Building
Bridges Between People. . .not walls
15 June 2016
"When you
don't live in the community
you don't think of
them as human."
~ O.J.:
Made in America
ESPN-TV documentary (June 2016)
"If I learned
one lesson from my time with the CIA it is this:
Everybody believes
they are the good guy.
The only real way
to disarm your enemy is to listen to them."
~ Amaryllis Fox
Former CIA Counter Terrorism &
Intelligence Officer (10 years)
https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/744058605735649/
"After 9/11
serving as a CIA officer in the Middle East, including
in Iraq's Al Anbar Province in the 'Triangle of Death,'
my main take-away
was an acute awareness of most adversaries'
ignorance about
the lives and humanity of one another.
So back in the
U.S. I founded The Euphrates Institute
to cultivate
informed and engaged global citizens to
lower walls and
build bridges to one another."
~ Janessa Gans Wilder
Former CIA Insurgency Analyst
"Life is best
when you
build bridges
between people, not walls."
~ Billy Crystal - Eulogy for Muhammad
Ali (1942-2016)
TODAY
1.
Building Bridges in the West Among Diverse Muslims & Others
2. Building Bridges in the Midwest By Jews and Muslims Repairing a School
3. Building Hair Boutique Bridges in Haifa
4. Building Many Bridges in Jerusalem
5. Two One-minute Videos
= = 1 = =
Building Bridges in the West
Among Diverse Muslims & Others
Spring 2016
in California, Anwar Abdelsalam, Communications
Director at GRANADA ISLAMIC SCHOOL, reached out seeking local
Jewish-Palestinian Living Room facilitators to offer experiential communication
skills to Muslim students.
The students and faculty wanted to prepare themselves to engage diverse peers
in their larger community.
Abdelsalam wrote seeking for his students
"literacy and understanding of diverse beliefs, and understandings of the
world we live in and the beautiful variety provided in humanity's rich history
of faith."
The two-hour experience in the Mosque for the circle of 68 participants was
personal and profound.
A covered Palestinian teen said after her Dialogue experience:
"Before today I always carried my story inside of me privately and never
told anyone. Today after expressing myself and my family's story and
being listened to, I feel hopeful for the first time in my life."
Participating students with roots in the Middle East, Indian subcontinent,
Asia, Africa and North America repeatedly reported: "Although I've studied
side by side with my partner for years, the day's Dialogue was the first time
we really knew one another."
See PHOTOS and DETAILS of the 2-hour experience for the circle of
68 participants:
Interfaith
Dialogue Training at Granada Islamic School
18 May 2016
http://traubman.igc.org/islamicschooldialogue.pdf
and
https://www.facebook.com/Granada.Islamic.School/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10153454723021541
= = 2 = =
Building Bridges in the Midwest
By Jews and Muslims Repairing a School
Volunteers
from the Michigan Muslim Community Council, the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Detroit and the Detroit community at-large joined forces in March to
help beautify Nolan Elementary-Middle School, one of the many public schools
that has been hit hard by the debt plaguing the Detroit school system.
Its two faiths coming together for one cause, which is helping our students who
are going to be our future, said Sumaiya Ahmed, the
communications director for the Michigan Muslim Community Council.
David Kurtzmann, the executive director of the Jewish
Community Relations Council of Detroit, said, "Its bringing together diverse
communities and shattering a perception that we dont
know each other, that we cant work together.
Muslim
And Jewish Volunteers Unite To Aid A Struggling Detroit School
Its two faiths
coming together for one cause.
Huffington Post -- 04 April
2016
and
https://www.facebook.com/HuffPostReligion/videos/1180487615315840/
= = 3 = =
Building Hair Boutique Bridges in Haifa
Jewish
filmmaker Iris Zaki doesn't remember ever chatting
with her Arab neighbors growing up in Haifa, in spite of the town's reputation
of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs.
But she decided to search for arenas in Haifa where the different groups
intersected, connected through the simple rituals of everyday life.
Zaki discovered and made a documentary film about a
special hair salon called Fifis.
It is owned by two Christian Arab women and and
beloved by Jewish and Arab women alike.
Here she could easily build intimacy with her subjects.
The idea of working for a hairdresser seemed perfect because of the physical
connection with the women and the wide array of clientele that such a place
offers.
Zaki began working at the boutique salon, chatting
with its patrons while washing their hair.
The warmth and safety of Fifis drew women from all
over the city, inspiring friendship, acceptance and respect between Arabs and
Jews.
VIEW her video of this little island of sanity:
The
Shampoo Summit
The New York Times Op-Docs --
24 May 2016
7-min video adapted from the
longer film, WOMEN IN SINK
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/the-shampoo-summit.html
= = 4 = =
Building Many Bridges in Jerusalem
Four days in
April 2016, over 300 Muslim, Jewish, and Christian citizen bridge-builders gathered
at the Jerusalem YMCA to learn from one another and grow closer together.
They were part of 90 Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian relationship-building
groups of the international umbrella Alliance for Middle East Peace -- http://www.allmep.org
Duha Alma, 20, said that the wave of violence has
led some of her Palestinian friends to slam her for meeting her Jewish friends.
They say we are betraying and forgetting our people. But violence is not
getting us anywhere except for more violence and more deaths.
Violence, Alma added, is the easy way. We are taking the long and hard way to
making things better for everyone.
Alma believes their time together permanently alters attitudes and future
decisions affecting one another.
This stuff really matters to peoples lives,"
says Joel Braunold, the executive director of ALLMEP.
Palestinian Huda Abuarquob, ALLMEP
regional director, champions "dialogue that takes us from talking to
walking; dialogue that works toward building real trusting relationships.
See PHOTOS and MORE:
Peace
alliance seeks to move beyond sharing a plate of hummus
With aid of
umbrella network, eclectic group of Palestinian and Israeli NGOs meets to form
a stronger union thats serious about peace-building
Times of Israel -- April 11,
2016
http://www.timesofisrael.com/peace-alliance-seeks-to-move-beyond-sharing-a-plate-of-hummus/
ALLMEP
2016 Community Fair
2-min video
= = 5 = =
Two One-minute Videos
Face-to-face,
people can begin opening up in less than 4 minutes -- with a look, hand,
smile, thoughtful question, and listening.
Look
Beyond Borders
1-min video
https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1069006616522795/
5-min more powerful version
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/05/look-refugees-in-the-eye/
Together,
we're better.
One
Human Family, Food for All
1-min video
- - -
This message is on the Web at http://traubman.igc.org/messages/697.htm
Hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm