole eco-system is sensitive to changes in salinity and the continuous cycle of erosion and deposition is affecting the plant communities giving rise to dynamic floristic changes. The plant communities are continuously adjusting to the new conditions.

Sundarbans mangrove is the home of a number of endangered and globally threatened species. The Bengal Tiger and the fishing cat are getting effective protection here. The creeks of Sundarbans form the home of Estuarine Crocodile, Salvator Lizard (Water Monitor), River Terrapin and Horse Shoe or King Crab. This area serves as the nesting ground for endangered marine turtles like Olive Ridley, Green Turtle and Hawk’s Bill Turtles. The aquatic endangered mammals like Genetic Dolphins thrive within mangrove creeks close to sea. Number of heronries form here during monsoon as well as during winter. It is home for Trans-Himalayan migratory birds.

One of the highlights of the festival was the display of dance provided by the Odissi dancers.  We present a number of images of their dancing below:

For further information on Project Tiger and the Sundarbans visit their website:

http://projecttiger.nic.in/sundarbans.htm

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