When Stonecrest first partnered with Ituze Center in 2020, we had high hopes but modest expectations. Our investment was based on a core belief at Stonecrest: that mindfulness and meditation are vital components in healing the effects of trauma. And in Kigali, Rwanda, the effects of trauma were widespread. There was a critical need to provide healing services, empowering individuals to create a healthy and productive life for themselves. Our model was a time-tested “retail” approach, building a destination studio to which residents in Kigali, Rwanda, could come to learn and practice yoga and meditation.
Over time, we learned that the “destination studio” was significantly limiting Ituze’s ability to scale their services to reach additional communities. So, like many start-up enterprises, they identified a need to pivot. The Ituze Center is primarily a training organization, focused on outreach to community-based organizations throughout Uganda, training those organizations to incorporate meditation and mindful practice to benefit their members and staff. They provide on-location classes in mindfulness, qigong tai chi, yoga, and Breath-Body-Mind, which can be tailored to meet the needs of the organization. The practice can be applied from the most fundamental needs of general relaxation and stress relief to the most critical ones, addressing mental & physical challenges resulting from trauma, violence, poverty, and other hardships.
For 2025, Ituze’s focus will be on ways to scale more efficiently, with goals to increase outreach classes, strengthen local partnerships, encourage the creation of mindfulness clubs in schools, and increase the “customization” of community programs to better fit local culture, customs and language. We share Ituze’s optimism and support their “think big” approach going forward.
