Creativity for Peace
Santa Fe, NM
Project Location: Israel & West Bank
$20,000 2008
www.creativity for peace.com
2008 Creativity For Peace Site Visit

Creativity for Peace (CFP) is a year round program that brings adolescent girls from Palestine and Israel out of the violence and conflict of their communities into the safe New Mexico countryside for a three week summer program that teaches leadership and communication skills and promotes understanding, trust and reconciliation.

Upon their return home, the girls continue to strengthen coexistence through regularly organized meetings, email, and telephone conferencing. The friendships continue to thrive and grow as they create new relationships that cross religious and cultural boundaries. The girls bring the power of their experiences and fresh perspective into the lives of their families, friends, and communities. CFP seeks to nurture understanding and leadership in these girls so that they aspire to, and take on, significant roles in their families, communities and countries advocating peace. 

Goals of Creativity for Peace include:

• Creating a safe environment where young women suffering from war trauma can feel free to open up and express their thoughts and feelings without harm or judgment.
• Teaching compassionate listening and nonviolent communication skills to participants - skills they can use to help the cause of diplomacy in their countries.
• Fostering the discovery of common bonds between traditional "enemies."
• Encouraging self-confidence, self-expression and collaboration through dialogue, artmaking and other camp programs and activities. 
• Preparing young women for the attacks they are likely to encounter from friends and acquaintances back home. 
• Building a community of peacemakers and a network of support which participants can rely on for the rest of their lives.

Funding from ABSF goes directly to the Middle East Program - an organized, ongoing program in the Middle East for these girls and women after they have returned home, which reinforces leadership and communication skills learned during camp.