Question of the Month: Top Hightlights for the Work?

The year 2015 was another busy one with many presentations. A total of 152 days on the road, which was a few less days than in 2014 when I was on the road 177 days of the year. Of course most of these presentations are very memorable especially the ones in front of students. I reached over 15,000 students and the same amount of adults in my work during 2015. In this week I write this, I will be in front of 1,500 middle school students.

• The memorable events that standout is the work I do in the federal prisons of Leavenworth (near Kansas City), Milan (near Detroit) and Petersburg (near Richmond). I speak to federal offenders who are going to be paroled in the next three years as part of a faith-based program called LCP – Life Connection Program. Here I do 3 things – (1) viscerally explain the impact of crime on victims; (2) Teach them how to go back in the world and redeem themselves and (3) Teach them how to meditate. These are very powerful sessions with many tears, and I too cry all the way back to the airport. These programs work – while the recidivism rate in the adult prison population is 66.66% the rate drops down to less than 11% for the inmates who graduate from LCP. Pretty phenomenal.
• Each year I present to about 75 high schools students at a summer event organized by Hands of Peace. A brilliant organization. Twenty-five are selected from Israel, 25 are selected from Palestine and the other 25 are Americans. This too is a powerful session where the students – our future leaders – learn the principles of nonviolence, empathy, compassion, forgiveness and peace making. Similarly I spoke to 30 worldwide college students selected from over 800 applicants from all of the countries at USD – a program organized by the Hansen Institute.
• For the first time I presented my Train-the-trainer 2.5 day Forgiveness workshop in London. It was again a powerful session where all the participants experienced a breakthrough as is evidenced by the letter written by one of the participants to her mother (See below). A follow-up workshop next year in London is being planned. In March I did a similar workshop in Hawaii with the same outcome. I will be facilitating a workshop in Hawaii in March of 2016. Don’t you love the venues?
• TKF celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club to a packed audience. It was an inspiring evening and was supported by many of TKF’s donors and supporters. Here is a link to a 4-minute video done specially for the 20th anniversary celebration: https://youtu.be/kAnkY8M5Wic.
• There were many other keynotes during the year, notably the PTA Conference, the Trauma Informed Care and Organizational Wellness Conference, and the California Institution for Women in Chino Hills.

While it takes a lot of effort and energy I am truly grateful for this work! It is very fulfilling and meaningful. To this extent I honor and salute my son Tariq who put me in this work. Thank you Tariq – I love you dearly!