Black History Month profile:
rehena Harilall
(continued)

In this second and concluding part of our interview with rehena Harilall, she shares more about her joys, challenges, and inspirations.

rehena Harilall is an engaged Buddhist ordained in the Plum Village Tradition founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, teacher, and writer. Of Asian and African heritage, she is a South African based in London. As a founder of Buddhists Across Traditions, she advocates for racial, social, and climate justice. She first connected with Faith for the Climate during a webinar for COP26 during an Eco Dharma Network/SGI-UK panel that Shanon, our Director, was also a speaker on. Since then she has been a steadfast ally and friend to Faith for the Climate and our climate justice work.

You can read part 1 of our conversation with rehena here.

Rosh: Can I ask what aspects of your work make you joyful?

rehena: I think the aspects of my work that bring joy into life, the way I act in the world, is dance. Music. Movement. Not as escape, but actually as renewal.

So singing, planting seeds, moving my body, and doing a lot of walking in nature. I would say they are embodied prayers of repair. They not only connect me to my ancestors, they connect me to the earth and to the communities I hope to serve.

So when I feel the soil, when I dance, I remember. I remember, I am made whole again. I connect to the woman in India marrying trees. I connect to Heelomali, the first woman, the energy of creation. (FFTC editors: Heelomali, an Afar word meaning ‘you are special’, is the name given by the Afar people in the Horn of Africa to the famous hominin fossil Lucy, discovered in what is now Ethiopia. Dating back about 3.2 million years, Lucy once stood as the earliest known human ancestor.) I connect with the activism of Wangarĩ Maathai. I connect with the teachings of Thích Nhất Hạnh.

They ground me in the truth that our connection to our earth can be both joyful, fierce and tender. For me, those elements of joy, of creating joy, are essential. They are the energy, I think, that fuels us to keep us going. It’s not a luxury, it’s a strategy. Resting is activism. Activism should be joyful because every activism is a means to act.

If we cannot cultivate joy in our choices, then that’s when we risk burnout. Being overwhelmed and swallowed by the very suffering that we’re trying to transform.

Everything we do is an act. It goes far beyond marches, protests or petitions. It’s the way we live, the energy we bring, the care we show in every choice we make. If we cannot cultivate joy in our choices, then that’s when we risk burnout. Being overwhelmed and swallowed by the very suffering that we’re trying to transform.

Through dance, song, community, joy, we create. The future is now. Because the journey that we are on is as important and should be as joyful as the destination we want to create.

Rosh: On the other hand, which aspects do you find most challenging?

rehena: I know the hardest part for me is witnessing suffering that is so preventable. The lands that are lost, the waters that are poisoned, the homes that are washed away, the destruction of life in Gaza, Sudan, so many other places, and the growing – I see all around us – dehumanization of others. Almost a cookie-cutter mechanism of defining what is human, and anything that doesn’t fit into this cookie cutter is not. Coming from [the legacy of] apartheid legacy and activism there [in South Africa], what I learned was that despair grows when we think that change must be immediate and heroic. 

This heroic mindset that we often have in climate [activism], in the work that we do as activists, is often tied with the ego. It’s very much tied to the colonial mentality that somewhere along the line, a single person, a single human being comes marching in and saves the world. It’s the belief that only you and one person can make a difference. It leads to the burnout, the isolation and the pain. Because real change is collective. It’s relational and therefore transformational. But I feel like the challenge is from myself, that change needs to not only happen out there, but it needs to happen within. We need to cultivate some of those wholesome qualities in ourselves, the joy in life, to see how the violence of colonialism can limit our own capacity, even as Black and Brown people, as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour). It limits our capacity in ways that are not compassionate and wise.

For me, without that inner transformation, our outer actions can perpetuate harm. The other challenge I have is around anger. I still have a lot of anger, but I’m learning not to let it lead. I think the energy of anger, when tempered with kindness, can create profound change.

It’s not about suppressing that anger, but harnessing its fire in the creation of a different world. What I’ve learned is that if we address injustice with the same energy that created it, it only replicates the harm we want to eliminate in our societies.

Rosh: There’s good reminders for myself there as well.

rehena: That is Plum Village’s ethos, by the way, the need to have joy, because it’s only when you can strengthen that, you can really address deep suffering as well.

