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HH Sheikha Intisar Al Sabah with father Talal Hashem, President of USEK, Dr. Lena Gebran, Head of Performing Arts programs at USEK
Intisar Foundation has pledged to expand the pool of qualified drama therapists in the Middle East by providing scholarships for female Arab students at USEK.
The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), a private university in Mount Lebanon, has honoured HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah and Intisar Foundation by naming an experiential space at USEK – “Intisar Foundation Experimental Space.”
Group photo with USEK students
The ceremony was on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at USEK.
The honour is awarded in recognition of HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah’s support to the University and her humanitarian and philanthropic work in the fields of education through positive psychology, women’s self-empowerment, and bottom-up Peacebuilding, both in the Arab world and globally.
“I am glad that USEK has recognised the significance of the Intisar Foundation’s innovative approach to Peacebuilding by developing a culturally informed psychological support programme of drama therapy – and implementing it in Arabic, by Arabs, and in line with our Arab culture and customs,” said HH Sheikha Intisar at the ceremony.
“While we can hear about our Arab women being empowered and breaking glass ceilings in certain parts of our Arab world, in other Arab regions and countries, we have hundreds of Arab women still suffering in the darkness of traumas of war and violence, poverty, refugee status, and a lack of educational, financial, professional, as well as mental health support.
“This is where you, our students, with the unique knowledge and experience that you will gain in this experiential space, come into the picture. I am certain that your future expertise and skills will drive not only innovation in the fields of mental health support and Peacebuilding in the Arab world, but that you will be the main drivers of our future social progress.”
HH Sheikha Intisar Al Sabah with father Talal Hashem, President of USEK.
In 2020, HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah and Father Talal Hashem, President of USEK, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on nurturing the talent of Arab drama therapists. As part of the agreement, Intisar Foundation financially supported the enrollment of 15 outstanding female Arab students into USEK’s master’s curriculum in drama therapy in the Arabic language in the fall of 2020.
HH Sheikha Intisar’s Intisar Foundation is the first charitable organisation to provide drama therapy sessions to women traumatised by war and violence in the Arab world.
Officially registered as a humanitarian organisation in the UK, Intisar Foundation has been hailed for developing and introducing an innovative and scientifically-proven approach to the field of bottom-up Peacebuilding by enabling the psychological recovery and self-empowerment of women traumatised by war and violence.
Furthermore, HH Sheikha Intisar has launched the One Million Arab Women initiative, a 30-year plan to alleviate psychological trauma in one million Arab women.
Intisar Foundation has also published a number of research papers in reputed international journals which confirm the qualitative and quantitative impact of drama therapy on vulnerable populations.
To learn more about HH Sheikha Intisar AlSabah, please visit her website HERE.
For more than a month, we are witnessing how international humanitarian law fails to protect Palestinian mothers and children.
Day after day, we have been lamenting and denouncing new acts of violence that brought injustice and the bemoaning loss of innocent lives in Gaza.
And yet, Palestinians in Gaza still face new perils with every next hour.
In writing this letter to the world as a demand for action to end this suffering, I join millions of others who have condemned the continued Israeli aggression and call for an immediate ceasefire.
We at Intisar Foundation also invite you to join us in working on preventing this trauma to linger and gnaw through another generation of Palestinians, and Arabs in general.
The mission of Intisar Foundation is to bring Peace to the Arab world through the psychological recovery of Arab women traumatised by war and violence, which can result in the women stopping the continued cycle of violence inflicted on or by them.
In this way, our work helps Arab homes traumatised by violence become more Peaceful again.
The ripple effect of this outcome can be that Peace flowcharts from one Arab home to another, from one Arab community to another, reaching and affecting our whole region.
In its very essence, therefore, Intisar Foundation’s work has always been about breaking the chains of trans-generational trauma.
While I salute people around the world confronting this injustice – from the world’s best universities, influencers, civil society activists and organisations, to ordinary people taking to streets and social media to raise their voices for Peace – I am now certain that we will not resolve the Palestinian crisis only with ceasefires, humanitarian aid, or rebuilding their homes and neighbourhoods.
We need to recover and protect the souls of current and future generations of Palestinians, and all Arabs, from this trauma.
To that end, Intisar Foundation is committed to turning this terrible man-made tragedy into a healing woman-led victory for Palestine, for humanity!
Intisar AlSabah
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