End of Year Newsletter 2021 

Your generosity is what allows us to continue to provide one of a kind work to Arabic speaking refugees, communities, and their relief workers throughout the year. 

As you will read in this letter, we are overjoyed by the successes, requests and changes that have taken place this year, and feel fortunate to share them with you here.

If our work has resonated with you or a loved one, please consider MiA amongst the nonprofits you support through a donation. Any amount makes a difference to the work we are able to provide. 

Yours in gratitude,

Mindfulness in Arabic

Reflecting on yet another transformative year at MiA, we would be remiss if we did not highlight the spectacular shifts that have taken place amongst our network and within our organization. 

From the gravity of world events we adapted, becoming more compromising with our collaborators, creative with our courses and offerings, and adaptive so as to provide interactive experiences for those domestic and abroad, refugee, trauma victim or relief worker. Out of last year's needs we have grown to be proactive and centered.

 It has been both a challenge and a blessing to provide mindfulness to Arabic speaking communities.

Thank you for your continued support and help in making our mission come alive!

Current Facts on Refugee Situation, 2021, and in regards to the pandemic:

•  While safe and effective vaccines can relieve pressures on health systems and save lives, vaccine inequity continues to hit the hardest in many refugee-hosting states; and we know that 86% of refugees are hosted in developing countries (UNHCR, Sep 2021).

• Evidence suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, refugees and migrants have experienced high levels of xenophobia, racism and stigmatization (WHO, 2021).  

• The COVID-19 situation for MENA region of the UNHCR globally is the most underfunded of all situations so far in 2021 (UNHCR, 2021).

Why is Mindfulness important specifically in regards to these details?

Mindfulness can help with the handling of stress, confusion, impermanence, and not knowing what the future will hold. For those faced with these issues, for lengths of time now, the pandemic became an added burden to be juggled and handled by those who already do not belong anywhere; atop of social and pragmatic issues, mentioned above.

Mindfulness adapted to times of crisis might be the basis for beneficial support.

Our expertise is continuing to be sought after!

As word continues to spread about MiA and the unique offerings we are able to provide, initiatives have been established in the Arabic speaking world and the Middle East as a whole. We have better utilized the internet to convey interactive courses online, like the TSM workshop, and made direct connections with Arabic speaking professionals and centers in their native countries. We were surprised and joyful to hear how much MiA’s practices were able to help with the fears and stresses having arisen from the pandemic.

2100+ new people have entered our Online Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness course this year. 

That makes 8800+ Arabic speaking people joining us these last 3 years from 

Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Canada, England, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Palestine/Israel and more- 

See how much traffic our website has drawn from all over the world:

Finding inner peace in the midst of chaos; an exemplar phrase to take into consideration when addressing the impacts that mindfulness can have on one’s life. In a time of so much uncertainty, it has been especially important to nurture a mindset that extends care to one's overall well-being, and manages to lower reactivity.

 Even more so for refugees.

"Recent research has shown evidence to the mechanisms behind Mindfulness based interventions, MBI, pertaining to increasing both psychological and physical health status, while decreasing emotional bias and triggers, as well as, increasing flexibility and perspective in regards to life challenges." 

-Juditta Ben David

What's New at MiA? 

Several New Meditations and Documents have been added to our website as part of our FREE-of-charge 8-week mindfulness course, available in both  Arabic  and  English. The intention of these new meditations is to embed mindfulness into everyday life - walking, eating, body scanning, lying down, and even sleeping. 

Specifically, our MiA original Olive Meditation, which has been designed uniquely for the Middle East region and even offers the important element of humor! The response to all new documents and meditations has been exceptional! We are continuously told they are practical and applicable to everyday life.

** Please keep in mind that we recommend taking careful and moderate steps in your practice, so as to get the most benefit from them **

Disaster Ready

The Online Course for Mindfulness for Stress and Trauma, a collaboration between MiA and DisasterReady, became available on the DisasterReady platform in February, in both Arabic and English. It has been received well from participants, who took the course on their site. Reviewers have called it “precise” and “very supportive.” 

We look forward to more shared content with Disaster Ready.

Our work is done and supported in many ways. We approach the work we do with a mindset of camaraderie and common sense. The articles shared on our website support our vision, adapting mindfulness to trauma and culture.. We are able to do this through collaborations with various people, communities, and businesses to ensure that the mindfulness workshops that we provide, and the tools that go along with them, are well adapted to the cultures and needs that we work with.

Being adaptive, respectful and mindful of said cultures is crucial in our eyes. 

Please feel free to explore the articles shared on our website to learn more. 

Happiness lies not in finding what is missing, but in finding what is present.” 

Tara Brach

To further this point, we have been fortunate to continue to grow our networks in the MENA region:

A new partnership with the Saudi Arabian organization, Embodiment in Arabic, whose methods, practices, and vision are aligned with our own; a community of therapists and coaches inspired to bring more body-oriented wisdom and consciousness to the Arabic world. We were fortunate to be asked by them to be a part of their conference panel, as well as, discussed the future development of a joint workshop to address trauma and the effects on one’s physical and emotional body, let alone thoughts. More so, how trauma can move between generations and even fuel regional violence. We hope to offer simple embodiment practices with the aim of softening these harsh effects experienced. 

