Namaste Festival Brings Social Mission through Namaste Bhakti
Jakarta, January 12, 2012 – Yoga which was originated from India has been practiced for over 5,000 years throughout the globe. Generally, yoga aims to achieve spiritual fitness and life balance. Indonesia’s affair with yoga began in 1970 until it became a trend three years ago.
To date, there are numerous yoga associations in Indonesia, including Namaste Jakarta International Yoga ‘Healing and Well-Being’ which was responsible for the recently held Namaste Festival 2011, an international-scale yoga convention that was first held two years ago.
Namaste Festival, which was held at Hotel Borobudur on 2-4 December 2011 invited international yoga masters from several countries such as U.S.A, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China, Malaysia, France, and Indonesia. The festival embodied a social mission and as well as the mission to promote a holistic healthy lifestyle through Namaste Bhakti, a charity program aimed at helping improve the quality of life and public welfare.
For the charity program, Namaste Bhakti were worked with Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB Foundation) as one of the recipients of donations raised by Namaste Bhakti through sponsors’ prize auction. The participating sponsors include W Bali Hotel, Alila Manggis Bali, and Spring Mattress SERTA. Apart from proceeds of the auction, money was also raised through ‘class by donation’, a class that was open to public, free of charge, where participants were given a chance to contribute through a donation box.
Namaste Bhakti has succeeded in channeling donations from its participants to YCAB Foundation. Today, a total donation of Rp 25,000,000 was handed over by the Founder/Chairwoman of Namaste Anita Boentarman to Founder/CEO YCAB Foundation Veronica Colondam at Rumah Belajar (House of Learning) located in Duta Buntu, West Jakarta.
“Education as an important component of the nation’s development is the target of Namaste Bhakti program. Therefore, we decided to work with organizations that focus on education, including YCAB Foundation” said Namaste Festival Chairwoman Anita Boentarman.
Meanwhile, Founder/CEO YCAB Foundation Veronica Colondam stated that the fund raised through the Namaste Festival will be allocated to the holistic education initiative for school dropouts and underprivileged youth in Rumah Belajar Duta Buntu. She said that according to UNESCO in its EFA (Education for All) Global Monitoring Report 2011, there were 10,268 million students who were denied the opportunity to continue their studies to the junior high school level. She added that the successful fundraising activity by Namaste Bhakti proved that Spiritual fitness that is intangible, can develop individual social empathy, which would inspire people contribute to those around them and producing tangible results.
“Generally, the high number of school dropouts in Indonesia is attributable to high costs of education. Therefore, this collaboration will help us to reach more school dropouts in Jakarta, to help them continue their education” she concluded.
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About Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB Foundation)
Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB Foundation) is an independent non-profit organization in Indonesia that was established in August 1999 and became a global organization in 2011 through YCAB Foundation. YCAB Foundation is headquartered in New York and is registered as a non-profit organization with tax deductions facility through section 501 (c) (3).
Over the years, YCAB has evolved into a social enterprise with a focus in youth development by improving their well-being through three areas of concentration: healthy lifestyle promotion, education provision, and economic empowerment.
About Namaste Festival
Namaste Festival is a Yoga, Healing and Well-being annual event dedicated to individuals with a passion for yoga and well-being in Indonesia. The program aims to unify yoga international communities along with the healers, practitioners and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts in Indonesia.
Namaste integrates the important aspects of a healthy lifestyle such as:
- Yoga – A combination of the healthiness of the body, mind, spirit and emotions
- Holistic Healthin – Healing and implementation of holistic health
- Green-lifestyle – Development of awareness to respect human life and the society through the concept of better living for all
- Nutrition – To learn about healthy food and easy and delicious cooking methods, as well as the benefits of healthy and delicious food and beverages at the Namaste Bazaar.
- Education – Knowledge sharing with the society and the family about a healthy and happy lifestyle
- A screening room plays inspiring movies as well as education on life and nature sciences
- Fashion and Trends at Namaste Bazaar – Introducing unique souvenirs and trinkets that are ecofriendly
On further inquiries, please contact:
Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB Foundation)
Linda Chalid
Development and Communications Division
E-mail: linda.chalid @ycab.org
Namaste Festival
Nia Chalil
General Manager
E-mail: secretary@namastefestival.com