How AZAHAR makes a difference in the world
Within any population we teach, young leaders are identified and supported with professional training to become positive models of change within their communities. Through the conflict resolution and peace-building techniques of Yoga and the Arts, the escalating cycle of violence in conflict and post-conflict settings can be broken and recovery and rehabilitation can begin.
- Yoga, meditation and the arts helps people to heal from trauma caused by violent conflict or transgenerational trauma.
- Young people plunged into poverty as a result of violent conflict are given access to possibilities they ignored or that did not seem available to them.
- They receive an education that is founded in strong ethical values, and that promotes physical and mental health, self-confidence.
- They can learn a profession that is dignified and that they love, instead of having to work in a garment factory or prostituting themselves.
- In the peace village, conscious effort will be made to humanize and find common ground with designated enemies.
Why Yoga / Meditation?Yoga and meditation help people to release tension and traumas that are lodged in the body, unknowingly. They boost the immune system through exercising the body and giving it more suppleness, strength and radiance, thus elevating one’s self-esteem. Yoga works deeply on the organs, the endocrine system and increases cardio-vascular health and lung capacity. The effects on the parasympathetic nervous system allow for relaxation, and the release of dopamine positively affects mental and emotional states.
The meditation practice allows for the awareness of mental and emotional tendencies and for non-reactiveness to these impulses. The strong ethical values of yoga are designed to build a more peaceful, more compassionate and more noble human being. |
Why Arts ?Arts are the result of a creative process. A person who deeply engages with their creativity is less likely to involve themselves with destructive behavior. The arts are an appreciation of beauty, which helps to elevate oneself from the ruins of poverty, war and violence. Most importantly, the arts are an expression of cultural identity, much of which has been destroyed by colonization, war and genocide. Both in Cambodia and Rwanda artists were among the first to be executed. Reawakening traditional cultural, as well as spiritual traditions greatly contributes to the healing, grounding and reconstruction of a culture or a nation.
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ProgramsTIER 1: OUTREACH
FREE FOOD & YOGA/ARTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS Exposes young people to different disciplines, so they can awaken hidden talents and be shown pathways towards vocational development in these fields.
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TIER 2: EXPOSURE
PEACE CAMP
PEACE CURRICULUM
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TIER 3: PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
LOCAL PROGRAMS
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
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