Elana Haviv speaking at the exhibition launch at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Spring of 2022 was fast-moving and invigorating, and now Summer has begun! As the world opens, we have been managing our programs and expectations in new ways to adjust to the current reality. In fact, in May I returned from Sarajevo where we launched, Imagine: NextGen Voices Reflect on Peace. Although our curricula has been international throughout the pandemic, this is the first time a representative from GenHR was able to be in-person overseas since 2020. Amidst my travels and adjusting to this new normal, our staff and extraordinary youth interns have propelled us forward. We launched two new curricula; Water Warriors and Imagine: NextGen Voices Reflect on Peace. The multimedia-infused lessons are open source and up on our site. Check them out below.
We also have many upcoming projects to look forward to! I am pleased to share that GenHR, in partnership with The VII Foundation, was asked to create a 50-minute pre-recorded panel discussion for the Special Olympics Global Youth Leadership Summit. We are also about to begin a program for children in a main fire evacuation center in Glorieta, New Mexico. I will share more about these projects in our fall newsletter. Thank you for your support and keeping up with our projects!
Imagine: NextGenVoices Reflect on Peace
GenHR has developed the Imagine: NextGen Voices Reflect on Peace curriculum in collaboration with the VII Foundation which is ready to be used in classrooms around the world today!
The Imagine: NextGen Voices Reflect on Peace curriculum is being developed to bring youth voices focused on personal human rights stories and narratives into the classroom as an open-source curriculum. This multimedia-based curriculum aims to develop and deepen students’ understanding of the complexities of peace through a robust youth-centered curriculum with an emphasis on personal stories and narratives of post-conflict, transitional justice, and peace.
There are two exciting in-person exhibitions that will highlight reflections on peace and engage participants in an interactive space to consider what peace means to them. The first exhibition is being held at the National Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina from April 22nd to July 31st in partnership with The VII Foundation. The second exhibition will be featured at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. from June 2nd to August 1st in partnership with the U.S. Institute of Peace and The VII Foundation.
To access the lesson plans and engage your students in a conversation about peace, visit our curriculum on our website: https://bit.ly/Imaginecurriculum
Water Warriors
We are excited to launch our new Water Warriors curriculum that GenHR wrote in partnership with the Upper Pecos Watershed Association in New Mexico!
Water Warriors is a multimedia-based curriculum that guides students in an exploration of our most valuable resource, WATER, through human rights and Indigenous lenses. The lessons enable students to step into the roles of water warriors (protectors). Students gain an understanding of the vital importance of water as the source and sustenance of life and develop the skill sets needed to investigate water issues in their own communities.
The curriculum includes three modules that combine science, social studies, humanities, human rights, and art to provide students with a profound learning experience about WATER. To access the lesson plans, follow this link: https://bit.ly/WaterWarriorsCurriculum
To receive updates about the curriculum and professional development opportunities, you can sign up here: https://bit.ly/WaterWarriorsSignUp
Gabrielle Leonce
Hi, everyone! My name is Gabrielle Leonce and I am an undergraduate intern at GenHR. I’m from Barbados and I am currently in my final year at The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, studying International Relations with a minor in Gender and Development Studies. I am immensely passionate about international affairs and business, with a particular interest in human rights and diplomacy, as well as public policy, peace, and security. My particular interest in human rights was what led me to GenHR. Their philosophy is one that aligns with my own. As an intern, I was able to not only gain more knowledge of human rights, but I was also able to develop my research and writing skills. I was exposed to numerous GenHR projects, and was able to contribute to the Water Warriors Curriculum, as well as unMASKing: The Pandemic Curriculum.
Shyla Lensing
Hi, my name is Shyla Lensing and I’m a social media intern for GenHR. I live in Northern California and am currently a junior in high school. I have a huge passion for combining social justice with media and education. I use platforms like Instagram and Facebook to further various community endeavors, like encouraging restorative justice in our local schools. I also lead discussions on race in my classrooms and my school’s newspaper. This passion led me to GenHR, where their efforts to encourage kids across the world to adopt a human rights perspective via education illuminated a philosophy of learning that I admire. As a social media intern, I’ve been able to explore a wide range of topics, both within GenHR’s projects—like in a post about GenHR’s work at the Sarajevo Peace Conference where the organization led youth workshops—and my own explorations of various human rights issues, like the climate change crisis.
