About

OUR JOURNEY

Live Happy was founded in 2010 in the village of Assagao in Goa, India. Forming a positive yet powerful impactful message as a sticker, thousands of stickers were spread in low emotion and low energy places like hospitals, police stations, market places and government offices. The intention of putting up these stickers in these places was to give an individual a hope and a speck of happiness and to urge one to look inside and happiness within their state of despair, depression, anxiety, stress or low emotions and heal them. For four years Felly Gomes worked relentlessly towards spreading this POWERFUL IMPACTFUL MESSAGE to SIMPLY "LIVE HAPPY" through various activities- Yoga, Meditation sessions and Garbage cleanliness drives to lower stress within and without, in his village and around Goa.

​Then he met his partner, Beatriz Contreras Milla , also a social worker from Spain with experience in social issues and who was completely aligned to the spirit of LIVE HAPPY from DAY 1, they decided to take Live Happy on a higher dimension and spread the message far and wide. They formed an NGO with their close friend who is also one of the board members at Live Happy. The LIVE HAPPY TEAM is working on different projects focusing on social, environment and economic issues in the community. Live Happy (NGO) is presently working in Assagao village, Goa by creating a socially sustainable village model. Through our network in Spain, we are spreading the message there by conducting yoga sessions and promoting cultural exchange between the two countries.

OUR TEAM

Felly Gomes

Founder

Felly Gomes is a Yogi, public speaker, Environmentalist and a Social entrepreneur. He is the founder of the NGO, LIVE HAPPY, he looks for practical and sustainable community solutions . The ethos is derived from the importance of living a clean, happy and healthy lifestyle. Bhoomiputra (Son of the Soil), hailing from the village of Assagao, Goa, India, he has been working to preserve, protect and restore his sacred mother land through a holistic approach. After enhancing his understanding on Yoga across various centers in the country, he is also been travelling around the world spreading the yogic knowledge. He is always connected to his people and soil.

Beatriz Contreras Milla

Co-Founder

Beatriz Contreras Milla is a Social Worker, Yoga Teacher, Spanish teacher and Doula. She is from Spain and has a background in social services working in the community as a subject. She blindly believes that sustainable development in communities is based on their strengths and potentials that is why ABCD ( Asset-based community development) is the right methodology for encouraging them. She has collaborated with different International Social projects in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and India, by linking women and communities.Apart from being the Co-founder of LIVE HAPPY NGO, Beatriz is also founded the Two Lives Movement — “One for living, and one for learning”, which facilitates the promotion of interchanges and intercultural experiences between India and Spain. Thanks to her experience in traveling and getting involved in small communities, she has realized that we have to reinvent our self everyday without losing our authenticity and soul.

Anushka Gomes

Program Coordinator

Anushka Gomes is the program coordinator at Live Happy NGO. She has completed her Bachelor in Education from Nirmala Institute of Education, Altinho- Panaji. She also holds a Masters degree in Sociology from Goa University.

Her interest lies in working with the children and helping them enhance their skills. She is a firm believer that we as educators influence the growth of the children and if we direct them correctly and guide them in the process of being a better person then we can have a better and rational community. As the NGO provides the children a space to grow holistically at its own pace, she sees it as an opportunity to grow Individually while acting as a guide to the children with the knowledge and skills she possesses.

Sasha Braganza

Creative Arts and Mindfulness Facilitator

Sasha Braganza is a Psychologist, Arts based therapy practitioner and Counsellor. She has over 8 years of experience in the field of Mental health and has worked primarily with organizations that engage directly with individuals from all walks of life. She has worked extensively with children and adolescents including those with special needs and those at risk. She enjoys working with consistent groups using Creative Arts therapy and Mindfulness practises to address various aspects of well being and happiness. Sasha explores the fields of humanistic therapy and holistic well being and spirituality in her work. She is also passionate about the environment and believes that the overall well being of our planet is intrinsically connected to our own individual Mental health and Well being.

BOARD MEMBERS

OUR SUPPORTERS


The Goa Foundation is the most well known of Goa’s environmental action groups. Founded in 1986 by a group of Goan environmentalists each flighting his or her own individual environmental battles, the organisation today commands the respect of judiciary, government and the general public for persisting with its environment agenda for more than two decades. The work of the Foundation spans different areas and fields, all related in some way or another with the conservation of Goa’s natural environment


Under the project TWO LIVES we are collaborating with The Center for Cooperation and Solidarity Action of Burgos University in SPAIN. Experiences of the students of the University of Burgos who is going to travel in order to complete the Final Degree Projects, Master's Thesis, Practicum, Internships and Final Projects in the field of International Development Cooperation with PPACID scholarships.


Demandafolk is a festival of free traditional music that is celebrated annually in Tolbaños de Arriba , in the region of Sierra de la Demanda ,Burgos . An unconventional festival is self-proclaimed since, with a sign composed of important groups of the traditional Spanish music scene, the organization resembles that of the most massive pop / rock festivals, offering camping area, chemical-ecological baths, showers and toilets, parking and bars with food and drink.


Ilka Müller-Patham is the mentor and coordinator for German weltwaerts volunteers (www.weltwaerts.de/en) who work in different NGOs in Goa. With a university background of cultural anthropology, education and German literature and language she came to India, Pune, 2010 in an exchange program of the DAAD (German academic exchange program). Since 2011 she is working as an intercultural trainer, mentor and consultant for international and national organisations.


Next to intercultural mediation Ilka’s interest lies in permaculture and sustainable consumption and life style. In 2016 she started, ilka’s, her own small fruit processing business and produces healthy jams with less or no added sugar or chemicals. Based on German recipes, combined with Indian spices, these handcrafted spreads are a feast for your tastebuds and a healthy alternative (www.ilkas.in).'


Norpetrol has been operating since 1994 as a distributor of gasoil and gas station operations. From the start we persued customer satisfaction , basing our company on three basic pillars: highest quality, competitive price and personalized service, looking for top quality in all processes.

They collaborate and support public and private social initiatives and activities in their community


The Forca Goa Foundation is an NGO based in Goa that aims to use football to mobilize, empower, and connect communities for the positive development of individuals and our State.

Foundation’s three core pillars - Football, Empowerment, and Sustainability. Having grown up with the sport, she sees it as a great unifying factor, teacher and channel to connect and empower the community to co-create a more sustainable future for the state of Goa.


Circle Wallas are a group of practitioners that use Art Of Hosting practices to hold space, listen deeply, ask powerful questions and engage in conversations that matter. They believe that many of the issues in the world could be ameliorated once we all speak with intention and listen with attention. From career spent in building community, partnerships and resilient systems, they have arrived at the realisation that there is a desperate need in the world for a new way of being together. Circle Walla’s help us to engage with our community through their expertise and help us build capacity within our Youth Ambassadors.

IN THE MEDIA