MasterPeace Walk South Africa 2023

"Be a Nelson"

ENGAGE with self, others and culture
EMPOWER local entrepreneurs, projects and communities
ACTIVATE care for nature and show-up as your true self

We are delighted to invite you to the MasterPeace Walk South Africa 2023 - dare to "Be a Nelson".

Join us in discovering South Africa beyond the touristic areas! You will be introduced to the rich history and culture of South Africa, get in contact with impactful social initiatives and witness breath-taking scenery.

Participate in a unique 10-days experience in the Western Cape province, walking a historical route in the beautiful region of Overberg and Overstrand, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. During the 6 day walk, we will live and sleep in nature. You will enjoy the company of a group of about 20 international participants and 20 members of the Be a Nelson Movement, which is based on Nelson Mandela's legacy and mindset.  

Enjoy the interesting discussions about life, work and dreams. Learn about South African traditions, realities, culture and rituals; discover the work of the local MasterPeace tam; disconnect from the hectic western civilization and luxury; reconnect with the nature and yourself; experience the impact of silence, storytelling, sharing and reflection; walk roughly a total of 100km; enjoy a healthy environment and traditional fresh food; add value to the local communities.   

You will discover and experience the history and of South Africa and witness breath-taking scenery. During the 6 day walk you will enjoy the company of a group of about 20 international participants and 20 members of the Be a Nelson movement, which is based on Nelson Mandela's legacy and mindset. 

This trip is a unique adventure in which you will connect, discover and learn from nature, within the multicultural environment of the group. Go home with new experiences, friends and unforgettable memories. 

Date: 1-10 november 2023
Area: Western Cape province, South Africa
Costs: €1850,- (excl travel)

The MasterPeace Walk South Africa 2023 "Be a Nelson" is hosted by MasterPeace South Africa leader Nico de Klerk and his team and two experienced MasterPeace walkers.  

Organized by

Rute Lau (on the right in the picture) and Teresa Urbanowska (on the left) walked as participants in the MasterPeace Walk in Masaailand in 2017 and in Nepal in 2022 and loved the experience.

Nico de Klerk is the leader of MasterPeace Streetbiz South Africa. "We have Nelson Mandela's legacy to build on and to share that with the world, as he belongs to the world. Therefore, the Be a Nelson Movement, a MasterPeace concept as well, to promote unity, reconciliations and peace. We have so much to share with you during this walk." 

Thys Pretorius and Arina Swart are experienced community leaders living and working with communities in the Western Cape. They are part of the local organizing team.  

Contact details for more information:

southafricawalk@masterpeace.org

Application Form South Africa Walk

Video of the MasterPeace Walk Nepal 2022

https://vimeo.com/806327271/8082e93bff

On February 24, 2023 thousands of Ukrainians currently living in the Netherlands will gather at the Koninklijke Jaarbeurs (Utrecht, Netherlands) for the memorial event of the war in their home country. A year ago on this day, Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

Ukrainians, as well as Dutch and other locals of different nationalities supporting Ukraine, will follow the Walk of Hope - a walking route from Utrecht Central Station to the Ukrainian crisis center in Jaarbeurs, a route taken by thousands of Ukrainian refugees who arrived in the Netherlands last year. 

A further agenda of the memorial day includes many events. Under the motto "Let's remember together" meetings, commemoration, conversations about the past, the now and the future will be taking place. The connection is a central topic. Not only among the refugees from Ukraine, but also among the countless Dutch people who supported them with their warm hearts over the past year. This includes members of host families, volunteers, humanitarian workers, and employees of various aid agencies and governments. The memorial event is also facilitated by Utrecht Regional Safety Services, the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Municipality of Utrecht.

A huge map of Ukraine with 25 areas representing all Ukrainian regions and cities will be placed in the meeting hall. A symbolic walk 'through Ukraine” includes music programs, exhibitions and video-content based on stories and representing the talents of Ukrainians coming from different regions of Ukraine. Each region will have its own memorial complex where refugees from this area can meet and children will be able to make a drawing, which will be sent to the corresponding place in Ukraine.

The symbol of the event is a sunflower with 25 seeds in the middle. The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and represents resilience and the return home. At the core, you see 25 blue dots that represent all regions and therefore Ukraine as an indivisible country. Then you see 24 yellow dots and two rings. There are 20 points in the first ring, 22 in the second. All together this makes 24-02-2022.

This nationwide memorial assembly is an initiative of the Vitalnya Foundation - a cultural and community center for Ukrainian refugees in Utrecht (“vital’nya” is literally a “living room” in Ukrainian language). Since the 1st of April 2022 this is a place for daily activities for Ukrainians such as language lessons, mental health meetings, festivities, counseling hours and child care.

MasterPeace is proud to partner with Vitalnya on events where we can together contribute to a more peaceful future. MasterPeace mission is in mobilizing, inspiring and connecting talents for a sustainable future with less conflict. We use the soft power of art, music, play and sport to help the transformation in the world.

The Ukrainian community in Utrecht contributed greatly with their talents to the Sky Concerts organized by MasterPeace on the International Day of Peace on the 21 of September 2022. On that day we - together with over 200 stages all around the world - gathered to express our deepest wish for peace in Ukraine and everywhere in the world where people suffer from armed conflicts. We listened to some great Ukrainian talents singing and playing musical instruments, watched young children dancing in national costumes, we heard amazing and breathtaking stories and prayed and hoped for peace soon.                 

The youngsters from Utrecht Ukrainian community joined special events organized by MasterPeace in frames of Utrecht-900 to influence the creation of the city for everyone - the city with no walls and full of talents. There were multiple opportunities to show their talent in creating graffiti, practicing writing a rap song addressing social issues and simply getting together, having good meaningful time and finding friends among Dutch youngsters.

