Envisioning a peaceful and inclusive Jammu and Kashmir
Practicing personal and community peace
-Simran Kour-
The commitment to building peace is a commitment to practicing peace internally and externally. As we seek to enrich our personal lives and find ways to connect with and serve others, we find ourselves moving from self care to collective care and back again. We are grateful for the examples of so many peace leaders that teach us the beauty of following that inner voice that encourages compassionate living and humble service. Simran Kour is a young peace leader from Jammu, India who demonstrates this beautifully in her own life practice of peace. We met Simran in the 2021 Peace Practice Alliance and have been following her journey ever since.
Simran grew up with a desire for inner peace and a heart to serve those she saw suffering. Growing up in Jammu and Kashmir, Simran was a first hand witness to conflict and divisiveness. Amidst this regional history of conflict, “peacebuilding is not a well-known field of work and its relevance is continuously questioned.” This did not dim her desire. Simran sought out opportunities to learn and nourish her desire to evolve at the personal level and serve at community level.
In 2017 Simran attended a 5-day residential training program on peacebuilding. She was awe-inspired, wondering the whole time, ‘Why didn't they teach us this in school?’ This training was the jumping off point for Simran’s journey as a peacebuilder. After the training, she began volunteering with an NGO to help channel her deep desire to help others. Her work involved engaging with her community, mainly lending her ear and heart to listen. “Listening made me realize that I was not alone. It helped me get out of ‘victim consciousness.’ It inspired me to work together with people in the community for the higher and collective good of all.”
The store room in Simran’s home transformed into an inviting and safe space for the weekly gatherings hosted by Eqra.
Peacebuilding became part of who Simran is, not just what she is doing. She has found ways to incorporate empathy, compassionate listening, and service in everything she does from interpersonal relationships, to volunteering, to her studies. In 2020 this led Simran and a group of friends to launch Rahao, now called Eqra, a nonprofit that envisions a peaceful and inclusive Jammu and Kashmir where youth are not prone to politicisation of identities and radicalisation. This vision is realized through unique initiatives grounded in peace education and focused on the mental health of young people.
One example of this work started in her own neighborhood. In her teenage years, Simran and her cousin knew children from underprivileged backgrounds in their neighborhood. They were mostly children of migrant laborers who had been victims of child labour, child marriage, and sexual abuse. “We knew kids who witnessed domestic violence in their house. We always wanted to do something about it.” The seed to help was planted and Simran and her cousin continued to nurture ideas for ways they could make a difference.
A few years later Simran participated in a 12 month fellowship - “Youth Engagement in Leadership and Action,” a joint initiative of LEAD India and the American Embassy. At the conclusion of the fellowship she received a mini-grant that she and her cousin used to create a mental health program to support the children from her neighborhood. Originally it was designed to be a one time event, but the kids' reactions and sharings were so inspiring that Simran and her cousin decided to commit to making this an on-going offering. “My friends and I pooled money for resource materials, refreshments, and consultation fees for a mental health professional. We cleaned, decorated and completely transformed a store room in my house and began our weekly sessions there.”
“Every Saturday, Eqra’s team of volunteers, including a clinical psychologist, get together to check-in with the kids, providing them a safe space to FEEL, to SHARE, to BE!!! We let them know that they are not alone.” For children needing additional special attention, the psychologist holds one-on-one sessions.
Simran and her team understand that in order to sustain these initiatives, Eqra needs to determine assets within their community and engage the local population as stakeholders in this necessary work. One way they have succeeded in this area is through the use of social media. Simran explained, “...leveraging the power of social media enabled more people to come forward to support us. Some sponsored refreshments and some donated stationery. We were delighted when a friend connected me to a clinical psychologist who wanted to volunteer with us. Our stress of raising donations for consultation fees was gone. The overwhelming support we received motivated us even more.”
Eqra has also worked in the fields of peace education and religious pluralism, but has decided to dedicate their resources to focusing on the weekly mental health sessions for young people and new initiatives to work in schools. The team is growing their resources locally so the local population can have a stake in their projects - something that helps secure the future of their efforts.Taking time to pause, to reflect, to invest in community relationships is built into Eqra’s approach to caring for the collective well-being of the organization. This collective care integrates with Simran’s commitment to practice self-care at the personal level as well.
We must grow and integrate our practice of self-care and collective care to bridge service and needs.
Simran acknowledges the challenges of the work she is dedicating her life to and understands her ability to maintain personal peace practices is necessary for this work to flourish. “For me, peace outside is a manifestation of peace inside. And I always strive to recognise and work for my personal peace and my interpersonal relationships…as in not violating my own boundaries while working for peace in the community. Breath check-in in the morning and at 2 PM, and gratitude journaling at night, are my daily rituals. I think that if I am not fully present with and value what I have then no matter how much more I have, I will still feel something is missing.” The capacity to care and serve grows side-by-side with compassionate self-care. This integrated practice has sustained Simran and the mission of Eqra and will continue to do so.
We must grow and integrate our practice of self-care and collective care to bridge service and needs. Simran shared, “You never know how many people have the desire to contribute in your community. Your initiative, no matter the size, can act as a link between those in need and those willing to serve or give.” Community provides us with a mirror to reflect and grow to our full potential. As we commit to nurturing ourselves and engaging with community, we live into our ability to practice peace in more impactful ways.