Yucatan Kindness School, Mexico

Since 2015 Mandala Trust has been working with Operation Kindness in Mexico, a community development project based in the Mayan towns of Tekax and Oxkutzcab in the Yucatan province.

With support from Mandala Trust, OK Mexico began by renovating a small building to act as a community centre from which to offer a range of activities, including regular yoga sessions for mothers and their children and a daily breakfast club which ensures all local children have a nutritious meal before going to school. The Mandala Trust also funded a community permaculture project organised by the women, through which they teach their children how to cultivate organic food.

The project is now ready to expand. A grant from Mandala Trust has enabled OK Mexico to buy suitable land in the centre of Tekax, with water and electricity available, and to construct more substantial demonstration permaculture beds, where more young people and their families can learn how to grow their own food (these communities have plenty of land, but lack the knowledge and equipment to cultivate it).

The next phase will be the construction of a `Kindness School’, using traditional Mayan techniques and ecologically sound materials, which will be built by people from the local communities. The school will offer the kind of facilities OK Mexico have previously offered including early childhood development, mindfulness sessions, kids’ yoga classes and breakfast clubs.