Developing a network of dialogue programmes run in high schools along the northern East Coast that aim to develop empathy and a more worldly perspective

Naissa

The US is increasingly becoming a place of discord and division, with opposite sides not knowing how to speak with each other and engage in civil discourse. Naissa is developing a network of dialogue programmes run in high schools along the northern East Coast that aim to develop empathy and a more worldly perspective.

“I don’t care for forming a consensus with one or two sides, but for everyone to have the ability to create empathy and execute it in their lives simply because they listened to someone else’s story.”

 

Naissa is the daughter of a hard-working single mother who brought her three children to the US from Rwanda, seeking political asylum. That gave her great understanding and awareness to do some sort of work around injustice for humanity.

Naissa is a full-time college student majoring in International Studies and the co-founder of CivilTEA Discourse, a network of dialogue programmes run in public high schools. She founded CivilTEA along with her sister Pricillia, a 2016 Seed.

 

Seeds of Peace GATHER

 

Photo credit: Stina Svanberg

 

GATHER Fellow

Naissa is part of the 2019 GATHER Fellowship, SE Forum's partnership with Seeds of Peace.