01 Jan NATURE QUEST / VISION FAST - South Africa February 24 to March 7, 2025

Posted at 15:15h in Activities, Agenda byCarine

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International Vision Fast

February 24 to March 7, 2025

Cape Town, South Africa.

Come and join us in the ancient land of Africa.

I am particularly pleased and honoured to collaborate with Educo AfricaSiphelele Chirwa and Wiebke Nedel for this international meeting project in South Africa.

This vision fast* is an invitation to the international community, a call to come and explore together the challenges of our time, and demonstrate the wisdom that comes from our diversity..

This program requires a knowledge of English, or at least an understanding of it, even if you then choose to express yourself in French in the group. I will make the necessary translations. For details of the trip and before registering, please contact me personally by email:

The group is limited to 12 people, and the ceremony begins at the time of registration.

We will begin our process in November 2024, with 3 video calls for preparation and teaching.

Welcome if you hear this important call.

*What is a vision fast?

A Vision Fast is an ancient rite of passage, marking a transition, a change in your life, a calling - sometimes unformed and uncertain.

It is a ritual that allows us to look and listen deeply into who we are and what our purpose is. What are we here to do and what is the legacy we are leaving behind?

Vision Fasting is a modern rite of passage that allows us to grasp the complexity of our times, and to mark and celebrate the transitions and various stages of life.

It's a time to pause alone in nature, without shelter or food, to honor the seasons and the cyclical nature of existence.

A space, in ceremony, to ask essential questions and nurture a rich, full vision for your own life and what you want to do with it.

Vision fasting is intimately linked to the cycle of living and dying, to the constant movement of being, from birth to death.

Fasting and exposing oneself to the elements and solitude brings the humility and calm needed to hear one's own heartbeat and let fears dissolve.

Saying yes to life, in its entirety and without believing you can control it, but taking full responsibility for yourself and for what you have to offer others.

We choose to call this ceremony a Vision Fast and not a Vision Quest for reasons ofcultural appropriation.

The Vision Fast is nonetheless largely inspired by Native American spiritual practices and wisdom, and we are forever grateful to the peoples who preserved and practiced this rite of passage long before us, and allowed us to remember to listen to the earth in ceremony - and to pray and dance and weep for a vision that inspires us to care for the beauty of nature and the world.

We come from the tradition ofThe School of Lost Borders, founded by Steven Foster and Meredith Little.

We honor the way in which they have both allowed this ceremony to return to our modern culture, and we honor the importance of practicing it to remind us of our quality as Human Beings.

thank you

download the flyer in pdf

* Price range from CHF 980.- to CHF 1480.-.

We need your generous support to ensure the group's diversity and enable everyone to participate, despite the enormous economic inequalities between countries, cultures, regions and individuals.

A deposit (200,-chf) is required to confirm registration.

Please transfer to ccp 10-117315-3. IBAN: CH34 0900 0000 1011 7315 3, carine roth, chemin de Renens 12, 1004 Lausanne.

Your Guides for this unique experience

Siphelele Chirwa

Siphelele Chirwa has been doing Wilderness based development work since 2003 and is a qualified Vision Quest Guide, trained by the School of Lost Borders in California, USA.

Siphelele Chirwa is deeply rooted in this land, its people and these mountains that are her second home. She is part of the executive Leadership of Educo Africa(www.educo.org.za) and its most experienced Vision Quest guide. She comes from a family of Sangomas (traditional healers) and speak 9 of South Africa's 11 official languages. She started doing wilderness based work with Educo Africa in 2003 and soon thereafter attended the training with the School of Lost Borders in California, USA. Since then she has developed and run countless Rites of Passage courses for young South Africans. Siphelele is also a member of the International Wilderness Guides Council and has represented Educo Africa and the South African Vision Quest & Wilderness Guiding community on many International Gatherings around the world, running workshops & trainings. Since 2008 she is one of the members of the ESP - Program, a project brought to life by the elders of the world wide Vision Quest community, who have taken it on to hand over their expertise to younger Vision Quest guides all over the world in order for the work to continue to grow and be accessible to individuals worldwide. Siphelele's home is Langa, the oldest township in Cape Town. Here she lives with her family and is deeply committed to the development of her community. She sits on several NGO boards and works endlessly on building young contributive citizens and bettering the hard lives of those who suffer in South Africa.

Carine Roth

Carine has studied shamanism with Michael Harner's Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Switzerland.

She completed her practice by traveling -especially to Mexico among the Huichol Indians - but also to Guatemala, Iceland, Mongolia, Canada, Tuva (Siberia) and the USA.

She did her training as a vision fast guide with the School of Lost Borders in California in 2016 and is still nowadays working with Meredith Little - as an assistant for her programs.

She is also certified in Harner Shamanic Counseling (HSC)®.Her way in this work is to bridge humans and non-humans, visible and invisible, in service to soul purpose and harmony between people and the natural world. She offers healing practices and leads workshops and fasts in Switzerland. Born in 1971 and coming from Europe, she is French speaking and of course also speaks English.

To see more about Carine's work, check out her page.

Wiebke Nedel

Wiebke Nedel has been doing wilderness based personal development work since 2000 and is a qualified Vision Quest Guide trained by the School of Lost Borders.

Wiebke is Educo Africa's International Program Manager and as such run programs on Social Justice and Social work practice with international and local social workers - always including the wilderness as a tool for personal development and growth.

Wiebke spends one third of her time in Nepal, she is a mountaineer and has just recently successfully finished the Great Himalay Trail - a 5 months high traverse of the entire Himalayas.

For the past 5 years she has also been working as a systemic change and personal leadership facilitator for Leaders' Quest, a social enterprise, that aims to build a sustainable and more inclusive world across all sectors of society. Her work takes her all over the world most recently Kenya, USA, China, India, Nepal, Zambia, the UK and of course South Africa.

Please contact Carine Roth at for further information and registration for the course.