This week we celebrated the successful completion of our first Healers of Tomorrow program!  I am so blessed to have learned from these youth this spring.  We had ten exciting sessions.  Based on the feedback survey from our students we learned:

• Hands down, the favorite activity was the visit to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
• When asked what type of a healer they would like to become, we got answers such as "kid's nurse," "veterinarian" and "I want to be the ones that reach out to people and does research."
• My favorite responses for What did you learn from this program were: "I learned that not everyone has clean water," "I learned how to work together," "Respect different health fields" and "I learned how many different things I can do to help."
• Regarding what we could do different next time, they let us know "more field trips" and "more time" were needed!  

I appreciated these student's participation and curiosity and I hope that this experience will help them grow as youth leaders.  We are planning on using the summer months to plan the program for the next school year, so I hope you don't miss my blog posts too much in the meantime!

Peace,

Dr. Malik 

One of the major learning goals of our Healers of Tomorrow program is to grow our definition of health and healing.  On May 13 our youth visited Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium to learn about wildlife and veterinary medicine.  The animals were active when we arrived right at zoo opening time! We especially got up close and personal with a polar bear and a peacock.  We were able to see how animal's lives affect human lives through the ecosystem we share and the many gifts that animals give to us.  Keep scrolling to see more from our adventure!

On April 29 our Healers of Tomorrow visited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  This visitor's center is a beautiful homage to giving and also an interactive learning experience.  Education, Poverty, and Global Health are the three focus areas of the foundation.  Our students were able to understand and relate to the importance of these these principles through their faith which also emphasizes seeking knowledge and addressing poverty and inequity with continuous charity.

We saw real examples of innovations that save lives, and learned about what it really takes to build trust and work together to get success in problem solving and building a healthier future.

The Healers loved the tour but their favorite part was at the end when they got to build some of their own designs and ideas for the future.  Please scroll through the pictures to see what they did :)

In Peace and Health,
Dr. Malik

On April 22 our Healers toured the Group Health Rainier Medical Center.  Our guide, Dr. Michael Madwed, has been a family medicine faculty physician and adolescent medicine advocate for almost 30 years.  Our Healers were so excited for this experience that they stayed two hours after school in order to attend.  

We learned some key points from touring the clinic:

• The practice of medicine takes a team approach.  It's important to have a clinic design that allows the front desk, nurses, medical assistants, and physicians to communicate and work together.
  
• Many of our students have served as interpreters for their family during medical visits.  We discussed that for reasons such as privacy and accuracy it is important to have medical interpreters available.
• A family doctor sees many different types of patients!  We saw spaces for physical exams, procedures, and a triage area for very sick patients that may need to go to the hospital.  Patients at this clinic can also have Xrays and lab tests.

We thank Dr. Madwed for sharing his time and knowledge!  Exploring our community and learning from the advocates and elders around us is a key part of developing a vision for what role we can play as future leaders.  

In Peace and Health,
Dr. Malik

With all the flowers in bloom, it seems unfair not to give credit where it's due - to all our wonderful bee friends!

Our 4/8 session emphasized the importance of "Bee-ing Curious" about the world around us! Bees are magnificent creatures, and we attempted to tackle the 2000-yr old conundrum of why bees create hexagonal cells in their hives.

We learned about bee anatomy and their importance in pollinating our crops. We know that without bees, our cherished food and flowers would not be available to us.


Collaboration and teaching each other is key for bee and human survival, and our Healer Challenge activity involved building "hives" with strips of paper. The requirements were to 

1. build uniform hexagonal cells
2. attach the cells to one another
3. same colors could not touch each other

Our last meeting for the month took place on March 25.  Our special guest speaker, Sarah Hassaine, is a management consultant and certified in nutrition and personal training.  She got the conversation started with our Healers about healthful eating and exercise.  Key points from their conversation:

• What does it take to turn knowledge about healthy living into action?
• How do our surroundings affect our choices?  What does it mean to have a soda machine in our school?

These are really challenging topics we will continue to talk about in the coming weeks with our Healers!  We hope this will be one of the issues the students tackle with our youth grants.  We are still fundraising for our youth grants, please donate to help us reach our goal!  Our long-term vision is that next semester's program can focus on youth-led projects for improving the health of our community.  

We also want to use this opportunity to challenge each other with healthy goal setting.  I love this guide from Seattle Children's Hospital:

I've challenged myself this month to be active once a day.  Here's a great video that puts this challenge into perspective!

Please stay tuned for our April activities.  We have some really exciting field trips planned!  Opportunities for amplifying the strengths and beauties in our community are all around us.  

In Peace and Health,
Dr. Malik

This weekend we participated in a circle of healing.  Muslim health professionals came from our community to share knowledge and guidance with our youth leaders.  

Some pearls from our discussion:

• Brother Ali Adem, Health Equity Liaison at Seattle Children's Hospital, shared that much of his success has come from honoring the values of faith, family, and education.
• Sister Amal Mohamed RN and Brother Feras Rabbi PharmD both shared stories of how discussing their faith with their co-workers helped to create a supportive environment of cultural competency.
  
• Brother Ahmad Bayomy MD emphasized that although the road to becoming a surgeon can be long, if you pursue your passion then you will enjoy your training.

We have gratitude that our professionals and youth sat in a circle as equals-- leaders and partners in healing their community.

The next meeting of Healers of Tomorrow will be on March 25, with a special guest lecturer.  We are also looking forward to exciting field trips in April.  

If you are interested in supporting us you can:

• Design a learning activity or field trip for our youth-- our program is booked for this semester but we are starting to plan for the Fall.
• Donate to our youth-led project grants fund; we are not yet at our goal. 
• Foster an environment of loving service in your own way! 

In Health and Peace,
Dr. Malik

We were ready to "spring forward" this month with exciting activities.  Today we visited Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands.  Our lovely hosts Alexandria, Courtney, and Sophie of Seattle Tilth gave us a tour of the local ecosystem.

Thank you to our tour guide Alexandria for helping us to begin to understand the complexities of our local ecosystem and the role we may play in healing it.  The tour took an adventurous turn when one of the chicken hens escaped from the coop and the group came together to catch it.  Truly a fun filled and blessed day.

In Health and Peace,
Dr. Malik

In February we were blessed to kick off our Healers of Tomorrow Program.  This initiative is a 10 week course for adolescents from the Makkah Islamic School.  Our hope is that youth who complete this program will learn to identify themselves as leaders in their community, understand their inherent value, and begin to envision what role they will play in healing and leading-- now, and in the future.

This month our Healers learned about Asset Mapping.  Mashallah, they completed an advanced Asset Mapping exercise and displayed their ability to think creatively and critically.

Please stay tuned as we have many exciting activities planned for March.  Future posts will also discuss our long-term vision, and how Muslim students from other schools can apply for the next academic year's program.  We are still fundraising for our youth-led project grants, which cannot begin until we have raised the full amount.

Special thank you to our partners who have helped us come this far: 

• Mercy Association (http://www.mercyassociation.org), 
• Native Health Initiative (http://www.lovingservice.us/), 
• and our generous donors! 

In Health and Peace,
Dr. Malik