Projects in the West Bank (Palestine)
Hope Flowers School
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Sounds of Change provided on site training courses to a team of teachers and therapists at the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem.
The teachers and therapists at Hope Flowers School are currently under great pressure. They have seen the demand for help from the surrounding community increase enormously. But the staff themselves also suffer from stress, trauma and uncertainty due to the war in Gaza and the increasing violence in the West Bank.
The school has asked Sounds of Change to support their teachers and therapists with training in trauma-sensitive support and the use of art and music for trauma. Additionally we will be offering guidance with intervision and encouraging the staff to call on their vast experience to gain insight into the shared problems they’re facing.
Along with our colleagues from Trauma International and Safe & Sound (the same group with whom we are supporting aid workers in Ukraine for almost two years now) we started an online training program in January 2024 and will continue to support the team of teachers for the rest of the year.
The Hope Flowers school has pioneered peace education with children for over 30 years, with the teachers integrating pedagogical insights and peace-building techniques into their valuable work. This includes dealing with difficult situations and frustrations, expressing your thoughts and feelings, group discussions and decision making, working together and listening to each other.
In the West Bank, Hope Flowers is unique in the field of specialist education. The school has specialist staff and rooms equipped for guiding children who cannot participate in regular education; for example due to autism, learning and behavioural problems or a physical disability. The school also involves parents and the broader community in its work; for example providing information to young mothers and family therapy.
Read more about our (previous) work in the West Bank in the newsletters below
Newsletters
