Moderator: Judy Kuriansky, NGO representative of the International
Association of Applied Psychology and the World Council for Psychotherapy;
Executive Committee member, Committee on Mental Health; Adjunct
Professor, Columbia University Teachers College; columnist, New York Daily News
and China Trends Health Magazine
Speakers:
Shahid Rashid – Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Sloan
School of Management and MEET (the
Middle
East
Education through Technology)
Luke Taylor – Stamford University and the Pachamama Alliance for Indigenous
People
Raechel Rosen, Creation
band
Warren Rosen – Vice Chairman of the We
are Family Foundation
Sponsored by the International Association of Applied
Psychology
Co-Sponsors: The NGO Committee on Mental Health, The International
Association of Schools of Social Work, Light Millennium Inc, the World Council
of Psychotherapy, and the International Psychoanalytic Association
Description and Outcome:
The session began with an ancient ritual from native peoples in Central,
South and North America: smudging by burning
sacred herbs. The moderator,
Judy Kuriansky, explained that this
conference was about model programs that youth are working on, towards the goal
of peace and community resilience by creating partnerships between educational
institutions, civil society and business.
She introduced herself and the other speakers. She then introduced her former student,
Russell Daisey, who played keyboards
and sang an original song called Towers of Light. This song was written by
Dr. Judy and Russell after the attacks on the World Trade Center, to help the community heal.
The first speaker, Shahid Rashid, a graduate student at
MIT, explained how he and his organization help heal the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. His organization teaches
both Palestinian and Israeli high school students computer skills and business
tools, and in doing so, the young people learn tolerance and friendship. Major
companies donate the computers, local schools host the program, and MIT sends
faculty, resulting in a partnership on various levels. In the three-year
program, the students learn Java, build teamwork skills and make long-term
connections they need to make it in the business world. They also get two years
to implement those skills by working with NGOs. They even work with real business from
the area, which could lead to jobs after the program.
Dr. Judy invited the audience to
ask questions. Several people spoke
enthusiastically about the MEET program wanting more details, since they were
interested in bringing a similar model to their country.
Luke Taylor is a college freshman
who spoke about his work with a group of Native Americans deep in the Amazon who
have come out of their isolation to request protection for their rainforest. His
program teaches them sustainability and also personal skills for
self-transformation. He asked the group in attendance how they felt about youth
and then shared his definition of youth and asked that the young people present
take action.
Raechel Rosen is a 13 year old student
who is in a band called Creation with several of her classmates since the fifth
grade. When she was in sixth grade,
her dad and she met the founders of the NGO, the “We are Family” foundation that
among other projects works with the NGO
Building with Books, to build schools
in Africa. Raechel and her band decided that
they wanted to do something to benefit other kids in the world who were less
advantaged and to spread tolerance.
They decided to do benefit concerts and raised $100,000 to build a school
in Mali, Africa and to send
10 inner city kids to Africa to build the
school. Her father, Warren
Rosen, an insurance
entrepreneur and Vice Chairman on the board of the We Are Family Foundation,
described how the project got started and the partnerships among various NGOs
and other parties that were formed in order for it to get done.
Two discussants presented projects also involving youth, and partnerships
between NGOs, educational institutions, and businesses. Victoria Kan, recent graduate of MIT and a current graduate student at
Harvard
University, talked about
youth projects she has participated in as a volunteer of the Tzu Chi Foundation,
A DPI/NGO at the UN. The
organization has 40 years of history that began in Taiwan, and does
projects involving charity, medicine, education, and humanistic culture. Latoya Connor further talked about
programs fusing business, education
and healthcare. She described her
fellowship for the Edward Ziegler Center in Child Development and Social
Policy at Yale and her research in technology-based vocational training in
Suriname, South America, her work in youth activism and social justice including
culturally competent therapy for HIV+ youth
and their families and advances in HIV/AIDS prevention in Uganda Africa, which
is having success with its new ABC+ program. Dr. Judy talked
about her recent discussions with the Uganda Minister of State for Health
and now Vice Chairman, Mike Mukula, about this ABC+
program’s effectiveness as a model for other African
countries.
Each participant
provided a hand-out describing their program in a way that other NGOs could
initiate similar programs.
The workshop closed with a prayer flag ceremony for peace with
Deborah from the World Peace Prayer
Society. Audience members were
invited to take a flag representing a country from around the world, and to come
to the center of the room and announce a prayer for partnerships for peace in
that country, in order to highlight the overall topic and intention of the
workshop. Participants said, “May there be partnerships for peace in [the
country].” The group then in unison made a pronouncement for partnerships for
peace.
The workshop was filmed by several video groups, including by the Global
Youth Connect, who plan to produce a documentary about the conference.
The participants were all pleased
with the workshop and reported making valuable connections. Shahid Rashid of MEET reported
receiving “insightful feedback on both our instructional model and our
growth plans” and added that “The general enthusiasm for our initiative from the
group was very inspiring as well.”
The audience and other panelists were very interested in MEET’s new
initiative to undertake is an evaluation of the applicability of their model and
curriculum in other locales, both for bridging cultural divides and in
empowering less-privileged youth, and made valuable contacts for guidance and/or
collaboration. The Rosens made valuable
connections with people who were interested in Rachael’s band and the work of the We Are Family
Foundation.
The audience was very
engaged throughout the workshop. Audience members called the workshop “a huge
success” “the most stimulating workshop ever” “highly unique in putting together
creative elements” and “useful as well as exciting and informative.” Many people expressed great
appreciation for the panelists and mentioned that this was an exceptionally
interesting workshop, with a very uniquely creative approach that was
interesting and stimulating and accomplished the goals of demonstrating new
models of partnerships and even creating new possibilities of partnerships.
