
Donate and Share
Thrive International - Belize: a global network of ecovillages focused on the healing and well-being of the planet’s most vulnerable.
ABOUT THRIVE
RECONNECT. RENEW. REST.Our 21-acre sanctuary in Belizes serves communities seeking refuge by centering healing and dignity.Our blended community model builds resilience, through intentional, land-based community design.Thrive offers bold, rooted and replicable solutions for those navigating displacement and uncertainty.Explore how the initiatives at Thrive are powered by your support.

Our Mission
Our mission is to create sacred, sustainable spaces where the planet’s most vulnerable can reclaim power, peace, and possibility.Through land-based healing, mutual aid, and intentional community, we’re building a model that restores balance—for people and planet. Thrive is more than one place—it’s a blueprint. We aim to replicate this model in communities that need it most, while also sharing tools, lessons, and practices with others ready to build something like it, wherever they are.Thrive exists not just to respond to the polycrisis, but to rewrite the conditions that cause it: disconnection from land, extractive systems, and institutional neglect.

Monkey River
Key Initiatives
PROACTIVE MIRGRATION SOLUTIONS
Plan for movement with dignity, safety, and grounded in justice, not fear.Explore community-rooted relocation strategies and land stewardship models.
MUTUAL AID & SOLIDARITY PROJECTS
Join efforts that center collective care, economic resilience, and diaspora connection.Build a support network that crosses borders—and holds us all.
EARTH-BASED LIVING PRACTICES
Learn eco-building practices that honor both tradition and the land.Skill up for sustainable community life rooted in land stewardship and ecological care.
ANCESTRAL HEALING CIRCLES
Reclaim connection and seek guidance through ancestral practices, storytelling, and community-led healing.Journey inward and backward toward memory, land, and spirit.

Renderings
Elevation
Education
Meditation
Restoration
Relaxation

$5 GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN

We recently launched a $1–5 GoFundMe campaign to raise seed funds and demonstrate social proof—a visible, tangible show of support that attracts funders and strengthens our proof of concept. Every small donation signals that this vision matters to real people, helping to open doors to major funding.Your support—no matter the amount—sends a message: people believe in Thrive and want real solutions for those impacted by climate disruption, global instability, and displacement.Just as important as giving is sharing. When you spread the word, you help us build visibility, momentum, and the collective voice that moves major funders to act.This isn’t just a fundraiser. It’s a signal.To find out more about our GoFundMe campaign click the button below:
Timeline and Progress
2020 - 2023
Land acquired and registered
Survey process initiated and site prep underway
Business name legally registered
Preliminary clearing and site walk-throughs
Water access and permaculture design initiated
Planted bamboo, plantains, mahogany to inform land-use planning
Researched and priced off-grid systems (solar, rainwater harvesting)
Established early visual documentation (photos, video)
2024 - 2025
First structures prototyped
Pilot healing and learning programs launched
Academic and artist partnerships developing
Rendering main buildings
Community land trust model in development

PARTNER WITH US

The Maya Mountains of Belize
Thrive is designed to grow globally—and we invite you to grow with us.
Our eco-village in Belize is just the beginning. As we expand our network of living laboratories, we are building a platform for transnational fieldwork, interdisciplinary collaboration, and real-time innovation in climate adaptation, human resilience, and environmental restoration.At Thrive International, our 21-acre sanctuary offers more than just land—it offers possibility. Rooted in land stewardship, cultural reconnection, and regenerative design, this site serves as a hands-on hub for students, scholars, and practitioners from diverse fields. Here, climate adaptation, public health, food sovereignty, and ancestral healing are not just studied—they’re lived.We believe that the most impactful solutions are born where disciplines meet—when public health engages with architecture, when environmental science meets storytelling, when migration studies are informed by lived experience. That’s why we’re actively seeking partnerships with universities, research institutions, and mission-aligned organizations to co-create knowledge that transforms systems and communities alike.Together, we can shape scalable, equitable models for a more just, sustainable, and connected future.
We are especially seeking partners in:- Public Health & Environmental Justice Study the intersections of climate change, displacement, and wellness in frontline communities.- Sustainable Architecture & Regenerative Agriculture Co-develop low-impact infrastructure, vernacular design, and bamboo-based economies.- Diaspora & Migration Studies Document and co-create proactive models for dignified climate migration and cultural reconnection.What we offer:- Access to an immersive site for field research, applied learning, and long-term study- Community-centered frameworks grounded in ethics, equity, and shared benefit- Opportunities for student residencies, immersive fieldwork, and joint funding proposals- A growing global network of sites for applied, place-based collaborationLet’s build knowledge that heals, restores, and reimagines—together.
The Creek at Thrive
Contact Us to Partner

ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Hi, I’m Shanda. I’m a storyteller, activist, mom, and survivor.
Thrive International is my offering.It’s for those who’ve held everyone else together while quietly falling apart. The ones taught to be strong before they were ever safe. I created Thrive because helping others heal heals me too. I needed a space where nurturers get nurtured, and givers finally get.I didn’t just arrive at this work. I’ve been walking this road for nearly 30 years — sometimes marching, sometimes crawling, sometimes planting seeds no one else could see. I was taught by civil rights legend John O’Neal to do what needed to be done. I don’t do it for praise. I do it because I need peace.Thrive isn’t charity — it’s solidarity.
It’s rooted in justice, care, and ancestral wisdom. We center those most impacted by crisis and offer them breath, land, and belonging — a place where resilience is honored, not expected.Thrive isn’t something I’ve just started.
It’s a promise I’ve kept.


Email us. We're listening.
Thrive International
Cayo District, Belize