DOTTIE INDYKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
For 35 years Dottie’s work has focused on nonprofit management, media, and the arts. Most recently she was president of her own communications firm, specializing in marketing, public relations, and planning for nonprofits. For a decade she was a freelance journalist and art critic for national, regional, and local publications.
Dottie was founder and director of Children’s Radio Theatre, a children’s radio drama production company whose programs were broadcast on 150 National Public Radio stations across the country and were the recipient of numerous honors, including a Peabody Award and National Education Association Award. She was vice-president of programming for the National Cable Television Association and the volunteer coordinator for the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife. She has served as a trustee of the University of Georgia’s George Foster Peabody Awards, AID & Comfort of New Mexico, and Fine Arts for Children and Teens, among others. Dottie was the first president of Creativity for Peace.
ANAEL HARPAZ, DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM
Anael Harpaz grew up in South Africa during Apartheid. Her father, an ardent Zionist born in Palestine in 1927, frequently spoke of returning home. At 15, Anael visited Israel and took part in an ulpan program run by the Jewish day school she attended. She was caught up in the atmosphere of triumph and pride and determined to return to Israel to become a soldier. After finishing high school she and her family moved to Israel. She learned Hebrew, studied to be a kindergarten teacher, served in the army, and married a pilot in the Israeli air force.
Anael raised three wonderful children. The death of her fourth infant sparked a long spiritual journey that continues to this day. In the early 1990s, during the first Intifada in the Palestinian town of Nablus, she encountered the suffering of the ‘other’ for the first time. It has taken years of spiritual seeking, studying many healing modalities, and becoming a spiritual healer before she found her life’s work at Creativity for Peace, where she facilitates compassionate dialogue and directs the organization’s Middle East program, along with Silvia Margia. She is part of two Arab/Jewish women’s groups, Beyond Words and Woman of Vision, and participates in many interfaith gatherings. Anael is a poet and has written a manuscript entitled Pieces to Peace.
SILVI MARGIA, DIRECTOR, YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM
Silvi Margia was born and raised in Dimona, a Jewish city in southern Israel. It was here that she developed a deep connection and knowledge of the Jewish Israeli culture. After high school, she moved up north where she deeply connected to her own Arab culture, of which she is very proud.
She feels her mission today is to be a bridge between the two cultures. Silvi states, “I have the understanding that the existence of one part should not be a threat to the existence of the other part. The existence of these two parts enriches and empowers everyone.”
Silvi is completing her Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies in Art Therapy and is writing her thesis, “From Trauma to Growth in Arab Women”. She is a social worker who primarily counsels widowed Arab women. Most of her professional and volunteer work is with women and teenage girls based on her belief that the strengthening of women’s voices will quicken the peace process in this world.
She is a certified facilitator for Beyond Words, a dialogue group of Arab and Jewish women in the Galilee. Silvi is the mother of two wonderful kids, Johnny and Aya.
VALERIE CARPENTER, DIRECTOR OF ART PROGRAM
Valerie Carpenter is an artist, teacher, art therapist, and peacemaker. She holds a BA in Art Education and a MA in Art Therapy. In 1999 she won the International Art Contest held in Anguilla, British West Indies. The winning painting is now housed in the National Collection of Anguilla and was used to create a collector’s set of postage stamps. Valerie has created and taught many community art programs and served various institutions in leadership roles.
Valerie believes that through the creative process, self-expression and self-exploration, a common language is created that transcends words and differences and offers a pathway to tolerance, respect, and peace. Her work with Creativity for Peace is the most fulfilling of her career.
RACHEL KAUFMAN, FOUNDER
Rachel Kaufman has 40 years experience as psychotherapist, educator, and social activist. She co-founded Creativity for Peace in 2003 out of a realization that it only takes one person to change history.
She has a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Psychology and has worked as a teacher of special education, and a clinical and school associate psychologist.
In 1987, Rachel and husband Rick Phillips created the Deva Foundation with the philosophy that expansion of self-awareness can aid people in reaching their full potential. She has trained over 100 facilitators from 11 countries in this transpersonal psychology work. Rachel has conducted workshops and lectures throughout the world.
Rachel began traveling to Israel and Palestine in 1973. During the Gulf War, as the Scud missiles were landing, she led dialogues on managing fear. She has worked with Palestinian and Israeli peace groups throughout the years. She conducted video histories of Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg’s “Shoah” project and co-produced and wrote a documentary on the Holocaust that is used in American high schools and universities. The mother of two grown sons, Rachel spends her free time scuba diving, reading, cooking, and hiking in her native New Mexico
YOUNG LEADERS
Hazar Masri (2004 camper), Palestinian living in Israel
Ameera Radwan Said (2005), Palestinian living in Palestine
Manar Mahameed (2005), Palestinian living in Israel
Feiruz Abadi (2005), Palestinian living in Israel
Sivan Kedem (2005), Jewish Israeli
Adi Goldshtein (2005), Jewish Israeli
Shoshan Zahor (2005), Jewish Israeli
Noy Kochva (2005), Jewish Israeli
Noam Uzrad, (2005), Jewish Israeli
Baraa Darawshe (2006), Palestinian living in Israel
Rawan Khatib (2006), Palestinian living in Israel
Jwana Ghaleb (2006), Palestinian living in Palestine
Diana Frajiah (2006), Palestinian living in Palestine
Khadrah Jasser, (2006), Palestinian living in Palestine
Majd Malhem (2006), Palestinian living in Palestine
Liat Epstein (2006), Jewish Israeli
Ayala Dangour (2006), Jewish Israeli
Maya Hochstadter (2006), Jewish Israeli
Sapir Bar Yaar (2006), Jewish Israeli
Aya Basheer (2006), Palestinian living in Israel