NEHA

Rethinking the World

In 2005, I moved to the tiny town of Yei in South Sudan. Working with grassroots communities who were emerging from 50 years of war, 'poverty' (and trauma) were major themes in society. Yet, despite this, I saw how richly people shared what they had, and how abundantly nature provided (anyone who knows the mango trees of Equatoria will know this!). More than in any other place I had been, South Sudanese generosity put me to shame. I realised my ideas of the world were very distorted. I wanted to understand the world more deeply and engage with it more meaningfully.

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Changing the World

Growing up I was taught that a meaningful life is a life in service. For me, service was about changing the world - making it into a fairer place for all. I embarked on a fifteen year career dedicated to activism, social transformation and peacebuilding in the Horn of Africa.  During this time, I collaborated with a broad array of changemakers - from grassroots and civic activists, to Heads of State and government; I wrote, lectured and presented widely on conflict, peacebuilding and the 'real' political and military systems in the region.

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In 2010, after working for several years with civil society in South Sudan, I joined the African Union High-Level Panel on Sudan and South Sudan led by former President Thabo Mbeki. It was one of the most exciting times in my career. I was privy to the highest level of intellectual and political thinking and strategy, and worked with military and political leaders, rebel movements and diplomats from around the world. It was a dream. The ambitions of the Panel were grand - national transformation - and I learned and grew enormously. But I witnessed, firsthand, the levers of power at work in the world and I was left frustrated by an invisible system that seemed to keep everything eternally the same. I also felt disconnected, from myself and from ordinary people.

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I took up the Directorship of Justice Africa, a small and dynamic NGO that worked largely in South Sudan. Having seen the pitfalls of externally mediated processes firsthand, we began an ambitious peace initiative to build an internal peace process. I was passionate in the belief that South Sudanese had the internal capacity and power to change their reality. The theme 'All Power is Within' had been born within me. During those years I worked closely with Church leaders in the region and experienced up close, the power and primacy of spirituality in peacemaking.

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Seeds of Change 

At about the same time, I began to teach a course in yoga philosophy at a Yoga Teacher Training in Zanzibar. Over the years I taught 15 cohorts of students, and saw how the programme completely transformed their lives. It was eye-opening. The students reconnected to their inner essence, uncovered their passion and purpose and built life-long connections with each other. As I watched their lives unfold over the years, I saw how they each began to live in alignment with their Authentic Self.  They began to create things in the world that were beautiful and true. I saw them change the world simply because they had changed. 

 

Changing Myself

And then, in 2019, my son, Zion, was born. And I was re-born.

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After running a small NGO for 6 years, trying to achieve grand change within a massive conflict and manage the diminishing space and support for truly transformative work in the NGO sector, I was tired. I was really tired. I realised I didn't want to be on a mission anymore. I wanted my work to be my joy, and my joy to be my offering to the world.

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I embarked on a journey of self discovery and healing, with one goal: to become the truest version of myself and to live the truest version of my life. And through this, Spolosophy was born.​