2016–2026 • Thank you for an amazing journey!
The spirit lives on…
Kafenia is closed as a formal organization, but its seeds have taken root everywhere. Here is how to stay connected, carry the spirit forward, and find the community that continues.
Kafenia was very simple. We helped people from many cultures and backgrounds hang out, share their traditions and get to know each other deeply and meaningfully through dialogue around our shared concerns. And then we did stuff together – small and large – to make our communities’ lives measurably better.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this effort! You mean the world to us.
Anne from Malta
Singing Together with Betsy Rose
How to stay connected
Join Global Heartbeat
Some friends of Kafenia were inspired to organize a new effort — Global Heartbeat — which gathers twice a month on the Peninsula.
Follow Mary Jane’s Work
Mary Jane is bringing the Kafenia spirit forward in her work as a social healer, now reconnecting people from the Mediterranean and participating in global fora on deep peacebuilding.
“We spend so much time preparing for war, and so little time learning how to live well together. That is the work. That will always be the work.”— Mary Jane Moutsanas
Follow Kafenia extended family
The organizations and leaders that grew alongside Kafenia carry the spirit forward in their own communities. Seek them out. Support their work. Show up.
Karat School Project, Umoja Health, Magical Bridge, AWO, Dreamer’s Roadmap, WordSlam Poetry, Reevolution Group — all deepening connections through the Kafenia village.
The community carries on, the ecosystem continues
What were we?
Gathered from 2016–2025, with monthly and then weekly gatherings that involved food, friendship and deep dialogue. Each gathering centered on a question, and reflected three themes: welcome, connect and contribute. Each year we had a season which would culminate in a Peace Meal. We pivoted during COVID to COVID response related to our community’s needs. We went virtual, and then returned to in-person gatherings for the past three years, with our last gathering in July 2025 — and a final wrap-up and iftar during Ramadan in 2026.
How did we work?
The values that drove ten years of gathering — and that continue in everything that grows from Kafenia’s roots. Symbolically, Kafenia reimagined the ancient symposia and the kafenio (men’s Greek coffeehouse), both of which blend Greek village food, music, pleasure and civic engagement, but welcome to all, sort of a grassroots United Nations space. We called this weaving together of our roots “deep peacebuilding.”
What we did together
Cultural gatherings & dialogues— Monthly and weekly circles exploring democracy, peace, identity, poetry — each rooted in food, story, and genuine curiosity about each other.
Peace Meals— Annual events in solidarity with communities in conflict: Libyan Iftar (30,000 likes!), Ivorian Dance Party, Dreamer’s Peace Meal.
Bilingual poetry circles— Voices in many languages, gathered in one room. Stories told in the tongue they were born in, shared with people who’d never heard it before.
COVID community response— First of the Month Rent Fund helped 350+ families. RV family education. Weekly virtual gatherings that kept the village alive.
Grassroots incubation— A home base for emerging leaders — from juvenile justice advocates to health equity workers to youth poets — to find community, voice, and support.
Special celebrations— Ramadan iftars, Passover seders, Greek Orthodox Easter, Day of the Dead, Friendsgivings, Berber New Year — every holiday a doorway.
Cultivating citizens of the Village of All Together
In the process of gathering, we built what we call “The Village of All Together.” (Inspired by the Island of All Together).
Nation-states decide who belongs and who doesn’t; everyone is a citizen of our village.
The three pillars of citizenship
Welcome
Philoxenia — the love of the stranger. Every door open. Every person at the table. Every background a gift. The Kafenia tradition of radical hospitality, alive in Silicon Valley.
Connect
Cross-cultural friendship as the most effective antidote to prejudice. Gathering across difference — not in theory, but around a real table, with real food and real questions. And deciding that our shared humanity is stronger than any identity.
Contribute
The Village of All Together doesn’t just gather — it acts. Peace Meals. Rent funds. Youth poetry. Community health. Dreamer support. Every gathering a step toward the world we need.
Farewell
“The hour is late, and it is time to say goodbye.”
“It was our diversity — roots from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America — that brought us hope.”
“Love is always stronger than fear. And Kafenia has helped me be fearless.”
“I am letting go, and Kafenia is welcoming.”
Mary Jane’s farewell message to Kafenia
“Thank you on behalf of our Village of All Together — which we need now more than ever before.” — Mary Jane Marcus