Since Fall 2021, GenHR has taken on a handful of projects that continue to expand the organization’s scope. GenHR’s 10 high school, undergraduate, and law school interns have been hard at work contributing to these various projects. Thus, we–Gabrielle and Shyla– have conducted interviews with our peers to document and share our first-hand experiences about what it’s been like working with GenHR!
Imagine: Next Gen Voices Reflect on Peace - Gabrielle
Imagine: Next Gen Reflect on Peace is a project being developed to bring youth voices focused on personal human rights stories and narratives into the classroom as an open-source curriculum. This project aims to develop and deepen students’ understanding of the complexities of peace through a robust youth-centered curriculum with an emphasis on personal stories and narratives of post-conflict, transitional justice, and peace. Our fellows Andrea Ayala and Szymon Jezewski began working on the Imagine project when they started their fellowship with GenHR in Summer 2021 and have continued to support this project since then. Andrea is from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. She receivedher bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages with a minor in Human Rights at the University of Puerto Rico. She has begun her law school at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law. Szymon is from Poland, but lived in the UK for three years while he completed his bachelor’s degree in International Relations at King’s College London. He also feels strongly about the human rights situation in Israel and Palestine. Using their extensive experience, the two have been working together and conducting interviews with youth from all over the world to hear their reflections on peace in current or post-conflict settings.
Here’s what Andrea had to say about her experience on this project: “Hearing the youth share their perspectives and reflections on peace has really helped me get a better understanding of the world around me. Many times, we hear about past conflicts, and we discard them as history when in reality, they are still prevalent today. Being able to speak with youth that went through such hardship and explain peace from their own perspective changes the whole concept of the word. I have learned through their reflections how broad the concept of peace is and for me that is the importance of what we’re doing. We are helping students all over the world have a better understanding of what peace truly is and how it compares to our life experiences.”
Szymon also shared his reflection about this project: “Peace is not the absence of war. It does not just appear when the bullets stop flying. Consequences of every conflict are long lasting and destructive forces continue to affect societies for generations. This is why I believe this project is extremely important because it invites us, young people around the world, to reflect on peace and its fragility. To think about the conditions in which peace thrives. To ask ourselves how best to cultivate it.”
GenHR Intern Climate Change Takeover - Shyla
One of my favorite parts so far of helping with GenHR’s social media is the Climate Change Takeover that I have led in partnership with GenHR’s other high school intern, Raisa Deotale. Raisa is a senior from New Jersey who is looking to pursue human rights law when in college and beyond. She said, “GenHR has helped me on my journey in becoming a human rights activist by giving me a platform to speak on issues close to my heart (example: climate change).”
Together, we were able to conduct multiple interviews with various climate change activists, like Sarah Goody. As a youth activist who leads her own organization, ClimateNow, Sarah has encouraged thousands of kids and teens to take action for climate change through protests and education. We also looked at specific case studies related to climate change. Raisa traveled to India over her winter break and took note of the negative environmental impact of pollution.
One of our most powerful interviews for the Climate Change Takeover was with Brophy Toledo, an Indigenous water rights activist from New Mexico. We interviewed him not just for our social media takeover, but to also help support GenHR’s newest educational curriculum: Water Warriors. Here’s Raisa on the impact of Brophy’s interview: “The interview with Brophy really cemented the idea [that climate change has various effects on different communities]. I learned how valuable water is to the Indigenous community and that establishing water as a human right is a necessity. Using Brophy's words to produce a post [on social media] let me apply what I had learned and spread this important message.”
Water Warriors - Shyla
Similar to my experience, another intern, Ian Wilborn, has also been conducting interviews and research in order to support the new Water Warriors curriculum. As a law student at Willamette University in Oregon, Ian hopes to pursue human rights and international law in the future. He finds his research for GenHR to be fun, exciting and flexible, especially when he dove into new topics that connect back to his law school work. Ian’s initial research focused on a deep dive of relevant context and background for the Water Warrior’s curriculum, looking into the history of New Mexico and the Indigenous people that live there. He later explored the various environmental regulations in the mining industry, negative impacts of mining waste, and activism taking place that was developed in an interactive timeline activity.
