Arts and Culture Israel Project #4030

Breaking Down Borders: Youth Self Discovery

by American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam

Project Report | Jan 22, 2014
Why 2013 Was a Landmark Year for Massa-Massar

By Alex Lewin | AFNSWAS Grant Writer

Massa-Massar in 2013

We changed the world in 2013.

The Massa-Massar youth leadership program enjoyed its most productive, most robust, most far-reaching year yet. And with the help of collaborators across the world, we made Massa-Massar a fixture in the program of peace-building activities centered in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the Oasis of Peace.

Massa-Massar is a visionary endeavor conceived and designed at the Pluralstic Spiritual Center at NSWAS. We were so pleased in 2013 to welcome our friends at the Sulha Peace Project as they joined in the efforts to expand Massa-Massar’s reach and activities.

Among these activities were a visit by 32 Israeli and Palestinian teens to the Eco-Me Center for an Ecological Middle East; a 10-day seminar in Luzerne, Switzerland, that included a “tribal fire” in which Swiss children also participated; and specially designed tours of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem.

The participants in Massa-Massar have given us inspiring feedback: "We have to come together to strengthen our connections," said one participant, "and understand that everyone is a person, everyone is worthy.”

“It’s really opened my eyes to another perspective,” another participant told us.

Massa-Massar’s efforts to facilitate dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian teens — and to encourage them to facilitate similar dialogue in the leadership roles they will take on in the future — will and must expand in 2014.

Gifts from our friends in the Global Giving community will allow us to increase the time span of our programs and workshops; add more of them to our calendar year; and bring in more facilitators and participants. Your gift directly contributes to a more peaceful Middle East.

Permalink

Oct 23, 2013
The Journey youth leadership program

By Bob Fenton | Communication and Development Staff

Youth leadership

The Pluralistic Community Spiritual Center began the year with a community “Iftar” Ramadan Break-fast holding two evening ‘pot-luck’ dinners. One was with music and a singer, and the second, Imad Jabareen who performed a one man show with the poems of Mahmoud Darwish. The event was attending by members of the village and others who came from throughout Israel.

In October the PCSC hosted the first of three meetings between new and old residents of NSWAS with an open discussion of the shared past, present and future together at NSWAS. As the village begins building 34 new units coming together, learning from the past and looking towards the future becomes an important step in building community. .

Massa –Masar (The Journey) youth leadership program of the PCSC will take on a new focus this year developing leadership among Jewish and Arab young adults, 18 years and over. It will include up to 20 young adults from Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salam and others from outside the NSWAS community. The youth will meetings will participate in seminars on subjects such as: techniques of group facilitation; how to tell a story and how to listen to someone else’s story; history of the Israeli-Arab conflict; interpersonal communication skills; etc., and with the help of PCSC staff will work on projects with children and youth, promoting peace and human rights. (complete article at http://wasns.org/spip.php?article1105)

Women’s Dialogue through Religious Text will begin its second year at the PCSC with Jewish and Palestinian women from Ramla, Lod, Gezer, area meeting to explore different spiritual roots of the three religions and engaging in discussion and dialogue. The project, which includes study of texts from the Koran, New Testament and Old Testament, was very successful last year and received a lot of positive feedback from the participants.

The Pluralistic Spiritual Community Center is planning additional interfaith and intercultural dialogue projects that will run throughout the year and hosts weekly programs including dancing organized by Ety Adlend, Yoga to calm and balance the body and mind with Dorit Shippin,

Permalink

Jul 24, 2013
Young Leadership Seminar for Peace

By Dafna Karta Schwartz | Diector

‹ 1 ... 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.