草莓社区

Three women working in peacebuilding will be honored during a special 聽in Washington D.C. The Sept. 16 event at Busboys and Poets is co-sponsored by 草莓社区鈥檚 .

The honorees are , Nobel Peace Prize winner and EMU graduate; , a聽Peabody Award-winning social entrepreneur and media producer; and , the聽executive director at , an organization dedicated to increasing media coverage and聽support for Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders working for peace.

鈥淭he dinner will celebrate and honor women who have made long-lasting impacts in the global community, while raising scholarship funds for promising female scholars to attend graduate聽school at CJP,鈥� said founder .

To reserve your seat or donate to the fundraiser, click .

Since 2010, nearly 400 girls and women from the Middle East have been supported by the聽organization to continue their education in the region or abroad. This will be the first graduate-level scholarship.

Recipients are chosen for their academic achievements, but also for their dedication to聽improving the lives of girls and young women in the Middle East.

鈥淲e鈥檙e are excited by the possibilities of working with Daughters for Life to expand graduate聽school opportunities for women peacebuilders of the Middle East,鈥� said CJP Executive Director聽, who spent six years with his wife, Cindy, as Mennonite Central Committee鈥檚 representative for Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine/Israel. 鈥淥ur combines academic rigor with a true appreciation for the skills,聽knowledge and experience that each student brings from their native context, and we look聽forward to learning from the significant gifts of Daughters for Life scholars.鈥�

CJP has strong ties to the Middle East, with current grant-funded projects in Iraq, a host of聽alumni from the region, and frequent faculty and staff travels for trainings in the region.

CJP has 603 graduates working in 78 countries, as well as thousands of participants who have attended peacebuilding and trauma trainings. The center offers a master’s degree in conflict transformation and in .

The partnership has its roots in a 2014 visit to EMU by Abuelaish, a prominent physician who聽wrote the memoir 聽about his life, the tragedy that befell his family, and his vision for a聽peaceful future between Israelis and Palestinians.

In 2009, he lost three daughters to an Israeli bombing. Now associate professor at the at the University of Toronto, Abuelaish began the Daughters for聽Life Foundation to empower young women to continue their education.

Abuelaish has won numerous awards for his peace activism, and has been nominated three聽times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

鈥淭he Daughters for Life Foundation is proud to be playing an important role in supporting the education聽of women in the Middle East,鈥� said Abuelaish, 鈥渁nd we are honored to have Eastern Mennonite join us聽in our transformative mission to foster peace through education. Establishing a just, safe, healthy and聽peaceful world is only possible if we ensure that women are educated and able to fully participate in and聽contribute to their communities and the world.鈥�

To make a reservation for the gala event or to donate to the fundraiser, please visit the .