What are you doing?

What am I doing?
Working with the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) in Amman, Jordan in collaboration with local organizations and doing a lot with Iraqi refugees. AVP is a non-violent communication model started in prisons in the US, now active across the U.S., in many prisons and may countries internationally. Some social service provider non-profits in Amman have asked for AVP training for staff and clients. I, and other folks with AVP experience, are going to help with the trainings and to try and translate the concepts of AVP (with their Western foundations) into something relevant and useful in the Middle East. We'll be training staff at the organizations and clients, youth aged 12-18.
I'm trying to bring a lot to the trainers around self care in this whole process. We'll be having silence together in the mornings. I want to also bring in some other things like yoga and dance.
I'll be doing research that turns into an independent study for school. There's some research I'll help with that's engaging with the difference in understanding of non-violence in the West (which has a fair bit of white stuff and capitalism stuff in it) and non-violence in the Middle East. I'm going to look at how these trainings impact community, community building, and trauma recovery. Is it helping, is it relevant? Are we really working collaboratively?
What else am I doing?
A lot of writing and photography. Some hiking. Some visiting of old friends. Thinking about and hopefully making some new connections with folks about what comes out of this in future years.
What next?
I come back in August, and plan to rest. I've got some notions about how this connects with work that's happening with returned soldiers. I've been avoiding stuff with returned soldiers for a while and that's finally shifting.
What am I doing with this blog?
We'll see. I'm going to write about what I'm thinking and what comes up.