Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebeka Ndosi.
Hi Rebeka, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Maji ya Chai is the name of the area in Tanzania where generations of Ndosis have lived. The name means “water like tea” because of the reddish brown tint of the water due to the mineral-rich soil. Located in the foothills of Mt. Meru, my family members have been mountain farmers there for multiple generations. In 1960 my father traveled to Minnesota to attend college in Northfield. He met my mother at the University of Minnesota many years later. They put down roots and raised me and my two siblings on the Minneapolis side of the Twin Cities. Sadly, my family in Tanzania has lost much of the land over the past few years. When the uprisings took place in Minneapolis following George Floyd’s murder during the summer of 2020, my Ancestors woke me from my sleep night after night with this vision — “Time for the Land. Time to act!”
About Rebeka Ndosi (Founder and Keeper of the Vision):
Rebeka Ndosi M.S., L.Ac is a healer, teacher and the founder and visionary behind Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization providing a 40-acre land-based community space, on the North Shore of Gichigaming (Lake Superior), just outside of Two Harbors, Minnesota. The Land Sanctuary is for people of all ages, especially those from Black, Indigenous, and communities of color, to gather, rest, heal, and build community for collective thriving. A board licensed acupuncturist, community coach, and soul answer healer, Rebeka brings a powerful blend of mind-body-spirit wisdom to her work. With a background that spans biology, youth media production in the U.S. and South Africa, and holistic health, she’s dedicated her life to nurturing the wellbeing of youth of color and the communities that surround them.
She is the creator of the Warriors of Light™ kids yoga card deck, founder of the Youth Healing Justice Network, and a nationally respected leader in healing justice. Whether offering family-centered yoga and meditation, herbal healing, or community-rooted coaching, Rebeka’s work honors the individual and collective wisdom we hold and centers the belief that revolutionary healing begins from within.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all! Though we have been blessed with a committed and growing base of support locally, statewide, and nationally. We faced the significant challenge of coming into legal land stewardship as a BIPOC-led and run organization; local resistance to our building the sanctuary, including explicitly racist acts which caused the county to supply an armed sheriff’s deputy for our public permit hearings, and increasing challenges in securing funding – especially as the “shininess” of supporting equity and reparations for Black people faded and became demonized as a threat. In this time of compounding crises and collapse, much of the philanthropic funding in Minnesota has shifted to supporting basic needs and covering gaps that the federal government no longer covers. We sit in the place of holding space for resting, healing and dreaming the world that we want to leave for our descendants – and we believe that this work is absolutely essential. It is essential that we have places where people are supported in lifting their eyes to the horizon, breathing long and deep, and knowing it is safe to be. Safe to dream. Safe to create. If we do not move to create a better future, then a better future will never arrive.
We’ve been impressed with Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
VISION
We envision a thriving world where people embrace and embody our full selves and hold all life on Earth as sacred and interconnected.
MISSION
We provide a land-based place for people of all ages, especially those from Black, Indigenous, and communities of color, to gather, rest, heal, and build community for collective thriving.
VALUES
Honoring Ancestral and Indigenous Wisdom: We learn and practice ancestral and Indigenous wisdom locally and globally
Black Land Sovereignty and Stewardship
Authentic Relationships
Healing, Connection, and Restoration
Joy and Thriving
Maji ya Chai is a Black-led, nature-based retreat and community space on 40 acres just outside Two Harbors, near the shore of Gichigaming (Lake Superior). Our programs include seasonal retreats and wellness offerings rooted in nature and ancestral practices; community science learning weekends; land stewardship and volunteer days; outdoor education and exploration for youth and intergenerational groups; and space for individuals, families, educators, and organizations to host their own gatherings or stay on the land. We also partner with other organizations to co-create programming, which lets us offer more to our community than we could alone.
Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary is a Black-led, nature-based retreat and community space on 40 acres near the Encampment River, just outside Two Harbors on the North Shore of Lake Superior. We provide a place for people of all ages, especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color, to gather, rest, heal, and build community connected to the land.
