I had the privilege yesterday to visit an amazing initiative in Port Elizabeth.
Umzi (www.umziwethu.org) has many amazing aspects and qualities which you can research on their site, I won't repeat them here. I just wish to share one thought I had.
The effect of the exposure to nature on anybody.
As wild and as raw as you can access. Which happens to be difficult these days. How wild is an area that has been fenced in? No matter how large it is? Well that is an issue for a different time.
Central to the program is the opportunity for youth to experience nature. To engage and get dirty, get tired and get high!
To sing and dance and sleep and breathe.
When I did my training as a kindergarten teacher we used to expose the young children to nature as much as we could. The reasoning was that children aquire their fundamental morality before the age of 7. As you know some religions aim to convert or involve children with their message before 7, because it actually becomes a bodily function of the persons being.
To me morality is body, not mind. I can think as much as I can about an issue and that thought may be good, or bad. I agree that thoughts lead to actions, but it is here, in my actions, where I impact the most upon the world and those around me.
Morality is about how I act. What I do.
The youth in Umzi are directly having a real moral upgrade without the moralistic handicap that people often carry.
Coming from an environment where behavior was dictated by whim, the order in the natural world creates a platform for deep and comprehensive growth.
For me this was incredibly apparent when I visited the project. The skills and the mentorship and the other parts are all indispensible.
But the sacred earth creates something more.
May Umzi be blessed and prosper.
