Imagine the potential.
“He seems lazy. He can’t motivate himself to do his work or remember anything.”
“She has angry outbursts in class and screams at teachers and students.”
“She always seems to have a stomach ache.”
Trauma and toxic stress exposure can wreak havoc in the classroom.
We are Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel whose children learn together in a bilingual kindergarten in Israel.
For over a year, we have been working hard to establish a warm and cohesive environment for young parents that seek to give their children an alternative and multicultural education. Where we live in Israel, this shared society undertaking is rare- and very challenging.
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Many aspects of life in the Holy Land can generate toxic stress for children: the blare of missile alarm systems as rockets hurdle overhead, the pang of hunger in the stomach of a child growing up in poverty, or the sense of unease and fear on the street after a terror attack from a Jewish or Palestinian extremist.
These kinds of stressors, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), affect the day-to-day life of children and their long-term psychosocial development- and put peace farther out of reach.
Today is a historic day. We are announcing the results of our 21-month study of the systemic barriers that prevent children in Israel from accessing trauma-informed education. In our press release below, learn more about our research and platform for peace through trauma-informed education.
When war breaks out, children are the least responsible- but suffer the greatest consequences.
Mukhtar, a former Afghani interpreter to the U.S. State Department
On April 23rd, I received a text message from an old friend, Mukhtar*, my interpreter in Afghanistan. I had stayed in contact with Mukhtar when I left the country in 2014 after five years with the State Department. During my time in Afghanistan, Mukhtar saved not only my life but many other American lives.
In his text, Mukhtar told me that the worst-case scenario had happened. The Taliban knew who he was and were trying to get him. My friend Mukhtar had two small children, his wife was seven months pregnant, and they needed to leave fast.
Dear Friends,
According to the esteemed peace mediator John Paul Lederach, moral imagination is “the capacity to imagine something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to something that does not exist.”
Below is a two-minute video titled “Before the Ceasefire” that captures rare footage from peace rallies organized by two Hebrew/Arabic peace education schools in Israel with whom reGeneration Education partners. They are a testament to the power of people with moral imagination. They can lead the way for us all, even while bombs and missiles are being exchanged, as was the case in the latest round of violence between Hamas and Israel.
