August 19th, and full blue moon day. I enjoyed watching both the rising of the huge moon over the treetops last night and the setting moon at dawn this morning.
Setting moon over Sean’s house
The full moon often brings weather changes. We had the warmest night after many months at minus 1 degree, and a hot day with clear blue skies at 30 degrees. Everything is still very dry, and with the August winds, the fire risk is high. Luckily for us, there have been no fires on our land to date. The warmer weather brings a flush of green to some of the acacias, and I have noticed the return of the first nightjar and some swallows. I have also noticed a few evening bats emerging from Sean’s roof. Not the big bunches which appear most evenings in summer, but they are venturing out.
The centre has been quiet this winter with only two retreats. The first was Alan Muller’s “Atisha” yearly gathering attended by a group of his faithful followers and two newcomers. It was appreciated by all. More recently, during Vera Hey’s long weekend on the theme of ”Befriending your Demons”, the participants enthusiastically created their demons to befriend.
Our small work team have kept busy. James is mainly involved with maintenance and repairs, William is working in the gardens as well as battling an onslaught of the ever-encroaching invasive poplar trees, and Kerileng, amongst other activities, has been honing her cooking skills and building up confidence in the kitchen.
New shelter at the Tirasano Creche.
Tirisano crèche, funded by Rokpa International, has been carrying on its activities in the settlement of Rietvaly, which is about 8 km from TRC. It has 23 children on the register, with an average of 18 attending most days. There have been staff changes which has been unsettling for the children. Keba was on maternity leave and was replaced by her older sister. Anna, the cook, was off for several months, replaced by her cousin, and now Martha is leaving. A new person will join soon. James has had to rebuild a covered structure at the crèche as the old one was in danger of collapsing.
We were involved in a community initiative arranged by the Marico biosphere organisers who brought a team of volunteer citizen scientists to test the water in three of the local streams. They were an enthusiastic and skilled group of school leavers. Our stream waters are mostly pure enough to drink except where they have been disturbed by the cattle which graze our land and drink from the streams.
The dedicated Mutlwa wa Noko duo of Jeanne and Brian continue to oppose mining prospecting applications in the vicinity, to date over 40. Increasing mining activities in our mineral-rich country is a way for the government to grow the economy, which is sorely needed in this country, but we don’t want any mining in our pristine environment.
A new private initiative has started in the area which hopes to promote a Marico Meander, much like the Magalisberg Meander. I hope TRC will be included, which might bring some more visitors.
There are some up-and-coming retreats on the programme before Dónal Creedon’s month-long retreat, Echoes from An Empty Sky (with week options). Hoping to see folk attending these retreats or renting our accommodation for private time in the valley.
Pippa, August 2024
Dear People in Groote Marico,
It is always a a great pleasure to receive the Tara Rokpa Newsletters. My route returning from JHB to Gaborone usually took the “short cut” from Zeerust across to the border. The Groote Marico area always carried a great fascination for me. An out of the way, forgotten area with its own history of that area featured not less that in the Herman Charles Bosman novels. Of all the memories from my 4 years in Botswana, this is most enduring. That there is such an establishment celebrating this Pristine, pure innocent environment is warmth to the heart.
The current programme at least seems to be well informed and both comfortably relevant and professional. In particular I enjoy the use of Indian words to describe the various states and beliefs as this enables a mental shift to my own Saivite hindu reading and extremely modest practice. The books which seems to be the current definitive western book on Hinduism of which Buddha is a part being of the Hindu pantheon are by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami of the Kauai Hindu Monastery website. (A place I was fortunate enough to visit).
Never being a holiday person, I would however if having the facility, love to visit Tara Rokpa while meanwhile it remains high on the wish list. (The cause of my being drawn into the Hindu was through Ayurveda and the clinic I had to attend in India, many times for complicated health issues), Atmasantulana, near Lonavla.
Very best of wishes and congratulations to everyone
Sincerely,
Cornish Stone