Winnipeggers teach anger management course to Palestinians

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This article was published 15/08/2023 (1146 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For people living in the Palestinian territories, anger and frustration are daily experiences. That’s why two Winnipeggers went there in late July to teach a course on conflict-resolution skills.

Karen Ridd, who teaches conflict resolution studies at Canadian Mennonite University, and Izzy Hawamda, a teacher at Maples Collegiate and an instructor at CMU visited An-Najah University in Nablus in the West Bank.

The goal was to teach the 22 students who signed up for the course about ways to deal with their anger, both internally and inter-personally, and to help others manage their frustrations with daily living under occupation.

“Everyone deals with anger and frustration there,” said Hawamda, who is originally from Nablus and spent time in the city this summer. “There are so many forms of anger in the Palestinian context. It sits in the Palestinian fabric.”

This includes frustration at being stopped at checkpoints, being subject to random searches and interrogations, having restrictions put on movement, dealing with high unemployment, and the regular threat of violence.

Through the workshop, Ridd and Hawamda helped students deal with anger through storytelling.

“We wanted to help them see through their stories that they are resilient and have strength,” said Hawamda. “Yes, they are occupied, they are stopped at checkpoints, they have to deal with armed intrusions, but they are still there, they are still smiling.”

For Ridd, it was about giving the students tools for living in “a pressure cooker.” In such a situation, the “first thing to do is manage their own anger, then help others get control of their anger,” she said.

Examples of conflict the students wanted help dealing with included with neighbours, friends, family members and employers.

“We looked at how they could resolve disagreements and misunderstandings, and also how to deal with one’s own anger productively,” she said, adding well-managed anger and conflict can “be a driver for changing things.”

While it was hard for Ridd to imagine living under such difficult circumstances, she noted Palestinians still find ways to cope.

“I repeatedly saw joy, laughter and a curiosity for learning, generosity and graciousness,” she said of her time there.

For Hawamda, the workshop was a way to provide a “fresh, outside perspective,” a “new window to look at their stories in the context of the occupation,” and to give them tools to “live as normally as possible in a situation that is abnormal, traumatic and limiting.”

Along with CMU, the course was supported by Winnipeg’s Mediation Services.

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