Rosh:  Can I ask what inspires you to keep going?

rehena: You know, for me, the biggest thing and inspiration in my life comes from my own ancestral resilience, those who survived displacement and exploitation and whose courage is in my blood. I think I’m inspired very much by young people who lead with such clarity and courage. By communities who plant trees and steward the earth, knowing they may never sit in the shade of the trees, knowing that they may never reap the benefit of what they actually sow. I think I mentioned earlier the concept of Ubuntu, I am because we are. And it’s shaping not just your own humanity, but shaping what society might be, how human it can be in the future.

So I think that for me, that way of working is very inspirational. For myself, coming and reconnecting to Buddhism through Thích Nhất Hạnh and his deep connection with the earth is a very good reminder, and that’s where I’m inspired, that caring for the planet is inseparable from caring for ourselves and one another. It’s a poignant reminder that we are not working for the survival of the earth. We are the earth. We are working for the survival of the planet and of ourselves. I guess I’m inspired by Joanna Macy, who draws a lot on the wisdom of the indigenous people of Turtle Island. Her work shows how we can make hope and activism alive and active, how we can weave connection, relationship and healing into the climate movement.

I spoke at a Dharma talk a few weeks ago in April, May, when I was in Gaza (FFTC Editors: In Buddhism, Dharma refers to the teachings of the Buddha and the true nature of reality, and it is one of the Three Jewels of Buddhism, along with the Buddha and the Sangha community.) For me, inspiration comes from a reminder that, as an analogy, it takes one drop of water in a cup to turn it from full to overflowing. How do we know that little one drop of whatever we do today may be the one drop that changes the fabric of what we’re hoping to achieve? But ultimately, I like to think that the people who inspire me are those who act without recognition or reward. The tree planters, the water protectors, the community activists I work with in South Africa, who show up every day without media coverage, without applause. The humility and persistence is just a reminder that hope is not something we wait for. It’s something we practice actively. Every day we practice with action.

And then when I let go of the idea that I must produce something immediate, that there must be visible results. Those are the inspirations that I hold on to. Every single act, every single step, every single choice to act with care tips the balance towards change. And so the same things that shaped my ancestry are the ones that I would like to shape the next generation and for those to come after me.

I guess I’m inspired by Joanna Macy, who draws a lot on the wisdom of the indigenous people of Turtle Island. Her work shows how we can make hope and activism alive and active, how we can weave connection, relationship and healing into the climate movement.

Rosh: You’ve shared a few already – Thích Nhất Hạnh, Wangarĩ Maathai, Cornel West, Joanna Macy. Are there any other personal heroes or works or quotes that you’d like to share with the wider Faith for the Climate network?

rehena: Yes, for me, Nelson Mandela. He said, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done.’ Wangarĩ Maathai, who said, ‘I will be a hummingbird. I’m going to do the best I can with the little that I have.’ Do a little bit of good wherever you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. Yeah, I think those are the ones. I think those are my quotes. My deepest personal heroes are the ones history rarely names, because all those are leaders. But effective change, whatever they stood for, would (also) not happen without the followers.

So those names who work, those who work without recognition, just like the dust beneath our feet, quietly hold up the world. I think of those activists that I’ve mentioned in Southern Africa who are not in the public eye, quietly going about building, repairing, stewarding, protecting, making little drops of water and change everywhere. And I think my greatest heroes are all those in the Global South, whether they live here or elsewhere. They are the ants carrying the dead weight of rampaging colonial locusts of the West, persevering despite the imbalances.

Rosh: I’ve just got one final question. What advice would you give your 16-year-old self?

rehena: It seems like a long time ago! If I could speak to my 16-year-old self, I would tell her, you don’t need to be a hero. You don’t need to carry the world alone. Activism is not just the marching. It’s living in a way that matches life. Remember, for some, activism is the very act of being alive. Every act matters and the journey is as important as the destination. Honour your roots and the people you once thought were holding you back may actually be the ones holding you up. Never forget where you come from and let that connection ground you. When the path feels uncertain and unstable, protect joy. Build community. Approach your work with the same energy you want to see in the world. And know that you can make a difference, not through big visible actions, but through small quiet ones too.

Remember, for some, activism is the very act of being alive.

There is ultimate joy in the little things. A kind word, a kind hand, a seed. A prepared meal. These may be just the little moments or drops of water that tip. The change that I want to see in the world, or that my other self wants to see the world. And above all, remember that you are not separate from the earth. You are the earth. You are here to steward her. Care for her and prepare the way for those who come after.

Rosh: I think that’s great advice for anyone to receive.

End of Part 2 – read Part 1 here