KISENYI SLUM YOGA
Bringing yoga to one of Africa's poorest slums in Kampala, Uganda.
A GROUP OF MEN IN A KISENYI SLUM
ABOUT KISENYI, UGANDA
Uganda is an East-Central African republic with a rich-culture and remarkable biodiversity. It's capital city Kampala also has diversity in the wealth of its people. The city center benefits from a bustling tourist and industrial center and university, but in the outskirts of town lies Kisenyi, Uganda's largest slum. The people of Kisenyi suffer from limited access to clean, running water and electricity. Economic opportunity and education is difficult to come by. Throughout Kisenyi, there are many orphaned children addicted to drugs, and due to the extreme level of poverty, many of the people in Kisenyi will turn to crime as their only option.
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These are images from one of Joaquin's classes in his yoga studio in Kisenyi.
These are images from one of Joaquin's classes in his yoga studio in Kisenyi.
HOW IT BEGAN
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The Kisenyi yoga project was started and is led by Lower Merion instructional aid and yoga instructor Joaquin Galarza, who traveled to Uganda in the summer of 2018. There, he met several people living in Kisenyi who invited him into their community and homes. Having felt the profound effects of yoga on his own life, Joaquin was inspired to start teaching yoga to some of the streets kids of Kisenyi.
HOW THE YOGA STUDY IS HELPING
Most of the street kids in Kisenyi are addicted to sniffing plane-fuel, and sleep in burlap sacks. They have to spend most of their day sorting through garbage, to find scrap materials that can be sold. Joaquin's yoga studio offers free yoga and martial arts classes to the kids of Kisenyi, where they are able to have a free meal and a safe place to sleep. The studio offers an opportunity for community development in the slum by empowering the children and giving them some of the resources to thrive.
These images are of Joaquin practicing yoga with a group of kids from Kisenyi before he bought the studio.
These images are of Joaquin practicing yoga with a group of kids from Kisenyi before he bought the studio.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
To continue to offer a respite for the children of Kisenyi, the studio needs funding. Kisenyi slum yoga is looking to expand to a larger location to be able to support more students. The studio needs funding to pay for meals for the kids, rent, train and pay Ugandan yoga and martial arts instructors, and work with outside NGOs to combat drug addiction within the community. The following video was made by Joaquin Galarza and shares more about the Kisenyi Yoga Project's journey. In addition, you can make a donation through the GoFundMe page.