In contribution to the memorial day on the 24th of February MasterPeace will mobilize its network and MasterPeace clubs in Ukraine that are working day and night helping the society to stand together and resist Russian aggression.

In the Netherlands, a great young artist Yarima Lugo, the member of the MasterPeace Core Team, will create a musical composition for the Remember Together event to accompany the heartbeat symbolical action showing solidarity with the people in Ukraine and other Ukrainians everywhere in the world where the war brought them.

“Thinking about this moment together gives us hope and courage during this difficult time” says Anna Bieliaeva. Anna is from Kharkiv, Ukraine. On March 11, 2022 her mother, her 4 year old son and she arrived at Utrecht Central. She became a volunteer at the Ukrainian Crisis Center and later a location manager at Vitalnya Foundation. You can read Anna’s story in the Netherlands. Anna is an inspirator and the engine behind the Remember Together memorial event. 

Many MasterPeace clubs are operating in the countries where political unrest or armed conflicts are a part of sad reality. They share this burden with Ukrainian people in their hearts. They also are willing to help Ukrainians to keep their spirits up by sharing their learnings on how to resist and stay strong, how to have dialogue about tragic events and how to build the future without aggression.  

On the 24th of February we will look back and Remember Together. But we will also look forward. We will imagine the future where we all live in peace. Together.

Read more about the event “Remember Together” and support Vitalnya to hold an event with bigger impact by donating, sharing, and reposting information on www.24lyutoho.nl 

Odisha, despite being the seventh largest producer with highest per capita consumption of vegetables in India and Daspalla being called as Vegetables Hub of Odisha have been lacking on infrastructure for scientific storage of surplus production of vegetables leading to all most 40% food waste. Despite bumper production of vegetables in Daspalla Tribal Block of Odisha, India, Farmers used to suffer due to inadequate infrastructure like Cold Storage and Marketing support.

Keeping the above points in mind, Jeevan Rekha Parishdad (MasterPeace India-Odisha) with the support of Jeevika Trust and Brunel University, UK and Technical Support of DMCL,UK piloted a Smart Farming Solution project which has addressed by establishing a 10 MT solar Cold Storage benefitting 12000 smallholder farmers from 15 vegetable producing villages and through Market Linkage support called Daspalla Fresh- A Producers to Consumers (P2C) Initiative. Cold storage units can go a long way in cutting down losses suffered by the traders and farmers, as demonstrated by the 10 MT metric tons cold storage unit running in Odasara village. All its operations have been digitalized through a mobile application.

"After having implemented the Cooling as a Service Initiative through which we supported the implementation of the pay-per-use business model in the cooling sector, we saw a strong potential to tailor the model to the agricultural cold chain. One of the project's aims is to shift the burden of investment and operation of cold rooms onto the technology providers, so that farmers can benefit from cooling while only paying nominal amounts per use," said Dr.Manu, the Director,JRP and  and the Implementing partner of Jeevika Trust.

The cold room in Odasara village is run by the local Farmers Producers Group on a subscription model. At present, 125 small-time traders/farmers are using this facility. Firstly, one has to avail a membership card for Rs 100/ to use the facility following which farmers only have to pay for the number of crates they store.

Farmers now have a way out of distress selling. The migration of farmers has been reduced in these 15 villages. The farmers have been trained on organic vegetable cultivation. Some farmers have been supported to start Green House Vegetable cultivation which has increased the morals of farmers to cultivate vegetable throughout the year. The availability of cold rooms, which allows farmers to hold on to the stock, and strengthens their bargaining power against middlemen, have been pushing them to cultivate horticultural crops. The cold room is being operated by Women Self-Help Group (SHG), where the women not only manage the rooms and bookkeeping, but also help with forward market linkage of the stored products. The crops stored in the rooms are collected in bulk from different farmers to be sold to retail shops and hotels. This method ensures that the farmers receive fair rates for their produce. As a wholly women-run room, it gives women an opportunity for skill development, and to financially support their families.

From the data gathered from the Farmers
Producers Group and SHG, it has been revealed that the income level of farmers
has increased to more than double. For an example during June- July 2022, they
received 10 times more income by keeping tomato in cold storage for one month
when the tomato price was Rs.2/ per kg. They sold the tomato for Rs. 40 to
Rs.50/per kg during rainy season in July- August 2022. One trader kept 100
kg/20 carets tomato in the cold storage for one month and paid Rs. 1000/ to the
Farmer Producer Group managing the cold storage which was an additional income
to the Group.

In this way, JRP and MasterPeace India is constantly working to develop
projects which combine environment and empowerment in the region of Odisha with
an aim to uplift socio-economic status of whole community.

MasterPeace club in Malawi is coordinated under Sustainable Rural Community Development Organisation in Malawi. Our vision is a country, where rural communities are self-sustained, where the population is healthy and fully empowered, and where all people are equal, know their rights and take their own development initiatives and, our vision is to improve the livelihoods of rural communities by generating economic, agricultural, educational and cultural empowerment, and by promoting health and gender equality through the mobilisation, training, education and entertainment of all women, men and children.

  The organization has long worked together with MasterPeace Global as a licensed club in Malawi where we are implementing initiatives which we are aiming at promoting peace in Malawi to subscribe to the global vision of MasterPeace. With this we are implementing sport for peace initiatives which is aiming at filling the gender gap existing in Malawian Society. During this year MasterPeace Malawi partnered with Chikwawa Queens Football Club, our partnership is based on bridging the gender gaps existing in Malawi, by setting a unique dimension between women and men, girls and boys.

All along, Malawian Society believed that Football is the game for men only, however our partnership with Chikwawa Queens football is aiming at turning upside down the thinking of the people in Malawi to prove that there are no differences between males and females when it comes to roles and responsibilities.