May we continue to hope for something beyond us.... Inspired by the stories and work of Carole and Khitam we invite you to support their work. All money collected will be divided between the two projects.

Support Project: Belfast Breathe - Carole Kane

A program in Belfast, Northern Ireland that will develop and creatively respond to a piece of poetry/prose written by peace builder, Prof John Paul Lederach. The general theme of Breathe was a key note speech written and delivered by John Paul at the Four Corners Festival '21, based in Belfast. His presentation moved between prose and poetry and considered Breathe as a verb. It lands in the city of Belfast and touches on areas of the US, considering our shared breath, the power of breath and even the loss of breath particularly in the days of challenge to the likes of Covid-19, race definition, etc.

With direct permission from the author the poetry will be engaged with community groups in Belfast. The words will be responded to by a small group of artist/peace builders, who would in turn work with the community groups across the traditional divides of the city of Belfast. The end goal is the creation of a collection of work (across creative techniques of word, visual, movement, film, etc) that translates words and phrases from Breathe from the perspective of those living in Belfast. The collection will quite emergent, responsive and organic. With the artmaking process leading to an end result (rather than the other way around), the approach in the project will be an alternative way of working for all involved. It will have been produced by participants from community groups across the city as well as the artist/facilitators.

The hope is that the artmaking process would bring fresh perspectives to conflict transformation and peacebuilding in these days and place. It will also form a pathway that could be followed by others in other contexts.

Support Project: Mobile Expressing Therapies Program in Palestine - Dr. Khitam Edelbi

The Mobile Expressive Therapies initiative aims to provide opportunities for people living under protracted crises and military occupation to learn new ways to cope with stress, fear, deprivation and grief to enhance their resiliency. This initiative provides expressive therapies for children, at-risk teenagers, parents, teachers and counselors in the most impoverished communities in Palestine. Many in these communities are hard-to-reach places and are severely impacted by military checkpoints and the Separation Wall, hence the use of mobile arts to make expressive therapies accessible. Services range from experiential workshops with many different activities and materials (music, clay, drama, dance, etc.), to comprehensive teacher training. Children learn creative ways to express difficult emotions, mothers learn new ways to guide and comfort troubled children, and teachers learn how to incorporate expressive activities in their daily lesson plans.

The program has reached most of Palestine, from Jerusalem and the West Bank, to the Galilee in the north and the Negev in the south. Since the program began in 2013 until 2019, approximately 3000 children, 350 teachers, 180 counselors and many parents and other volunteers have participated. Moreover, it is also now supporting the development of ongoing women’s groups in Bedouin villages, where one village is living under the threat of mass expulsion under the threat of demolition. The program is working to empower the village to stay together as a community after being up-rooted.

Hope Xchange 2022: Featured Projects

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