Village News
Dear Friends,
What a strong few months we have lived in the village. In August we hosted over 70 young people from across Africa (and two from beyond) in our inaugural Rooting and Rising gathering. Two weeks of supporting young people to ground into themselves and rise into their purpose and power. It was a powerful experience of what becomes possible when we come together rooted in community and appreciation and opening to service and purpose.
Irvine has just returned from a trip to Jena, Germany with several Kufunda Village School alumni. It is a partnership between Kufunda, our local high school, Musviti and Freie Waldorfschule Jena to support young people from Germany and Zimbabwe to learn from each other.
In the next few days we begin a series of Community Art Facilitator Training foundation workshops with dear friend Angela Katschke. We still have a few spots if you're nearby and this speaks to you.
We will be launching an Emerging Leaders Art of Hosting Fellowship in November and we will be hosting the first Art of Hosting in Cape Town also in November.
So make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy these stories of our village movements. May what we are living and learning inspire and nourish your own work. Thank you to everyone who is making this work possible!
Featured Reflection
Rooting and Rising at Kufunda
The two weeks of Rooting and Rising at Kufunda this August were truly amazing. More than 70 young people, mainly from across Africa, gathered at Kufunda for a shared learning journey.
Together, we listened, danced, sang, questioned, made things, disagreed, laughed, worked and created. And somewhere in those twelve days, something profound shifted in our collective. A growing sense of a future possible emerged from our time together. What began as a gathering became a lived experience of what can happen when we trust our gifts, our communities and our capacity to create together.
By the final days, that possibility had moved out into the surrounding community — literally into the creation of a garden space, playground, gathering spaces and many murals, bringing beauty into shared spaces.
Rooting and Rising became a space of profound learning and connection through the committed act of creating together.
Community art facilitator programme
We are excited to launch Zimbabwe’s first Community Art Facilitator (CAF) Training Programme combining visual arts and psychosocial support to help children, young people and adults reconnect with strength, resilience and hope. Over three years - funding permitting - a pioneering cohort will help build the foundation for a national Community Art Facilitation movement in Zimbabwe.
Our journey begins with a two-day Foundation Workshop this October. Be in touch if you wish to join or if you would be interested in supporting the initiative.
Working with Women in Buhera
A few years ago Admire joined Mutheu from Kuumba Arts to support several groups of women in Buhera to create their own farming cooperatives.
In the last few months the team has been supporting the women as they continue to strengthen and deepen their work, but also their circles and their collective leadership.
At the end of August, our facilitators Admire, Sikhethiwe and Irvine supported the women to reflect on what they have already accomplished and helped them to shape the future they still want to create together.
Currently the women are growing and harvesting melons for oil. Next season, they’re taking another step forward with sesame seed farming.
Participatory Leadership Fellowship
We are excited to launch a new four-month Art of Hosting Fellowship for emerging facilitators, community leaders, and changemakers in Zimbabwe.
We will be exploring participatory leadership, collective intelligence, and community-led action.
The fellowship will support participants to deepen their practice of participatory leadership, strengthen their ability to convene meaningful conversations, and cultivate the conditions for collective action in their communities.
Please share with potential fellowship candidates who are committed to supporting positive change in their communities.
Art of Hosting Cape Town
The Art of Hosting is coming to Cape Town!
We are excited to be offering a three-day immersion into the Art of Hosting approach to participatory leadership and ways of co-creative organising.
As is always the case in the Art of Hosting, we will learn by doing — experiencing and practising ways to host meaningful conversations, work with complexity, invite diverse perspectives and tap into the wisdom of the collective to co-create meaningful action.
Admire, Irvine, Maaianne and Sikhethiwe will be bringing this offering to Cape Town. Do share with friends and colleagues in that part of the world.
18-20 November, 2026
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