Yoga for Congo Women – Denver 2012

Ann just got finished writing her annual email to friends about this year’s Yoga for Congo Women event.  I wanted to post it on my blog, so that it’s in a more sharable format.  Without further ado, here it is:

Hello, friends!

Every year, I write a long email to friends, asking them to come to Yoga for Congo Women, listing out all of the reasons it would be just so wonderful if they could come.

I’ve finally learned that most people really don’t have time for long emails.  (Myself included.)

But even more than that, we don’t have the capacity to take it.  We get emails from charities of all kinds, all of us.  We all go through psychic numbing, because the numbers are so immense and the problems are so painful that we physically cannot bear it or fathom it, and we shut it out. Don’t feel guilty…it’s a normal defense mechanism. We all do it in some way or another.

One is a tragedy.  A million is a statistic. Right?

But what happens to each of those millions of people who is really ONE person, just like you or me?

If your friend was lost, hurt, or alone, you would care deeply, no matter how gruesome or terrible their life had turned out.

So this year, I am telling my friends about just one person.  One woman.  One friend.

Her name is Generose.(Generose is one of the reasons Yoga for Congo began.  You can see pictures of her on my blog.)

Just like me, she had six babies.

And just like me, she had a husband she loved very much.

Just like me, one of her worst fears was that terrible people would break into her home and hurt her family at night.  Only for her, it was actually likely to happen.  And it did.

You can imagine what happened to her next.  And as if that wasn’t enough, her leg was also cut off my the militia (a punishment for crying out).  Her husband and son were killed.

In a country the world has left for dead, you and I can only imagine what life was like for her and her remaining children after that.

Luckily, that’s not the end of the story.

Someone in Oregon decided to be her friend.  One friend.  One person who cared enough to do something.

“I believe God sent me [my sister] to rescue me from my misery.” – Generose

As a result, Generose is now happy, healthy, and doing more than most of us do with both our legs.  

You could be that friend for someone else.

For one hour, your life could intersect with another life and change it forever.

It just might change you, too.

Please.  Come join me on October 20th for Yoga for Congo…hear the rest of Generose’s story and the stories of others.  Find hope you couldn’t have imagined in “the worst place on earth to be a woman.”

Love,

Ann Richmond

(PS – Yoga skill is completely irrelevant in this event…please don’t let that stop you!  75-80% of past participants had never attended a yoga class before this event.)

Yoga for Congo Women
Oct. 20th, 2012
10:00 am
Anythink Wright Farms, Large Meeting Room
Yoga level: Beginner, appropriate for pregnant mothers, as well as men and women of all levels
Cost: FREE.  Donations of any size gratefully accepted.  (Donate $20 or more and get a free t-shirt!)
Meet other sisters who have been sponsored because of this event here!

Wish you could come, but can’t?  Please consider donating here.  (Thank you!)

Please, if you’re on Facebook, find our fanpage here and be sure to share with friends and RSVP at the event page here!

Please forward this email to anyone who you think may be interested!  Thank you!

Our short video: