When I began this work, I barely found Israelis who were able to overcome their fear of entering the Palestinian territories. The first people to come taught relaxation exercises, Shiatsu, massage and natural childbirth. Both Israelis and Palestinians were deeply touched by these meetings and I knew I was on the right track. My first big breakthrough came when I was invited to an international conference on torture to be held in Tel Aviv. I didn't want to experience the pain of hearing the stories to be told there and I decided not to go.
However, I kept on receiving more invitations by mail and telephone and realized I was meant to attend the conference. In order to understand the meaning of this, I decided to meditate and ask for help. After a long time, a message came and I heard the words, "Shanti, she will help you". I recalled having met a Reiki Master called Shanti. At the conference, I met a Palestinian psychologist who worked at a rehabilitation center for Palestinians who had been tortured in Israeli prisons. She had studied in the U.S.A. and had heard about Reiki. She said she would be interested in using Reiki to help patients at the center.
It is said that everything happens as it should and it turned out that Shanti wasn't able to help me and I wasn't able to continue the contact with the Palestinian psychologist. However, it turned out that what was important to focus on was the Reiki, and I very quickly found another Reiki Master from the States, Ellen Sokolow, who agreed to teach Reiki in the Palestinian territories when she came to Israel.
When I discussed this with Rawda in Nablus, she agreed that we bring some Reiki people to Nablus to demonstrate Reiki, after which we would decide whether or not to start teaching there. To facilitate this process, Ellen initiated me into the first stage of Reiki and I and two other women, Noel and Pearl, began going to Nablus to demonstrate Reiki. We had the privilege of being in Nablus on the day the Oslo agreement was signed and, among the hugs and tears of joy shared, the light of healing was experienced by us all like fire crackers. So with this beginning, Ellen began coming to Nablus to teach Reiki, all this taking place about 1994.
Since then, over 200 Palestinians have learned Reiki, many of whom have completed the second stage, and there are now three people, including Rawda, who will shortly become Reiki Masters and will be able to teach in their community. Rawda set up a Reiki and Speech Therapy clinic about three years ago and children and adults with various emotional and physical disorders come there to receive Reiki. Rawda works with a team of three and they try to give people Reiki almost every day. They are not usually paid for these treatments as most Palestinians have no extra money to give, so her clinic is always in financial difficulty.
Every time we talk, Rawda has another Reiki miracle to tell me, but I'll share a miracle which I saw with my own eyes. On one of my visits to Nablus, I saw a ten year-old boy who had been brought by his mother to the clinic. The boy's father had recently been taken to prison by Israeli soldiers and the boy had witnessed the soldiers breaking into the house, beating his father and breaking things. When I saw him, he was in a state of absolute terror, screaming and running, banging into walls in an effort to get out. Rawda sat down and raised her hands to send Reiki and at the same time began singing him a lullaby. Two months later, I was again in Nablus and the same boy was in the clinic. This time he was sprawled on a treatment table with a smile of great pleasure on his face, waiting to receive his Reiki - and with total trust, he also let me give him Reiki. You can imagine the joy I felt as I experienced the healing of this child.
