ECOWEEK is an non-governmental non profit-organization (NGO) which started its activity in 2005 and was incorporated in Greece in 2007. NGO ECOWEEK promotes through its Articles sustainability, the principles of the Aarchus Convention and the right to all in information and justice for the environment.

Midwives of Peace Project is an initiative and is coordinated by Yvette Nahmia-Messinas, co-founder of ECOWEEK and Chairperson of ECOWEEK (Israel).



Yvette Nahmia Founder, Board Member [read more]
Yvette is a therapist and teacher of Reiki and therapist of the Grinberg method. Yvette is a graduate of Athens College, a Psychology graduate of the Derre College of Greece, and has a Master in Jewish Civilization from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yvette was an management assistant at the Jewish Museum of Greece and a Managing Editor and Senior Writer of the magazine of Yad Vashem Holocaust Authority in Jerusalem. Yvette coordinates the program "Midwives of Peace" between Israeli and Arab women.


About the project

The Midwives of Peace Project

Healing has to precede peace. Unless we are healed from our wounds and pain we cannot move on to create peace no matter how much we may want it. Women have traditionally been the healers. In the Midwives of Peace Project we aim to reconnect women to their innate healing capacity in order to serve as healers of themselves, their families, their communities and their region to eventually facilitate and bring about peace.

Both sides, Jews and Moslems, Israeli Arabs and Jews need to do their healing work. When they will have completed their healing they will be able to "give birth" to peace.

Women are designed from nature to give birth. Midwives have traditionally helped other women in their birthing experience, by facilitating, supporting, and nurturing their sisters at birth. The project involves a group of Jewish and Arab women who will be taught reiki, a healing tool in order to promote, support and facilitate healing in their respective communities, in the arab-jewish relationship and the peace process.

Reiki works on the physical, emotional and spiritual plane alleviating physical pain, promoting relaxation and well being, easing emotional distress and attuning the person to one's higher self and purpose in life. In the process of the project the women will experiment with giving self treatments as well as exchanging reiki with other women, thus experiencing in themselves a healing session from an Arab or jewish woman respectively.

The idea is to foster and promote healing between the two nations by empowering the women's innate healing capacity. At the end of the course women will be able to use reiki to treat themselves and others. By gaining a healing tool these women can affect for the better their families and communities and become healing poles in their community, midwifes of peace.

The reiki class will be offered to 10 women at a time Arab and Jewish, eventually reaching 300 women. A monthly empowering women's circle will be held that will be expanding with the new participants and eventually reaching 300 women.

This is a process work towards healing ourselves and our communities and could easily expand to include more women as well as reiki II education further empowering the women's reiki intensity and mastership of this do- it- yourself healing tool.

The program is carried out by a select group of reiki teachers.