2013 Financial Report & Land Acquisition Updates

posted by Cynthia Robinson on December 7th, 2013

Since our first call for support in the spring of this year we have been moved by the outpouring of love we have received from our community and we thank you for your profound displays of generosity. To this date we have raised $87,282.71 in donations from our community and together with the funds generated by contributions for Paititi programs in Peru for the last 4 years we now have $222,000 to devote to the purchase of our new base. We are now in the position to acquire land and begin the steps to lay the foundational infrastructure to continue our work. In order to fully embody our visions we are now raising an additional $500,000. You can take a look at the budget we are working with online in our  just-published Visionary Summary and Future Planning Portfolio  HERE>>.

For the last year we have been on many scouting missions which have taken us all over Peru and after many quite adventurous journeys we have discovered a region which we have fallen in love with and feel is the perfect place to expand our healing center and ecovillage.

This land is in an area where the mountains meet the jungle, bordering one of the largest reserves in South America, the Manu National Park. The mountains offer a diverse and unique climate with subtropical jungle at the low elevation, temperate climates midway up and sierra climates on the peaks. From this palette we can grow nearly anything, from low jungle crops such as yuca, plantains and all varieties of tropical fruits, to a large diversity of crops from the temperate climates such as greens, carrots, beets, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, apples, peaches, lucuma, etc., to the high elevation gems of peru such as potatoes and quinoa. In addition, each climate zone offers a unique plethora of medicinal plants to work with. We feel that this variety of food and medicine is of key importance in order to fully support our community members, retreat participants, and patients with fresh organic food grown with our own hands onsite.

The region is rich in both fertile soil and ancestral history and also serves as a gateway into one of the most unexplored regions on the planet, the Manu Reserve. In this reserve there are still uncontacted tribes as well as many tribes with a limited contact which still have deep roots in their indigenous traditions. We have already been working with some of these groups for many years and we look forward to deepening our relations. These people carry some of the most precious gifts to humanity and being stationed along one of the few inlets into this reserve we will have the unique opportunity and responsibility of supporting the conservation of virgin rainforest through a partnership with some of the only tribes that still maintain their original heritage – Machiguenga and Huachipari people. With our ability to alarm the international community about any suspicious or criminal activity from industrial corruption and invasion of loggers, miners and oil companies that are currently sizing this region for future exploitation, we intend to serve as a buffer of protection.

We have identified a couple options in this area and we have begun the process of working with our lawyers to determine the best option out of those available to us. We started drawing up the contracts in September. However, things have been delayed while certain bureaucratic processes clear, as often happens in Peru. Although we have rejoiced in sharing presence with so many of you here in the US, we also look forward to the completion of our Fall US and Mexico tour and the return to Peru in a couple weeks at which time we will be able to fully devote our energies to completing this process.

Through these last few months during our US and Mexico tour we have been doing our best to move forward and share our plans and intentions with all of you and have been feeling the guidance to keep the momentum of moving forward even through a certain element of the unknown, which is often an integral part of the heart path and a spiritual journey. There is of course a challenge involved in determining the best approach as there is a transitional and fluid nature to this process and often matters can take unpredictable turns.

The lessons that we have continually been working with from the very beginning are summarized very well in the words of one of our teachers:

“Patience is the capacity to accept all kinds of hardships, to not give in to agitation when faced with difficulties and to not lose courage”
~ His Holiness Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje

We therefore unwaveringly continue to uphold the vision, patience, perseverance and trust that there is nothing that we all cannot accomplish together. From this place of shared heart and united consciousness we are more devoted than ever.

From our current perspective it is possible that the land may come through next month, allowing us to break ground in early January. It is also possible that the process could be drawn out a few months more. It is our goal to make the transition in time to host our March Embody True Nature Retreat at the new land. With this said, we also do not wish to rush and if this does not happen then we will host the March retreat at the current center in the lower Amazonian basin near Iquitos, or elsewhere.

We look forward to sending you more updates on this process as well as more definitive dates for the start of work on the new site. We are so grateful for all of you who have expressed a sincere inspiration to come and work with us in the early infrastructure and we look forward to getting our hands in the dirt with you!