Greece Sangha Service Project

Two Plum Village monastics visited Athens this month

Inspired by the Greece Sangha Service Project, Wake Up Athens went into town last Saturday to spread some love and practice inter-being 💞

An article written about Not A Factory and how it came to be thanks to our time together in Athens. The crowdfunding of the project is going very well! It reached 90% and has 3 more days to go. You can make it happen!! www.notafactory.com

The Light That Returns Some time ago, I watched a silly superhero movie that had some surprising wisdom. Darkness, the truest darkness, is not the absence of light. It is the conviction that the light will never return. …

A LITTLE UPDATE. Dear community, our posts have become less frequent lately as our Greece-based group has become quite a bit smaller than it was a few months ago and we no longer live together as a community.

Yet in different ways many of us are still very engaged in social projects! Either in Greece or in other locations around the world. We will keep you updated on these very worthwhile and hopeful projects from time to time, to give you a glimpse into our lives and experiences..

Thank you so much for your support in all forms and shapes during our continuing journey(s)!

You are so welcome Wake Up Athens. We hope they will support you in your practice and building of your community. Such gorgeous pillows indeed.. and another one of our crowdfunding goals has just been met🤩👉

Thank you to the Greece Sangha Service Project for the beautiful meditation cushions that have been donated to our sangha- hand made by two refugee women! We promise we will make good use of this wonderful gift :)

WHOOP WHOOP!!! Only 3 days into his crowdfunding campaign a third of Maarten's beautiful Not a Factory project has already been funded.

Do help him make his vision a reality.. support the campaign today! Together we can make this happen

Help produce 1000 T-shirts, made by refugees! Turn the lives around of refugees in Greece who are in a desperate and dependent situation by wearing this T-shirt, which is not a T-shirt.

A few months ago we posted some photo's of a beautiful yet modest art exhibition we went to visit by Perspectives- a collective of refugees and other artists.

This week some of us went to the opening of the collective's 4th exhibition, entitled “And we love life, if we find a way to it.” This event took place in the one and only TAF art foundation!

We are so impressed by the ways in which the Perspectives collective has developed itself over such short amount of time that we couldn't resist to promote this "new" initiative. Being at the venue we felt how the collective has gathered so much talent, and sends out a lot of joy.

If you are in Athens, do definitely go by to see the exhibition, which runs until Feb. 25th!

DO YOU REMEMBER? As part of our crowdfunding campaign we wanted to offer a set of meditation cushions to the blooming local Wake Up sangha.

Because of your overwhelming support, we are able to realise this goal!

We have now created a project that allows for the cushion covers to be made locally, with recycled materials. Not only that, but the project will also help to empower two refugee women. They will soon be by our side to help us, by designing and creating the covers.

We have assembled all the necessary ingredients, and are ready to make it happen. Do stay tuned to see how this project will develop!

One of the true jewels left by the first chapter of the Greece Sangha Service Project is a blossoming Athens Wake Up mindfulness community.

Every time the sangha gets together, our practice becomes stronger. Every time we meet, we move closer from friendship, towards being like family.

Friday evening meditation sangha. Experiencing once more that only when we take care of ourselves, first, we can truly be there for others.

"Peace in oneself, peace in the world"

Things are changing for the Greece Sangha Service Project.. many of our initial volunteer brothers and sisters have left Athens! Still our connection to the organizations we've been supporting -Love and Serve without Boundaries & Hope Café- remains strong.

Today we've been able to donate several bags of kitchen utensils and winter essentials to help out these organizations with all the great work they do. With a big thank you to our Wake Up sangha sister, Irini

It feels as if they just arrived yesterday, but as David and Vanessa leave the Athens sangha home this week to continue their Sanghabuild project in other destinations we have come to the end of a first chapter for the Greece Sangha Service Project.

David and Vanessa- a big thank you for your incredible work, tireless efforts, your presence and persistence during the duration of the first part of this project. We would not have been able to come this far without you, and you will be dearly missed!

Thank you too to all the other participants of this project over the past 3,5 months. Your loving presence and committed volunteering efforts has touched the hearts and minds of many in the Athens community.