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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Friends, neighbors, students pitch in
by Sarah Gantz, Staff Writer
From the article on
Since parts of Haiti were devastated by an earthquake in January
2010, the country has been flooded with billions of dollars in emergency
relief to provide health care, food, shelter and other basic
necessities.
Lauren Rubenstein will bring something different — yoga.
The
53-year-old Somerset resident is one of four instructors who will spend
eight days in Haiti teaching yoga to children living outside
Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital. Rubenstein leaves Sunday.
"I
just want to give them a sense of hope," Rubenstein said. "A sense that
somebody cares about them, somebody is paying attention to them."
The
trip is planned through Bridge of Diamonds, the nonprofit arm of
YogaKids, a Michigan-based organization that aims to teach confidence
through yoga. The program emphasizes the differences between yoga for
children and for adults — for children, yoga is intended to be fun and
creative, in addition to relaxing and meditative.
The
organization made its first mission to Haiti in June to teach about 200
children. Rubenstein, who works as a psychotherapist and yoga instructor
for children and adults, will be part of the group's second trip. The
goal of the project is to teach children in Haiti about exercise,
healthy eating, art and reading through fun yoga poses and meditation,
said YogaKids President Marsha Wenig.
"Yoga is the steppingstone to working with these children in all the different ways we can," Wenig said.
To
prepare for her trip, Rubenstein has enlisted help from friends,
family, students and anyone else who will listen to her cause. She has
raised about $5,000 — including $1,000 from a neighbor Rubenstein said
she hardly knows. And a friend helped gather more than 200 Beanie Baby
toys to give to the children, and a student, Daisy Scarvell, tie-dyed 30
towels to give girls who come to class in dresses, instead of shorts.
Nellie
Goen, who runs the Mobile Teacher Program, which provides school
materials to rural Haitian villages, is among the contacts Rubenstein
has made in advance of the trip. Goen, who was born in Haiti and lives
in Front Royal, Va., was skeptical when she heard of Rubenstein's plan.
"My
first reaction was — Yoga? How are you going to do yoga?" said Goen,
who met Rubenstein at Chevy Chase Florist, where Goen works and
Rubenstein is a frequent customer.
After contemplating
Rubenstein's idea, Goen said she could see the merit of yoga for Haitian
children as a means of exercise and self-expression.
"It seems it would be a great way for the kids to have somewhere to go — not physically, but to get peace," Goen said.
Goen
knows firsthand the conditions in Port-au-Prince. Goen traveled to
Haiti in June to check in on her program and stopped in Port-au-Prince,
her birthplace.
There, many people still are homeless and live in tents, Goen said.
"It's
kind of depressing to see people in the capital city in little camp
areas," she said. "They're still cleaning out rubble. There are piles of
stone."
Daisy Scarvell, 11, of Chevy Chase never has been to
Haiti, but she also is supporting Rubenstein's mission, by tie-dying
towels for her yoga instructor.
Daisy said she hopes Rubenstein's Haitian students will benefit from the lessons the same way she does.
"Relaxation,
strength, self-confidence — a lot of really good lessons you should
know for character building, a lot of things every person should know,"
Daisy said. "Maybe it will help them get through some hard things they
might be going through."
sgantz@gazette.net
Tess Colwell/The Gazette
Psychologist and child yoga instructor Lauren Rubenstein teaches a yoga
class to a group of girls from GirlsUp, a self confidence building camp
for girls, on Monday at Chevy Chase Elementary School. Next week,
Rubenstein will travel to Haiti to teach yoga to children. Pictured next
to Rubenstein is Maisy Dombo (left), 12, from Washington, D.C., and
Gisela Payne, 11, from Silver Spring.
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