From the contributions of participants of our 20th Taozen retreat, more than €40,000 was directed to Mawa Yuxyn - the spiritual center of Waxy Yawanawá and her family deep in the Brazilian Amazon, where this special 20th Taozen retreat took place. Thanks to this collective effort, the Yawanawa were finally able to rebuild their Shuhu, which is the traditional ceremonial and educational center of the Yawanawá people.
It's a building meant to bring unification to the entire village and throughout the tribe, where the younger generation can learn traditions from the wise elders and ceremonies of different types can be held. As the tentacles of 'modern', Western life - with it's questionable values, distractions, pollution and objectives - gradually penetrates deeper and deeper into the jungle every year, a space like the Shuhu becomes even more important. It is a space for the Yawanawa to preserve the wisdom of their ancestors, connecting the new generations to their heritage in a tangible way so that the temptations of the modern world are less tempting.
In a very emotional inaugural circle in late November with the entire retreat group and approximately 40-50 other Yawanawa family members from different villages, our spiritual mother and teacher Waxy Yawanawá shared that for the last five years, they've been praying to have the means to rebuild their destroyed Shuhu. When they built it for the first time several years ago, they could only afford to build with cheaper and less durable materials like the palm trees they are surrounded by, which got rotten very quickly due to heavy rains and humidity.
We’re so happy to have been able to answer the Yawanawá prayers. See in the picture above the new Shuhu! Totally rebuilt with a durable metal roof (instead of palm leaves), anti-mosquito window netting, cosy warm lighting (jungle chandelier!) and wooden flooring.