Our name comes from Maji ya Chai, the village in Tanzania where our founder Rebeka Ndosi’s family has farmed and cared for land and water for generations. In Swahili, it means “water like tea,” named for a river that runs reddish-brown because of the area’s mineral-rich soil, much like the iron-rich earth of the North Shore and the Iron Range. Two places, an ocean apart, connected by the same red earth. That connection between the land and lakes on both sides of the equator is at the heart of everything we do.
We specialize in nature-based healing, learning, and community. Our offerings include seasonal retreats and wellness programs, land stewardship and volunteer days, youth and intergenerational outdoor learning, and space for families, groups, and organizations to host their own gatherings.
We’re also becoming known for environmental education through the HEALL Hub (Home for Environment & Ancestral Learning and Leadership), our year-round program with partners including NASA, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Bell Museum, the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Cloud State University, University of Minnesota Extension, Urban Bird Collective, BIPOC Outdoors Twin Ports, Starry Skies North, and Duluth photographer and author Dudley Edmondson. Through the HEALL Hub we offer birding walks, Minnesota Master Naturalist training, dark-sky astronomy nights, nature photography workshops, and community science events. At our 2025 BioBlitz, participants identified more than 100 distinct forms of life on our land in a single day.
Maji ya Chai is the only BIPOC-centered nature retreat on Minnesota’s North Shore. Many people of color don’t feel fully safe or welcome in outdoor spaces, and we’ve built a place where they can relax, be themselves, and experience the healing that nature offers.
We also bring something rare to environmental education: ancestral and indigenous knowledge, learning and practice. Our programs honor the Anishinaabe land we’re on and Indigenous ecological knowledge, along with African diaspora connections to land through Rebeka’s Tanzanian heritage. Science and ancestral wisdom sit side by side here. We’re the first site led by a Black woman to partner with the Bell Museum and University of Minnesota Extension on Master Naturalist training, and we’re proud to help open that door for many more people of color to become land stewards, naturalists and conservation leaders.
Our brand is a true story. Maji ya Chai isn’t a name we chose for how it sounds; it’s a family’s home and a living connection between Tanzania and the North Shore. That shows up in small, personal ways. Rebeka brews homemade Tanzanian chai from a recipe handed down from the grandmothers of Maji ya Chai Village, and sharing a cup is how we welcome people to the land.
We’re also proud of the community that has formed around us. More than 100 donors backed our recent GiveMN campaign, partners like Cedar Coffee Company have raised funds with us through their Tanzania Usawa coffee, and some of Minnesota’s most respected science and conservation institutions have chosen to build programs with us.
You are welcome here, and there are lots of ways to connect with us:
*Visit or gather: Join a retreat, community science weekend, or seasonal gathering, or reach out to rent space for your family, group, or organization.
*Bring young people: We love hosting youth and intergenerational groups to learn, volunteer, and explore.
*Volunteer: Help with land stewardship days, events, or share your professional skills. Staff groups are welcome for team volunteer days.
*Support the work: Donate through GiveMN, buy Cedar Coffee Company’s Tanzania Usawa coffee
*Stay connected: Sign up for our newsletter at majiyachai.org and follow us on Instagram and Facebook (@thelandsanctuary) and YouTube.
We believe that when people reconnect with the land and with each other, whole communities thrive. We’d love for you to be part of that.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to us as an organization is reflected in our vision and mission: being part of building a thriving world where people embrace and embody our full selves and hold all life on Earth as sacred and interconnected. That means everybody. In these unprecedented and extremely difficult times it is essential that there are people focusing on and places where humans can gather, envision and practice the thriving world that we want for ourselves and that we want to leave for our descendants.
Pricing:
- Community Yurt Day Rentals start at $1500/day for up to 20 people
- Coming in 2027: Cabin rentals start at $200/night for 2 people plus additional nightly for up to 4 more per cabin.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.majiyachai.org
- Instagram: @thelandsanctuary
- Facebook: @thelandsanctuary
