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Masango Dema is about connecting to our values, in our culture and environment; making positive efforts to create something for the future that will remind us of who we want to be.
There are core principles to the Masango Dema project:
- We have recognised the richness of our culture and wish to understand and develop it into the future.
- We are artists and need our traditional arts to grow, flourish and teach us more about life.
- Our culture is rooted in the land, it will be hard to carry on if this land is too degraded to grow food, if there are no more forests. We have to protect and nurture the living environment.
- What we have and what we wish to create is really valuable. It is something that can be shared and repeated, encouraging others to look into their own lives with new inspiration.
Masango Dema means 'dense forest' in the chiShona language of Zimbabwe. It is an older name for the Seke area, where we are basing our project. Seke is no longer a dense forest but we hope to bring back some of of the spirit that was here as we plant trees. We have a plot of land for our immediate activities which includes a nice piece of forest. It will be a site for teaching and practicing crafts, sustainable buildings and permaculture. We will be working to nourish this place as well as going out into local communities, sharing our ideas and encouraging planting activities there.
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