Ouma Katrina Esau

Ouma Katrina Esau

South Africa

Ouma Katrina Esau is a renowned cultural guardian and language activist from South Africa, dedicated to preserving the endangered N|uu language of the San people. As one of the last fluent speakers of this ancient language, she has devoted her life to teaching younger generations and ensuring that the knowledge, stories, and identity of her ancestors are not lost. Through community education and cultural leadership, Ouma Katrina has become a symbol of resilience and the global importance of protecting Indigenous languages and heritage.

11:00AM Origin Opening Ceremony

Friday 17th October

Origin Opening Ceremony

The event begins from our anchor location in South Africa

Synchronized Moment of Global Unity

The Universal Prayer for Mother Earth is one flowing prayer, composed of lines contributed by Indigenous Elders from many Nations around the world. Each Elder contributes words drawn from a traditional prayer, song, or teaching - spoken first in their own language, then followed by an English translation.

The prayer begins in Aotearoa New Zealand, the first land to meet the sun, and then travels west with daylight across the world - from Oceania to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Americas. As it moves across time zones, it becomes a symbolic wave of intention circling the planet: many tongues, one breath.

What the world hears is both ancient and immediate - words that honor water, mountains, plants, and air; words that thank the creatures who guide us; words that remind us of responsibility and right relationship with the Earth. The English translation follows gently behind each line, carrying meaning while allowing the original voice to remain in front - clear, sovereign, and alive.

At the close of the prayer, a first nation elder will invite everyone, wherever they are, to gently touch the Earth and speak three words or short phrases that embody their vision of a new world. This simple act grounds the ceremony in the body an, transforms listening into lived intention. Whispered or voiced together, these three offerings become seeds, personal, specific, and actionable, that root the collective moment in countless local commitments to care, courage, and renewal.

As we finish honoring the earth, a single pulse rises, a synchronized song that beckons us from stillness into celebration. Recognized artists from many lands fuse ancient with modern, threading ancestral instruments with modern beats - cedar flute beside synth, frame drum beside electronic beats, throat singing united with soaring vocal hooks, composing a new, living “Anthem for Mother Earth”. And then we move as one humanity, feet to earth and hearts united to the rhythm as we unleash the ancient power of dance, binding us beyond borders into a collective celebration of joy and unity.

Supported by emerging research in the science of coherence, collective meditative focus has been shown to produce measurable effects on emotional regulation, physiological synchronization and enhanced harmony within groups.

Welcome Exhibz

Ouma Katrina Esau

Origin Opening Ceremony