BOLD IDEAS!: "A Conversation with Nadine Atwi - Thursday, June 10 @ 5:30pm

BOLD IDEAS!: "A Conversation with Nadine Atwi - Thursday, June 10 @ 5:30pm

CALUMET AND STONG COLLEGES invite you to attend BOLD IDEAS!:

Bold Ideas serves as a platform for citizens, activists and leaders to share their personal, career and life experiences and challenges with the community, and how they negotiated their life paths around these challenges. Non-conformists are welcome.

We believe in the power of ideas, actions and experiences. We believe that humans are catalysts for a better world. We believe each experience is unique and can elevate the consciousness of others.

Bold Ideas is where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. It is where extraordinary people share extraordinary ideas that challenge our perspectives of what is possible, what is not possible and what is certain.

Please join us at our upcoming Bold Ideas session:

Session Title: "Storytelling: What does it mean to be a survivor of war?"

Presenter: Nadine Atwi, M.Ed - Published writer, Poet, Adult Educator, Instructor at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies

Session Summary: As a survivor of the Lebanese civil war, I still recall horrible childhood memories of the war; the smells, the sounds, and the indescribable fear that casted a shadow over my life for fifteen long years. I have watched my house being destroyed, my father being kidnaped and my frightened mother trying to flee with her young daughters to safety. The same experiences were part of my life again as a mother, trying to protect my children from blood thirsty combatants who use to be neighbours and friends. Yet, all these painful experiences that scarred my life and the lives of thousands other Lebanese, seemed to be non-existent in the official History curriculum. At times, it seemed as if we did not exist, as if war were nothing but a Myth. Topics related to the war were regarded as taboos, thus triggering students’ curiosity to discover what really happened during the civil war. The official narrative about the civil war could be summarized in three simple words: Victims should forget.

As a teacher, I had to find ways to challenge the existing narrative and cultivate students’ critical capacity. Through Storytelling, I presented my students with stories of the people, of their losses, their struggles, and their pain that is often framed under “collateral damage”. Through storytelling, I invited my students to recognize that the civil war is a shared legacy; this was my bold choice to bring them together amidst the heated sectarian confrontation.

Date/Time: Thurs, June 10th @ 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Zoom Meeting ID: 944 5409 8265

Presenter's Bio:
Born and raised in a war-torn city, Beirut, Nadine's whole life was framed within insecurity and uncertainty. As a survivor, She endeavored to give voice to those whose lives have been impacted by fear and insecurity, and tell their stories to the whole world.

Nadine has always been passionate about storytelling as a powerful tool of education and bringing people together as they learn how similar our stories are, and how those stories connect us all in one historical timeline.

As an educator, she realized she had a platform to make a difference and help enact change in the Lebanese society emerging out of war. To promote peacebuilding in the absence of a history curriculum about the fifteen years of civil war in Lebanon, Nadine strived to teach her students about their painful past, through storytelling.

To learn more about Nadine Atwi, visit her website: https://www.nadineatwi.com/

Registration is free. Advanced registration is mandatory to get Zoom password.