In March of 2022 Pedro and I graduated our first 10 women through our Peace making through art Penta life class. Our goal is to graduate 1,000 peacemakers in the next 10 years.The cost per person for our class is $500 which is made possible through generous partners like yourself. Once graduated we are given permission to be an instructor and use our materials. Here is a Testimony of one of our graduates, this was shared live at our 1st Penta life class graduation!!
“When I first signed up for this class I was like, great another conflict resolution class, I was already in the middle of another one. We didn't understand what it was about what was going on, especially their teaching style.. That's the charm of this class. I'm going to tell you what this class is like: We go in, we introduce ourselves and then he (Mr. Moreno) puts a song on. Not just any song. He plays a song in a foreign language. Music is hard. We are supposed to listen to this song and try to catch some catch phrases, maybe some words that we understand and we are supposed to write them down and share. The worst part was that we didn't know each other, so I am like, “oh no now I've got to share!!” What I thought it was and what if it's not even that. Then we shared it and he said “okay.” And I was like “wait”!! What were the words? And he said, “I don't know what they were saying.” It was in Arabic and we could not even guess what language it was!! And then they just moved on!! And I was like, I don't know about that but it gave me a good conversation with my daughter on the phone! I don't know what goofy thing I am in, but I am there! So we were laughing.
So we are now in the next class. What I want you to understand is that this class isn't about 1,2,3 or a +b = c, or this is what you need to do. It's not one of those classes. Listen to the music…. So we are in class and we are discussing it! They aren't telling us we are discussing and are asking us questions such as what makes a good listener? Are you a good listener? What are some good/bad characteristics of a listener? And if we aren't quite getting it, we always have Ms. Rael says something like, “could it be body language?” She kind-of guides us and helps us along. So they are never really teaching, they are just suggesting. You know yall that as grown ups or even as kids you know that we don't like people telling us what to do. They make you experience it and teach it. So the whole time and it took me another week because they never explained it to us but they made us practice active listening before they even taught about active listening. So it made a whole circle but no one ever said remember that song. And that's what you have to do the whole time and it makes it so much more personable and it's a lesson I will never forget because I learned it almost one my own but they directed, facilitate the learning. And then the artwork that they used and I am just amazed in the way that they teach. And they open up the floor and say this is a safe place. Tell me what you are going through…. I really hope that you get to go experience it yourself.
We hope that this testimony is as encouraging as it is to our hearts. This woman has now become one of the 3 instructors for our 2nd Penta life class!! Will you join our community of peace and help us reach the 990 more graduates that we desire to reach?
Rael and Pedro
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