Now more than ever, collaboration for peace is incredibly important. Imroz Shaw, Play for Peace’s Global Operations Manager, spent time with the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society’s high school youth group while in Chicago last month. Serving approximately 600 people in 2015, the Iraqi Mutual Aid Society serves Middle Eastern refugees and asylum seekers as they transition to life in the US. It provides Case Management for individuals, children and families, and seniors, Education Guidance for adults, and Community Engagement and Empowerment activities. The group's Child and Family Services department is working to develop more youth programming, and when the conversation began, Sarah Gough, Executive Director of Play for Peace, and Imroz knew it was a perfect opportunity.
Imroz attended the high school youth group’s meeting time to host a Practice Peace session. She was able to meet 8 students who were refugees from Iraq. The session began with games like 8-step Shake, Alive & Alert, and the Human Knot with the students and two staff members. Imroz followed the games with an overview of Play for Peace – who we are and what we do and discussed what would need to happen for a club to get started. The students were incredibly interested in bringing the Play for Peace message to their community and working in an elementary school and decided to speak to all of their members to discuss registration and training. The session ended with a Play for Peace ritual. We are so excited to continue to build a relationship with the Iraqi Mutual Aid Organization and hope to organize a Play for Peace module-based training for their youth very soon.
