Episode 64: Finding refuge with Ahmad Chaaban

I hope you all listened to our last episode with the wonderful Yogeswari founder of the AZAHAR foundation. Today’s episode is with Ahmad, who actually truly found refuge through yoga and he shares his incredible story of leaving war torn Syria and eventually landing in Holland, which wasn’t easy at all.
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I have an incredible amount of love and respect for Ahmad and all refugees in general and after him and I had a walkie talkie in Amstel Park a few weeks ago, being touched and impacted by his personal story, I invited him to share his story with all of you too, which he was very happy to do, please have a listen, share!
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TOMORROW! Ahmad and I are teaching a special class together which is a fundraiser for the AZAHAR foundation. Which is is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes peace building and cross-cultural communication through Yoga and the Arts supported by non-violent communication, youth-leadership, and other related methodologies. PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!
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Saturday 26th of June 4 pm CET Jivamukti Yoga Bern, fundraiser for AZAHAR FOUNDATION.


SHOW NOTES:

@ahmad.shaaban.7
@azahar.foundation
@yogeswari.azahar
@jivamuktiyoga
@jivamuktiyogabern
@soukofrima
@noeldvena (Ahmad's first teacher)
FUNDRAISER INFO HERE: www.jivamuktiyogabern.teachable.com/p/home

https://azaharfoundation.org

https://yogeswari.org

http://www.soukofrima.com

https://www.caracallatheatre.com

DOCUMENTARY: DANCE IS MY GUN
https://vimeo.com/443556388
Director: Marco R Bollinger



IN YOGESWARI’S WORDS:
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I first met Ahmad during an Immersion I co-taught with Rima Rabbath in Beirut about five years ago. At that time, Ahmad was still living in Syria, working as a sports teacher and as a dancer. A year later, the situation with the war in Syria had become untenable, and when I returned to Lebanon the following year, Ahmad had moved to Beirut to dance with the renowned Caracalla Dance Company.
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He was also continuing his yoga practice at Rima’s Yoga Souk. In 2018, with the support of AZAHAR, Jivamukti Global gave a scholarship to Ahmad to take the 300-hour teacher training in India.
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After an arduous journey, Ahmad finally has received refugee status in the Netherlands. He will tell his story on Saturday and give you an opportunity to make a personal connection with the plight of the Syrian people. Funds will go to developing an AZAHAR program for Ahmad to teach yoga and dance to Syrian refugees.