Ian said: “The research I conducted with GenHR allowed me to gain a more specific understanding of the laws I was learning about in school and to see how they were implemented in New Mexico. Another project I had the opportunity to work on was a timeline of the mining threats to the Pecos River. Building off the previous research, this timeline covered the history of mining threats to the river as well as environmental laws and activism to prevent further environmental damage,” Ian said.
When the final timeline came alive, with the graphics and buttons, Ian was excited to see his hard work brought to life. Ian was also able to conduct an interview with a practicing lawyer in New Mexico, Charles de Saillan for the curriculum.
“My interview with Charles was not only an invaluable resource for my GenHR research but was also a great experience as a law student. To be able to speak with a practicing attorney who is actually doing the work I've been reading and learning about was an amazing opportunity that I am very thankful for,” Ian explained. “The interview with Charles almost felt like a lecture in that he provided me with so much useful information that by the end I had several pages of notes and I still didn't get through all my questions. I was very fortunate that Charles was willing to spend the time to share his knowledge of environmental law and the mining threats facing the Pecos River.”
The Youth Changemaker Project - Shyla
Another exciting endeavor that high school interns at GenHR have been working on is The Youth Changemaker Project. This is an initiative that seeks to highlight the work of teens and youth aged 13-19 who promote positive change in their communities, from a local to global level. Intern Julia Frank, a high school student passionate about both social justice and journalism, worked on interviewing and posting informational slides on GenHR’s Youth Changemaker Project Instagram page.
She’s conducted interviews with young people across the world and sees the direct change that teens are making to their communities. “Through the Youth Changemaker Project, I have gotten the opportunity to speak with really unique and driven individuals which has inspired me to work harder as a Human Rights activist,” Julia said.
Julia also started a social media series about Historical Youth Changemakers that is showcased on Instagram. “It has been so interesting to research some of the young people who have changed the path of history to lead us where we are today. I have gotten to highlight Women’s Rights activists, Anti-Nazi activists, Civil Rights activists, and more.”
Julia worked on the Youth Changemaker Project alongside three other high school interns: Surina Venkat, a high school student from Florida who hopes to work as a civil rights lawyer in the future; Maya Palanki, a high school student from Connecticut who works as a grassroots organizer for the homeless in her community; and Alex Dildine, a student from California with passions for women empowerment and restorative justice. Julia, Surina, Maya, and Alex hope that their pieces for GenHR will allow people to learn from the younger generations’ stories and other issues in the world often ignored as well, while also reaching a larger audience and inspiring people to make change within their communities.
Life Beyond GenHR - Shyla
While we have all been busy with these various projects, we have managed to find time outside of our work with GenHR and other responsibilities to destress, whether it be through our favorite types of food, fun movies to watch, or moments of relaxation. For example, when Andrea is overwhelmed, she enjoys taking moments to breathe and listen to the silence around her, taking in the wind, the birds or the cars. She finds silence to be comforting, allowing her to hear her thoughts and process her emotions more efficiently. Often, Andrea is able to find the source of her stress and release those overwhelming thoughts to focus on what is important. Ian also enjoys the outdoors, and finds hiking and experiencing the outdoors as his main way to relax.
Other interns like to turn to entertainment as ways to de-stress. Raisa recommends finding an engaging TV show to immerse yourself in (her recommendations include Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Patriot Act, and Psych!). Similarly, Shyla finds herself reading contemporary romance novels and other light-hearted books to escape some of the intensity of her work both for GenHR and school. Further, Julia loves eating salt and vinegar chips when she’s stressed or overwhelmed. “They are the perfect flavor combination and so delicious,” Julia said.
With these de-stressors, us interns have found ways to make our work at GenHR more meaningful and focused. The contributions we’ve made to these various projects have allowed us to explore our passions and gain insight from human rights revolutionaries changing our world. GenHR has given us each an opportunity to look deeper into global human rights issues and human rights education, and we hope our projects shine light on new perspectives of peace, climate change, youth changemakers and more.