Mankind Project South Africa supports men to explore and improve their connection to healthy, mature masculinity.

We believe that men have important work to accomplish in helping one another and learning to trust each other. The work we do is about helping men step into a healthy and mature sense of masculinity. Through working with each other, we create the real possibility for effective and productive relationships with women – relationships based in healthy respect, self-reliance, emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion.

Registration takes 2-minutes:
Follow the link below, and complete the form on the training you'd like to take part in. Once completed our enrolment team will be in touch to assist you in completing the necessary additional forms and payments.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Fees for the New Warrior Training Adventure in South Africa are currently R5800 which includes an optional follow-up Primary Integration Training (PIT) averaging over 30 hours of sessions over 12 consecutive weeks.

Payment can be made via EFT, Credit Card or PayPal.

We offer instalment plans for those in need. There is scholarship money available for those in serious need.

Please contact the enrolment team if you have any further questions regarding payments.
Click here to contact the enrolment team

You will join a group of between 27 and 45 other men at a camp or retreat facility. We recommend that men drive no more than 3 hours to the training site. You will be asked to car-pool, in line with a commitment to ecological consciousness and as a way of beginning to create connections and camaraderie with the other men attending the training.

For a 48-hour period, from the time the training starts to when it completes (with meals, breaks and time for sleep), you will be asked to join in a series of processes and activities—all designed with one goal in mind—to help every man at the training step into his own unique sense of himself as a man among men. Some of the activities are individual, many are group processes. There are physical activities, writing, visualizations. It will be one of the most action packed weekends of your life.

You will be guided on this journey by a group of 25 to 50 staff men. Some of these men will be staffing for the first time, others will have decades of experience and advanced training. Each staff man will play a role in creating the weekend experience.

On the last day of the training, after celebrating your success, you will return home. It is a good idea to have a quiet evening planned. Some men choose to take the following day off in order to digest their experience and catch up on sleep. It will be up to you what you do with what you have learned about yourself and other men. For many men, the next sunrise is the beginning of a life with a renewed sense of vitality and purpose.

During your training you will stand shoulder to shoulder with an immensely rich mix of masculinity, with occupations and ages as wide as masculinity itself. Whether they’re corporate executives or college students, all come to share a common understanding that their lives as men can be empowered with greater focus and direction, and that this personal initiation into manhood is crucial to their full development as men.

Some men come to heal. Some men come to find role models for positive and mature masculinity. Some men come to explore their Leadership abilities and expand their skills. Some men come to make a conscious transition from adolescent life to the life of a man. Some men come to find peace of mind in their transition to elder-hood. All men come because a small voice within them lets them know when it’s time.

We have assembled an experienced, motivated and highly skilled staff to lead the training programs. Most staff members are volunteers, and because all have experienced the initiation process themselves, they have their own sense of male initiation and inner work.

The Leader team on your training will have years of experience working with men in transformational settings. Leaders in the ManKind Project have chosen to live a life of fierce and rigorous self-examination. They have been certified to lead by international panels and are repeatedly peer-reviewed by members of the community. Their commitment is to the safety of each man on a training weekend.

We look at nearly every aspect of a man’s life:

• Where you came from and how you were raised.

• What you learned about how to be a man.

• What you want for your future.

• What you want for yourself and for others.

• How you handle your past. (and how to break free of it)

• How you deal with conflict.

• How you learn to be more effective.

• How you deal with being alone OR being a part of a team.

• How you handle fear, anger, shame, joy, sadness.

• What your unique purpose for being is. (and how to move toward it)

• How you fit in to the natural world.

• How you fit in as a man among men.

• What is your relationship to your power as a man?

• What is your relationship to your spirituality?

• What is your relationship to death?

• What is your relationship to women?

• What is your relationship to your body and sexuality?

We do not recommend this training for every man. We urge you not to apply to this program without serious forethought, and not to enroll simply at the urging of a spouse or friend.

You must be highly committed to your life, and ready to participate fully in all training activities, many of which encourage you to take a hard look at yourself, your deepest fears, your wounds from the past, and how you are willing to learn what you can do to take control of and improve your life. We choose to work only with men who are ready, and willing to do this initiatory work with us.

In nearly every global culture, rites of passage have historically guided boys in their journey to becoming men and contributing members of their communities.

While many South African cultures do still provide a rite of passage that welcomes them into masculinity, in others these experiences have fallen by the wayside, or been supplanted by dangerous gang initiations or bullying fraternities. This has led many men to feel, at best, unsupported and lost, and at worst they are introduced to a world of violence and intimidation just to find a sense of belonging.

Even when men have gone through a traditional rite of passage into manhood, they may reach a stage of life when they need an alternative experience to help them understand the world and themselves in a different way.

Our contemporary initiation is designed to be safe, non-shaming, and focused on the unique challenges men face in the 21st century. It is based on universal values of respect and self-determination, and grounded in proven psycho-therapeutic practice. We conduct an initiation because we believe it is absolutely necessary for a man to learn, in an unequivocal way, what he is capable of, why he is here, and how to engage fully in his life.

With this knowledge, a modern man is freed to make choices, take risks and assume full responsibility for his life. This is not a hazing ritual or an entrance to a fraternal organisation; this is a challenging 48 hour experience that will likely have life-changing effects. Not every man is ready for our training, but every man can gain something when he is willing to take that step. Our training may have aspects of other workshops you have experienced, but the power of initiation is in the challenge. This is not a spa, not a retreat, not a weekend getaway. It is an entry point into a new way of being you.

Our trainings are offered in English. A few spoken presentations are offered in both Zulu, Xhosa & Afrikaans, and participants are invited to express themselves in their native language when needed. Zulu, Xhosa & Afrikaans speakers on staff will be available to offer translation assistance.