On September 19, 2023, the fundraising class "Seed of Solidarity" was taught by Anica Gabrovec. CZTs and non-CZTs turned out in large number to support the cause, which was to raise enough funds to enable Maret de Beer to become a CZT.
It's our great pleasure to share with you the impressive final amount that was contributed, along with the tally of how many tickets were sold. Wow!
As you can see, we exceeded our goal, and Maret is enrolled in CZT-Europa Seminar #7 from October 19 - 22, 2023. Katharina and Jennifer from Conzentric, along with Anica and of course Maret, want to say THANK YOU to everyone who contributed.
As an expression of her gratitude, Maret sent us her beautiful tile from the workshop.
The fundraising idea came about because of a connection between two women - Anica Gabrovec and Maret de Beer. Both of them experienced huge shifts in their lives after discovering the Zentangle Method.
On her website, Anica shares the story of how she eventually left a high-powered career in corporate finance to become a full-time artist and Zentangle teacher. Since then, her stunningly beautiful artwork, along with her warm and generous personality, have earned her one of the largest followings within the Zentangle community.
Maret is from South Africa and also has a vision to make Zentangle the focus of a new career. She dreams of an art therapy nook, where people can learn that no matter what they may have been told in their lives, they can make something beautiful. The path to Maret's goal, however, faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in the cost of the CZT seminar. Despite having received a partial scholarship from Conzentric, it was out of reach.
Reading about Anica's journey on a blog post, Maret felt a sense of connection and shared her story with Anica in an email. It touched Anica so deeply that she wanted to do something to help, and the idea of this workshop was born. Anica reached out to us to figure out how to best organize the event and collect donations. With these details in place, we all sensed that this initiative will not end with "Seed of Solidarity". We decided to call it "Rise Up CZTs", because we believe that other CZTs will rise up to teach fundraising events like this in the future, and help people become CZTs who cannot do it without a little extra support.
Thanks to Anica's appeal and the generosity of the tangling community, the fundraising workshop surpassed its goal by over two thousand euros! We intend to use these funds to enable schoolteachers working in remote villages in the Bolivian rain forests to become CZTs and teach the Zentangle Method to the children in their schools. Lucia DeFranco, CZTEU3, brought this opportunity to our attention several months ago:
"I have been asked by an Italian Catholic Bishop, Monsignor Eugenio Coter, who lives in a mission in the Amazon rainforest part of Bolivia (a family friend), to teach Zentangle to some of the school teachers who work there, so that they can use it in their schools.
One of my sisters has worked with him in Bolivia for three years some time ago, and they have remained close friends. She told him about Zentangle, my experience etc. and he was literally fascinated about it and the educational opportunities it offers, even with children who have difficulties, And he was enthusiastic about the idea of offering it as a new school subject in the schools of his area."
Right now, Lucia is making plans to teach the Zentangle Method remotely to the schoolteachers with the assistance of Spanish-speaking CZTs, since, as she says: "I speak three languages - but unfortunately, Spanish is not one of them." This is an important first step.
But thanks to your generosity, we can now go further. If among these schoolteachers there are some who feel inspired to become certified as teachers of the Zentangle Method, we will use the surplus funds from the fundraiser to enroll them in a future CZT-Europe seminar with a Spanish translation at a special price.
We promise to keep you updated on this project as it develops!
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