The BRC Needs Your Help

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The Buddhist Retreat Centre

Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

For people of all religions

The BRC Needs Your Help

Dear Friends,

The BRC has faced challenging times before and we have found that with the help of our BRC Friends and Supporters we have been able to continue to offer the Centre as a place for self-reflection and spiritual growth.

We are again facing challenging times, and we need your help.

With unavoidable maintenance costs to rethatch the 3 chalets which were leaking over the rainy season as well as punitive borehole repairs, compounded by the low attendance of our retreats over the last 4 months the Centre is under serious financial constraint.

Being a non-profit organisation reliant on income from donations and retreat accommodation we need to break even each month to cover our expenses. We are not doing that at the moment.

We are fervently appealing to you, our Friends and Supporters, who care deeply about the Centre, to help us keep the doors open.

These are the many ways you can help us through this difficult time.

Please support us by:

● Booking for a retreat as we step into spring and summer - we have a wonderful range
of interesting retreats on offer until June 2025
● Offering a donation
● Pledging a monthly contribution of R50 or more
● Joining our Paid Up Yogi scheme which involves paying a contribution forward
whereby your credit can be used at any time in the future towards a retreat, with a
10% discount
● Gifting a voucher to a friend or family member
● Supporting our film “Bodhi Is Light”
● Purchasing our popular recipe books
● Organising a group visit midweek: we have an in-house yoga and meditation
instructor
● Booking the BRC facilities for your next corporate team-building event

The continued existence of the Centre as a sanctuary for Buddhist philosophy and teachings is dependent on the goodwill and support of our Sangha.

It would be a sad day if the Centre were to close in our 45th year of operating.

With Metta,
Chrisi

Our banking details:

Bank deposit:
Account: Buddhist Institute of S.A.
Bank: FNB
Branch: Ixopo (No: 220223)
Account No: 52555029829

For international payments:
Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ or FIRNZAJJ824
Please use your NAME and DONATION
as reference on your payments
E.g.NameDonation

About the BRC

Perched on a ridge at the head of a valley in the Umkomaas river system in KwaZulu-Natal, the Buddhist Retreat Centre looks out on a vista of indigenous valleys, forests and rolling hills receding like waves in the blue distance. Here, for forty-four years, people of all religions and none have come to experience peace and tranquillity. It is a gentle, sympathetic space where one can be still and get in touch with oneself and reflect on the things that crowd one's life.

The BRC was voted by CNN as one of the ten best meditation centres in the world.
CNN Travel awarded another feather in the BRC’s cap by voting it as one of the ten best spiritual centres in South Africa.

The BRC was awarded Natural Heritage status in 1995 under the auspices of the Department of Environmental Affairs and received a certificate to that effect signed by President Nelson Mandela for turning an eroded farm into the natural paradise it has become - thousands of indigenous trees were planted by retreatants under the supervision of Mervyn Croft - with 160 species of birds, including the Blue Swallow, otter, deer, antbear and indigenous forests. The Centre was also given the special status of “Custodian of the Blue Swallow” for its work in preserving the breeding areas of this endangered bird.
Recently, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife granted the BRC “Private Nature Reserve” for the conservation of the rare Blue Swallow and Mistbelt Grassland.

The BRC facilitated the founding of Woza Moya, the community-based NGO, located in Ufafa Valley, twenty-two years ago, on the estate. Their vision is for all people in the community to be healthy and productive, to live in a safe and clean environment, with good access to services and social justice. The Centre continues to support the organisation by showcasing their crafts in the shop and sponsoring their trainers and consultants.
We have been very touched by your appreciative letters, emails and friendship towards the BRC - your spiritual home from home.

We are deeply grateful for your generous gifts to the Centre in the form of PUY and Monthly contributions, new beds and bases, office chairs and a desk, a new refrigerator, microwave oven, bathroom towels, indigenous trees and seedlings, books for our library, a generator, garden benches, pillows, towels and linen, geyser insulation blankets, clothing and Dana for our staff, an inverter and beautiful antique scrolls and Imari platters and ceramics, framed prints and Thankas, new tablecloths and serviettes, a brand new Magimix, signage for our forest paths - and so much more. Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work in Ixopo with monthly and Paid Up Yogi contributions and donations, with gifts, or with skills and time. And, of course, to everyone who comes to the Centre - you keep us open and viable - and to our teachers who keep the Dharma wheels turning. We are deeply grateful for your generosity towards us; it encourages us to continue Louis’ beautiful vision and legacy for the future.

Please continue to support the BRC by becoming a friend of the Buddhist Retreat Centre (a registered non-profit organisation) and find out more about the BRC's Paid-Up-Yogi and Sangha Friends’ projects.

Chrisi

Visit our website for further information, directions, image gallery etc.

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