Newsletter Peace Power October 2021

In this newsletter I announce the next Erasmus+ training course, share about the last meeting of Changing the Game and WOMAN, two two-year projects we're part of, as well as a webinar I did and an online course I will do. Finally, I also point you to the fact that the Peaceful Earth Games has been updated and some tips to learn more about the cries for peace in Afghanistan.

Embracing Conflict and Diversity - Follow-up Skills Practice

In the summer of 2020 twentyfour youth workers participated in the training called Embracing Conflict and Diversity and they appreciated the course so much that they asked for a follow-up training. I gathered their signatures and applied for this, with success. So in March 2022 the same group will come together again in Greece to practice some skills better and expand their toolbox from the last training.
We may have a few spots available for those who cannot make it, so keep an eye on the next News Letter when this will be more clear.
For now, we celebrate the fact that we can actually do another training for the same group, since it's not easy to integrate all the skills in one's daily life after one week and this additional training will certainly support them in doing so. It's also really great to work with such a motivated group and Marcus and are already looking forward to work with them/you again!

Feeling nostalgic or curious? Watch again the two videos on the YouTube Channel: Learning Outcomes and Overview of the week.

Changing the game Developing a culture of peace in organisations

If you've been reading the newsletters, you've heard about this project before. We had our first physical meeting from the 12-15th of May in Greece to dive into the Culture of Peace (CoP) and the second meeting was from the 10th to 13th of August in Latvia, focusing on game desing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to join myself (see the end of the newsletter), so I had several online check-ins with the group and our volunteer Esmat was there in person.
The team discussed basic elements of games and gamification and discovered different types of players. Playing different board games we learnt about various dynamics and mechanics. They brainstormed how these ideas could be used for a game promoting the Culutre of Peace and started building prototypes and trying them out.

For posts on the event and the Culture of Peace check our Facebook page
Below a cool poster that was made during the event.

WOMAN - Working on Mastering Adult Nonviolence
This two year project started in 2020, was paused and for several months due to Covid 19 (after the kick-off meeting and a training in Spain) and was resumed recently. From 12th to 14th of October 2021, the partner organisation Petit Pas organised a 3 day working meeting bringing more clarity on gender based violence and gender awareness in general and the situation in Italy and specifically Southern Italy, where they are located. Also partner countries from the UK,Spain, Poland and of course the Netherlands shared their perspectives. Evelina and Ennio participated with their organisation Burgundy Productions/WordUp, as well as representing SVAG (Foundation for Active Nonviolence). Among the activities was a visit to Anti-violence and Anti-Stalking Center SAVE and OASI2 and NGO working on counteracting discrimination and exclusion in the labbour market and society in general.

You can read a short report on the Peace Power website.

Webinar for the International Day for Peace (21/9)
On the 21st of September I did a webinar to honour the International Day for Peace. In this webinar you'll learn about international peace day, a culture of peace and the Two Hands of Nonviolence. You can watch it here.

Upcoming: Online Course Engaging Nonviolence

The Social School for Cultural Change is hosting my eight week online course that will familiarize participants with the overall contents of the Engaging Nonviolence Study Program which provides the basics of principled and strategic nonviolence and will foster personal growth, healthy relationships and work for world peace.

Engaging Nonviolence aims to engage you in active nonviolence through various exercises and group discussions. In this course there will be no lectures or long texts, but there are many models and ideas for participants to reflect on, explore, experiment with and practice. The course exists of eight zoom sessions. It will start in the beginning of January, times and exact dates still to be announced in the next Newsletter or on Facebook.

Noah's Challenge
The Peaceful Earth Game has a new name! And a few new features too! Do you want to challenge yourself to make a positive contribution to our planet? Noah’s Challenge provides you with 9 missions on which you can take action. You will learn about different topics and will feel empowered by taking action on them. Interested? Then check out this game and sign up with your friends.

From other organisations: Peace & Afghanistan
For those of you older than let's say 25, you will probably remember Nine Eleven 2001 when the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in NYC were hit by airplanes and fell down. The Taliban was accused of the attack, prisoners were kept in Guantanamo Bay, outside of International Law and the USA started a war with Afghanistan. This year that was 20 years ago, and also this year the USA decided to finally withdraw their military troops, after which the Taliban took over the country.
Naturally there was thus a lot of attention for Afghanistan and I wanted to highlight two programs.
Kathy Kelly is a long-term American activist who visited Afghanistan more than 30 times, and the Metta Center interviewed her on their Nonviolence Radio program. A very interesting concept that is discussed in the interview in Moral Injury, about which there is also another episode. Also keep your eye on YES!Magazine where Michael Nagler will share an article about it.
Secondly, the Dutch television broadcasted two episodes called "My 9/11", where they interviewed people from the USA and Afghanistan. Through this I learned about the organisation 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, that gave an important counter voice to the war mongering Bush at the time, and continues to do this in the country with the worlds biggest military force. Elizabeth Miller shared how she bagged the president in a letter to bring back the soldiers from Afghanistan, because she didn't want others to loose their father, like she did. Later she did Middle Eastern Studies and joined Peaceful Tomorrows. In Afghanistan they also interviewed people who want peace: one man was spreading flyers with a call for peace with a small self-made air-plane, and another man set-up a circus for children. Amongst the interviewees was also a man who was detained in Guantanamo Bay for 12 years and found innocent, trying to pick-up his life again after this big trauma.
The Dutch NGO Vrouwen voor duurzame vrede (women for sustainable peace) hosted an event about Afghanistan on the 4th of October together with NAHID, an organisation based in The Netherlands for Afghan women.

On a personal note
Some of you may have already noticed: I became a mother! My daughter Zoi was born on the 5th of August. We call her Zoi, but she actually has three names: Zoi, Paschalina Irini, which mean Life Resurrection Peace. In other words: we hope she will be a life resurrecting peace.
Although I'm totally in love with both her heart and cute little face, I prefer to share pictures of her only personally, so here is just a little piece of her in the sling in which I carry her.
I have been trying to have a maternity leave - trying because I still had and have some work to do. Yet, from the beginning of January I intend to slowly get back to a normal workload, starting with the online course and starting with the preparations of the first (offline) training course in March, the first training I'll do as a mom.