The Lighthouse Project
“ At some time, often when we least expect it, we all have to face overwhelming challenges. When the unthinkable happens, the lighthouse is hope. Once we find it, we must cling to it with absolute determination. When we have hope, we discover powers within ourselves we may have never known “
Why are we doing this?
The failure to achieve freedom and peace in the Middle East region has led a group of activists, artists, and creative thinkers from the region to come together to co-create a peace research and learning center in a location that will be accessible and safe to all.
The center will engage in addressing challenges such as Systemic and structural violence, racism, privilege, and cultural suppression; the effects of inherited fear and trauma on individual and collective decision-making processes and the manipulation of fear to gain power; violence in and between genders especially towards women and the LGBTQ+ community; the negation of spirituality as a source of our human connectedness and the granting of religious fundamentalism space to grow; the disconnect from nature and its wisdom, especially the indigenous teachings of how we used to connect with and honor nature and its elements, capitalism, and its greed and fear-based approach to resources, etc.
Initiated by both accomplished and newly emerging peace and justice activists, artists, researchers, and free/creative thinkers; The Lighthouse has emerged as a new vision for researching, creating, engaging in, and practicing a model of peace that addresses these foundational dynamics that lead to violence. By creating a safe space where these issues are addressed directly we will be able to engage in a process that will present both alternatives and a model for regional holistic peace and justice that will manifest itself on the political, social, economic, ecological, and cultural levels.
In addition to the center; people living, working, and volunteering in The Lighthouse will form an ongoing community that will embody full egalitarian values.
Overview
Welcome to The Lighthouse Project: The creation of a center that will offer and host programs that aspire to research and create a model culture of peace.
This will include things such as education, cross-cultural engagement, retreats, and peace studies; catering to the Middle East North Africa (MENA), and the world. The center will be a place where others will visit to engage in personal healing and transformation, learn new tools and methodologies, rejuvenate themselves when burned out, and simply find space and time to retreat and reconnect with their calling. It will be a place where peace organizations or individuals who align with our values will have space to use the facilities for their own programs and activities.
In addition, the Lighthouse will include an ongoing living community for passionate people to come together for the sake of creating a new model for the MENA region; challenging the status quo of the reality in the region, and creating new approaches and solutions to the pressing issues mentioned above.
Knowing that during these times such a space cannot exist in the MENA, mainly due to different identity groups not being able to live together in the region. We are seeking to create The Lighthouse in nature where we can build an eco-friendly, self-sustaining center and community… It will also be nearby (Mediterranean area) to allow activists and visitors from the region to visit and for those who live in The Lighthouse to easily return to the region to share, engage, hold training, and educate others.
Innovation - The Lighthouse aims to become a model for the region.
The Lighthouse will be inspired by the “whole system approach” that seeks to create sustainable change and create a model of a diverse community based on permaculture, sustainable ecosystems, community living, environmental awareness, art, and culture. For example, as part of our holistic vision, we will host educational programs where participants will take part in implementing eco-friendly solutions for energy use as well as building and maintaining the facilities required for a self-sustaining permaculture food production system.
While there are existing and emerging intentional communities that are creating global models, The Lighthouse aims to become a model for our region. It will not disconnect from the conflicts and violence of the region, it is created to address them. It will be founded on open communal practices that will exemplify a reality of openness, inclusion, and collaboration that will be an inspiration to those who come from the MENA region honoring the deep heritage of the area and being a model to what it can become.
The Lighthouse is the inspiration for what the future of the Middle East and North Africa will look like.
Our Mission.
Offer safe spaces for people from the SWANA region who are seeking to be engaged in social change in the region.
Maintain a dynamic incubator for direct democracy and citizen participation in a mixed-environment working community model. The community of The Lighthouse will participate in facilitating activities, management, building, and food production.
Host year-round programs for community development, leadership skills, sustainability, and peacebuilding.
Create a long-term impact through an active alumni program that creates cross-sector collaboration and supports them through grassroots grants.
Programs
In a region characterized by authoritarianism, limited public discourse, and undermined self-agency, there is a necessity to inspire locals about the potential of a more open society and tangible steps to form it. Thus, our programs aim to empower local voices, develop leadership skills, and enforce a sense of entrepreneurship.
Furthermore, as the region experiences the rapid process of desertification and water shortages that lead to migration and urbanization, there is a requirement to educate on the climate crisis while acquiring knowledge relevant to forming more sustainable living. This highlights the importance of communal living, localization, and the foundations of sustainability which will be the foundations of our ongoing work.
Therefore, we aim for three trajectories of involvement: Artivism, Regeneration, and Social Entrepreneurship.
Artivism
Despite the shrinking spaces of free public discourse and the rise of authoritarianism, art still maintains its potential to point to atrocities and inspire a better future. Furthermore, art and culture are spaces that have the potential to bring people from across the region together and to become a platform for developing and delivering common regional messages. Thus, throughout our work, we will focus on art and culture and their potential to impact and shape the political reality. In the framework of “Artivism”, we will bring in a series of retreat artists together and highlight their important role in bringing change.
Art Jam - Participants from all around the SWANA region are invited for a week-long program where they can participate in workshops from leading artists, exchange knowledge, use the in-house professional workshops and rehearsal rooms to build a concert which they will play for the local community at the last evening.
Artist Workshops and Mentorships - In order to develop and strengthen the quality, we aim to offer artist workshops with central and key artists from the region. This will enable the development of skills, learning from previous experiences, and mentorship.
Artist residency - Artists will be invited to live and create within The Lighthouse for a period of 3 months. Open calls will be sent to all those who are interested in coming for a period of site-specific creation. Once in the residency, the artists will work within the community and showcase their projects in an exhibition at the end of their period. They will be provided with housing, studio space, and a budget for their project.
Environment & Sustainability
As the region experiences a rapid process of desertification and will face a growing climate-related crisis, it is of high importance to promote the values of not just sustainability but regenerating our ecosystem throughout the region. Therefore, our different components will be designed according to these important values. Both intangible and concrete values as zero waste and the use of renewable resources and more holistic principles of regenerative development as localization, community living, and inclusion, our different components will model a more sustainable and furthermore regenerative reality for the region.
Community life - As we believe this is a key to more sustainable living, this will be the core of our work. Through all components, we will promote the values of open communication, group circles, sharing, inclusion, and dialogue.
Practical Sustainability & Regeneration course - This is a four-week practical training program in hands-on sustainable and regenerative engineering, systems design, and cooperative living. We’ll be learning about designing, building, and running regenerative projects while linking together ecological, social, economic, and cultural aspects into a unified whole. We’ll develop skills through hands-on work in our environmental education center, organic gardens, and alternative/natural building projects.
Environmental education - This semester-long course will focus on a historical overview of different cultural approaches to environmental education. During the semester, we will examine various methods of learning and teaching about the environment and connections with education and the community.
Entrepreneurship and Self-Agency
In order to impact the communities in the region beyond our circle of participants, we wish to acquire the skills necessary for maintaining professional careers.
Social Entrepreneurship - In order to expand our circles of impact and to empower the participants to become agents of change, we will offer entrepreneurship components through workshops focusing on design thinking and ideation, program development and management, fundraising, and impact evaluation.
Emergency Skills - As part of the course, participants learn emergency