Please pay attention to the fact that there's no 'Donate' button, no fundraising, and no way of directly supporting the Qultura community through financial donations. Nor are there any success stories of parading the people we have supported - often lonely, broken, vulnerable people - online for internet or business clout. We are not an organization, this is not about us, this is purely about all the people out there who have been left behind and left out. The invisible people in our communities.
Even if someone were to donate £1 billion to our community it would not make any difference to the issues of social stigma and social exclusion out there in society. Lives which have been destroyed will still remain broken, whoever has got their future wiped out is not going to get it back. People who died prematurely or who committed suicide are never going to come back to life. Sure we could move every homeless person on the streets into a hotel and give them a warm bed, but the money donated is not going to get rid of the trauma, the years and often decades of recovery, or get rid of the mental health issues, the depression, or the anxiety.
Social stigma and social exclusion leaves no traces because all too often the outcome is a lonely, isolated death of someone in their 40's or 50's who nobody cared about anyway.
This much we know and is common knowledge among Qultura Core, the core of the Qultura community. This is what we have learned since we first formed at the end of 2009 in a function room in a pub in South London. Our story is not some glowing corporate success story. Qultura was founded out of the Qultura Core project by a bunch of pensioners and benefit claimants and the story of our evolution is one of trauma, failures, mistakes, and different incarnations. We have tried to form a registered charity to support the socially excluded twice. We have tried and failed to become a Community Interest Company (CIC). Four members of the original Qultura Core project died prematurely including one founder member. We have been evicted twice by property developers. The COVID lockdowns twice wiped out our community.
There is no way any organization or Government department can even begin to address the complex multi-dimensional issues of social stigma and social exclusion. Welfare benefits can only go so far. Charities can only address a single social issue such as homelessness or domestic violence. Housing associations can only address housing issues. Local authorities can't do that much due to a lack of resources. It's simply not possible for any organization to even begin to address the issues of social stigma and social exclusion. This is the fundamental truth of social stigma and social exclusion.
This is why we are a community and this is why we do what we do. Nobody else can do what we do. Can you think of any other alternative dream weaving community that functions as a Human Library project? This is what keeps us going after 14 years of intensive research and development and direct first hand experience of social stigma and social exclusion. The path we have chosen is a very difficult path, we risk being swamped and burnt out through whatever support we can bring to people. But we are on a learning curve, every year we break new ground, and every year our innovative approach and insights enable other organizations, local authorities, charities and non-profits to also break new ground.
But we cannot continue our work without the support and backing of local authorities and the business community. This is why we are developing an innovative support network and strategy through Qultura Core to create a multi-dimensional support strategy which transforms the lives of those affected by social stigma and social exclusion. You can find out more about this on the Qultura Core website, which is the business end of the Qultura community.
Qultura is a developing mystical community resource which is both an alternative dream weaving community and a Human Library project. Centred in Nine Elms, London we offer free access to Qultura methodology, the Qultura community and regularly scheduled Human Library events. Through what we do we offer opportunities to develop consciousness, mindfulness and community to anyone interested in exploring and developing ways of living alternative to modern mainstream social and cultural values.