Nadi: Youth Group
The Nadi provides ongoing social engagement for Palestinian and Jewish youth who graduate from the Village’s Primary School into more traditional monolingual, mononational middle and high schools in the region. Through a range of extracurricular activities and volunteer opportunities, the Nadi facilitates meaningful interpersonal connections and instills a shared sense of social justice and responsibility.
Activities
The Nadi sponsors artmaking workshops, cooking classes, a theater program, peer dialogues, leadership trainings, opportunities for volunteering, and more.
Serving youth from the Village and from surrounding communities, Nadi activities often center on the events and challenges of daily life. An encounter with racism in led one member to organize an antiracism dialogue for his high school peers. Participants in the theater program explore complex questions about ethics and justice through their own lenses while honing writing, acting, and production skills. The Nadi Youth Leadership Program empowers young adults to continue the dialogue of coexistence beyond the Village, preparing the next generation for lives of leadership and and activism in Israel and beyond. And each summer, Nadi youth work with Artsbridge, a consultancy for students in the performing and visual arts, participating in facilitated dialogue sessions and collaborative art projects with students from the U.S. and elsewhere.
Impact
In Israel, youth groups for Arabs and Jews are segregated and monolingual. The Nadi is an alternative model, helping to develop young people who:
Have a deep and nuanced understanding of the history and context of Palestinian-Jewish relations
Are emissaries of peace, passionately resisting segregation and living the values of equality and empathy
Are active volunteers and participants in humanitarian and social justice initiatives inside and outside of the village
Possess the leadership skills needed to forge a peaceful Israel and a peaceful world
