a garden of ideas
a garden of ideas Hardwired stresses human rights in the classroom BY WEAM NAMOU In its continuous commitment to end religious oppression, Hardwired is preparing teachers in the Middle East and North Africa to develop school programs on freedom of religion or belief. The goal is to help the next generation build societies where people of all faiths have greater freedom and not live in fear because of who they are and what they believe. Tina Ramirez, the group’s founder, discussed the program in a conference call on June 29. Supported by the British Foreign office along with other funders, it has already been put into effect and has shown positive results, she said. “This is the first such program ever in the Middle East,” said Ramirez. “People came together from all over the world to develop lessons on human rights that they could take back to their countries. Teachers were very interested in it because they want to be able to address these issues with young people but don’t know how.” From March 2015 to March 2016, they trained 60 leaders in Iraq of whom 15 are teachers. Earlier this year, Hardwired brought together 10 teachers from around the world, including Iraq and Israel, representing seven different religious communities in the Middle East so they can teach students in their own countries about freedom of religion and belief. “A couple of teachers who joined us were Yazidis from northern Iraq, who themselves had experienced persecution for their beliefs,” said Ramirez. The two Yazidi men developed an activity where they took a group of displaced students to choose flowers. They told them to pick whichever flowers they wanted but to keep a few yellow flowers. After the students did that, the teachers expressed how the same situation happened to their country when ISIS came and destroyed everyone except the people who believed and looked like them. This activity enabled the teachers and students to discuss issues about their countries and what vision they had for it. The students had the opportunity to then plant their own garden and to go around and learn as much as possible about one another. Throughout the process, one of the young Yazidi boys, who didn’t like Muslims, shared something with the teacher, saying, “I didn’t know that other Muslims had suffered the same way we have.” He had done a project with a Muslim boy and learned that they had both been attacked by ISIS. “We have to get into the core of humanity,” said Ramirez. “By segregating people, they’re not able to see each other as human beings. By transforming their perspectives of one another, that’s what transforms everything as well.” One of the Kurdish representatives, whose regular job is a landscaper, said that the government had given him much land that they did not know what to do with. He said he would provide the program with the land where kids could plant seeds of different ideas and diversity. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work to plant the seeds of freedom.” – TINA RAMIREZ “It’s going to take a lot of hard work to plant the seeds of freedom in that society, but it’s worth it and it would make them feel safer in the future,” Ramirez said. The program has faced various degrees of challenges. Some teachers in Dohuk felt a little timid about sharing these beliefs. One teacher, an atheist, used an approach that ended up costing him his position. “We try to help the teachers walk through the challenges,” Ramirez said. “We want teachers to come out of it with a different perspective than they came in. We actually model stimulation and activity and different techniques for them to use when they’re implementing the teachings so that they have both the background and the methodology.” One teacher started a Freedom of Religion club. Another man, a judge in Mosul whose family was taken captive by ISIS, said, “If everyone went through this training in this country, the whole country would be different.” After ISIS sent him a picture of his brother’s beheading, he became an even stronger advocate than before. “Part of the responsibility is to rewrite history so the lessons in the school will be led by people who experienced that history,” said Ramirez. Among its many works, Hardwired is also trying to amend Article 26, a law the Iraqi Parliament passed last year that forces Christian children to become Muslims if the male parent converts to Islam or if their Christian mother marries a Muslim. Hardwired’s efforts are not restricted to other countries. They will be going to San Diego to work with Iraqi Christians to find ways to get them engaged in the program so that they too can make a difference. They are also working with Kathy Ireland, the cofounder of Providence, a Christian school in Santa Barbara, to assimilate some of their programs here in the United States. “This,” Ramirez said, “is something you can do in any country, in any setting.” Learn more at HardwiredGlobal.org. ADMISSIONS continued from page 30 Brand Duct Tape has a contest that challenges students to create prom outfits out of duct tape. Since the amount of work and knowledge required to apply to colleges is challenging for professionals working at it full time, for families the prospect can be daunting. For busy first-generation Americans who either did not attend college or studied in their home countries, outside help can be blessing. Olyai said the biggest challenge facing those doing it on their own is setting aside the time to manage the process. Even when parents attended college in the United States, the admissions process has changed so much during the past few decades that unexpected areas of a student’s life – particularly social media — require management. “It may be helpful in your college scholarship search to have a searchable webpage dedicated to you and your accomplishments,” reported StudentScholarshipSearch.com. But, the website advises, “Make a search of your name online. If you see something that is troublesome, such as a public note about an embarrassing incident, work diligently to get the content removed. For your own site, set your account to private if you have concerns that your pages may be unattractive to others.” Olyai agrees. “Especially important for this generation is that (students) must maintain a social persona that is respectful,” she said. “They have to remove any inappropriate, immature material from their personal accounts and maintain a professional online profile.” With the cost of higher education having undergone double-digit increases in recent years, competition for scholarship money is stiff. 40 CHALDEAN NEWS AUGUST 2016
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