Sharing Heart Across Borders
It is inspiring to witness the impact that compassionate individuals can have on humanity. HeartMath recently partnered with Reaching Across Borders, a USA-based non-profit organization working in Lebanon and other countries around the world. The goal was to help them develop heart-based psychosocial support programs for children, teens and caregivers. Their mission is to promote the protection, mental health well-being and economic empowerment of vulnerable individuals and communities globally. Through education, support, research, and advocacy, they help promote improved human rights, gender equality, and human dignity.
Co-founded by Raiza Kolia and Ernst Mucke, Reaching Across Borders has developed three separate ten-week group programs to assist Syrian and Palestinian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese in building emotional awareness and resilience to improve their mental health. In 2023, they served over 1,800 beneficiaries from over 1,100 families, with women and girls making up 64% of the total.
Reaching Across Borders was the first non-profit in the area to include a much-needed mental health component as part of their services for displaced people in crisis.
Because of their great success, Reaching Across Borders has been noticed by the Lebanese government and is broadening their impact. The Ministry of Education in Lebanon has approved the implementation of their children’s program in all 436 public schools in the Bekaa Valley. This will be a monumental achievement as this will be the first sanctioned emotional learning program for children in Lebanon.
A group of refugee parents practicing HeartMath.
One parent commented: "These sessions gave me time to pay attention to myself, to love myself more, to give and present to my family with balance, and to fulfill my duties towards them with love, without neglecting myself."
Western Cameroon
In partnership with other non-profits who are serving vulnerable populations, Reaching Across Borders has collaborated with Luena and Action for Change to pilot the same children’s program in Western Cameroon with school-aged children who have been orphaned by the civil war.
As a grassroots organization, Raiza and her team trained ten local Cameroonian psychologists who delivered the program to 90 children over the spring and are now planning for a fall session. Both the psychologists and the students reported excitement about the new skills they learned and the immediate benefits they’re experiencing.
The Impact of Dr. Majd Kamalmaz
The heart-based psychosocial support programs developed by Reaching Across Borders were inspired by the profound impact of Dr. Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychologist who was trained in HeartMath and was dedicated to humanitarian work for adults and children.
Dr. Kamalmaz moved to Lebanon, where he opened two centers in the Bekaa Valley and Arsal, delivering emotional support to traumatized Syrian refugees. In 2017, during a trip to Syria to visit his family, Dr. Kamalmaz was detained by officials without cause. Without his leadership, his programs could not be sustained. Fortunately, Raiza was one of the individuals impacted by his work and was eager to continue his humanitarian cause.
Raiza contacted the HeartMath® Institute about her intention to include HeartMath in her mental health programs, and received support and guidance to create the programs that are now being delivered in Lebanon and Cameroon.
HeartMath recently learned of Dr. Kamalmaz’s death, which occurred during his detainment. Although he is no longer with us, his impact continues through those he trained and the hearts he touched, who continue to carry out the compassionate work he started.
To learn more about Reaching Across Borders, please visit their website: www.ReachingAcrossBorders.org.