In our dreams, we fly

Dear Friends,

Here in Palestine, our kids have many questions. At House of Hope we often hear the following:

• Can you tell God to come down because I want to meet him?
• Do the Jews living next to us love us? 
• Why we are not Muslims? Why are we not Christians? 
• Where is love in the middle of war and separation walls?
• Looking into their young eyes, I feel scared to tell them the truth. To tell them that life is different than they imagine. To tell them that greed, envy, and power ruins humans.

Instead, I tell them another truth about reality: that we need to keep our hearts full of love instead of hate. Hate and anger don’t build a man. They just destroy our happiness and joy. 

One young student once said to me: “No soldiers, no army, no fear, no guns, and no tears. You just fly.” Let’s dream because dreams are the best place to fly. 

Everyone has some pain from the past. We can’t change what happened to us, but we can change our reaction to it. This is what it means to be free.

My family was refugees; today I am a shelter for many. My past was full of pain; today I am a house of joy. Yesterday I fell ten times; today I stand for love and reconciliation.

We live in a global village but our hearts are bigger than the physical distance that separates us. Let’s build a beloved community for our children, so they may dream of the future they want to live in. Let’s be close to them when they need us, and listen to their stories even though we are in pain. Let’s model for them how to care for themselves and those around them- especially by nurturing them to play.  

Today we speak to your radiant, loving hearts and ask for your help to build two new playgrounds for House of Hope. One will be for elementary school students and the other for the kindergarten. Help us reach our goal here:

I bless you with peace and love. 

Salaam, peace, shalom,

Milad Vosgueritchian
Co-founder and Chairman, House of Hope