Connections to Bahrain and the UAE mental health centers have been formed with the hopes of creating an online course. We had many hopes this year, as most of us, that the state of the world would regain a sense of stability, however, the effects of COVID-19 have delayed progress in the development of our Bahrain course, but a strong relationship is being nurtured, nonetheless. Professionals in both Bahrain and the UAE have needed to focus their attention towards the pandemic, but we have promised to continue our collaboration when the time is appropriate.

The Psychiatrist from the American Embassy in Jordan reached out to seek the creation of a course to be taught to the Embassy’s Arabic staff, along with those specifically working with refugees; as a guide and resilience building support in these stressful times. Again, due to the unfortunate Afghanistan crisis advancements were delayed, but we and our partners have expressed our continued commitments to a shared vision, need and concern. The support offered by the Embassy is of great value to our work in this region.

Image Description: Two women practicing a walking meditation. Taken from Week 2 of MiA’s Course.

MiA’s adaptations

to the stress of the pandemic:

As the word continues to spread about the unique work that MiA leads by demonstration, we are delighted to have been approached by and requested to facilitate instructional trauma sensitive and culturally adapted Mindfulness workshops for professional school advisors, health care supporters, mental and physical practitioners, and social workers in the Galilee and Jordan. Our meditations, uniquely designed to attend to high stress and times of transition, can now serve first responders, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

We hosted an interactive zoom course for professional educators and therapists, mainly from the Arabic population in the Galilee, Druze Muslim and Christian, in Arabic and Hebrew, in March and April. The attendees were all first responders in the mental health and education fields. It is a pleasure to continue to give support to the education and health staff in the Galilee.

More of these workshops will be conducted before the end of the year, while others are already planned for the beginning of the coming year.

Some of these new workshops include:

• A Mindfulness in Arabic course for the social workers of the Arabic Druze village, Hurfeish, severely affected by the pandemic. Offered in December.

• A TSM course for the educational team of Sachneen, a Muslim Arab village in the Galilee. Offered in December.

• A Mindfulness course for first responders and hospital staff at an Embassy. Offered in 2022. 

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.

Jack Kornfield

Feeling inspired to contribute to MiA? Click on the button below to donate!

Wondering how our team is doing? 

Our amazing team of dedicated and inspired volunteers has continued to grow! We have also had a shift in the Program Management and website development teams in the stream of changes. Our volunteers have initiated a beautiful and relevant project: Revamping the MiA website to make it more interactive and accessible. 

We also have a stunning new graphic, compliments of our devoted volunteer, Alba, featured right below, a teaser from our upcoming new website!

Here are some thoughts from the volunteers!

“Volunteering with MiA has given me the opportunity to understand real issues faced by people; people like me and you, people who have similar dreams and ambitions. Nothing makes one happier than to see their little faces lit up with hope for a better future. I am glad to be able to make a difference with MiA.”

-Hamzeh, Intern from East Jerusalem, TAU

“After only a short time being a part of the MiA team, I have already seen and experienced from many sources the impact and need that MiA holds. It is a great pleasure to be a part of the amazing work of this generous and inspirational team.”

-Dylann, Management Team Intern, MASA

We studied and translated into Arabic one of the lectures of the beloved mindfulness educator,

Tara Brach, the focus being on the Traumatized World and how to approach it, and have yet a second one soon. They will be shared with all Arabic counselors and educators that study with MiA! 

Juditta Ben David, our Director, once again offered two highly attended Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) workshops this year, in July and November, available online on demand to healthcare professionals and humanitarians with the aims of encouraging and supporting their work.

Furthermore, Juditta, with the generosity of our supporters Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, graduated from the amazing Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) from Sounds True. A scholarship, based on her work with refugees and the development of MiA, as well as her years of training and commitment in the mindfulness field, was awarded. This accreditation will allow us to further certify the excellence of our materials. 

We look forward to our continued work with Tara and Jack and thank them for their ongoing support of our organization’s vision and mission.

Image Description: Practicing sitting meditation with an olive in hand. Taken from Week 2 of MiA’s Course.

Last but not least: We do need Your Support!

To continue to spread the knowledge and resourcefulness of MiA, we implore you to donate (tax exemptions available in the USA, Europe, & Israel) to our organization, to aid in the support of our work. If you wish to be receive a tax deduction, please reach out to info@mindfulnessinarabic.org to arrange necessary forms.

Donations will be going towards many initiatives taking place, such as, the further development of our 8-week course, answering requests to add children-focused ! mindfulness meditations to our resources, the development of collaborative relationships, and MORE!

We are in need of Volunteers for translation into Arabic and audio editing.

To learn more about MiA, we suggest listening to one of the presentations that MiA's Director, Juditta Ben David, has offered in international conferences where our work was received warmly. You can also watch a recording of one of our on demand webinars! Available on our website for a donation amount. 

Want to host your own webinar or conference? A friends of MiA event?

Juditta can be invited to lecture at yours, as well!

Join our online family by subscribing to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, FaceBook and LinkedIn for continued updates on what is happening within the organization and beyond. Continue to be on the lookout for the updated MiA website, too! 

Feel free to share this newsletter and our fruits with whomever it may benefit ♡

Thank You for thinking of those in need and offering them vital essential skills that can last a whole life time!