Empower Burundi: Fund Malaika's Yoga School

Mabayi Kids Sing!

*Pictured: The children of Mabayi orphanage. Photo permitted by Soeur Aline*

My name is Malaika Butoyi. I am a Burundian/American yoga teacher in business for over ten years in Los Angeles.

My family in Burundi, East Africa, has asked me to build a yoga school. I want the school to benefit the orphans at my aunt’s convent for Benedictine nuns.

The complex includes a convent, children’s school, and inn. The property is situated in the mountain province of Mabayi - our ancestral home. The air is cool, the soil red with minerals, and hillsides green with rich vegetation. The tallest peak in the country can be viewed from the convent at the edge of town, where the village meets the forest.

Green tea, fruits, and vegetables grow in abundance here. I wish to create a sustainable system that sells honey from my grandfather’s traditional East African beekeeping techniques for revenue, in addition to attracting tourism for yoga retreats.

My uncle is an accountant and handles all of our family business affairs. Our goal is to build up Burundi to modernize and profit by unlocking the unique gifts of its incredible people.

My goal is to create a community fund so that women and children in the area can learn and practice yoga free of charge. I would run yoga teacher trainings for a period of 3 to 6 months, depending on need. Interested parties would then take over daily operations of the yoga school.

This project would create jobs and foster healing for the earth and people in the aftermath of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict, which they refer to simply as The Civil War.

Let us help Burundians to rebuild their country after decades of colonial scarring.