Join The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) for inspiring stories about the Peace Education Program! This free virtual event will feature live speakers and new videos highlighting how the program is changing lives across cultures and countries, from high school and university students in Europe and the U.S. to police officers in Mexico. The Zoom presentation is expected to run for less than an hour and will include an opportunity for you to ask questions. A replay will be made available for those who register.
How can police officers maintain peace when they themselves struggle to achieve it?
A short new documentary film shows how the Peace Education Program offered by The Prem Rawat Foundation is helping law enforcement in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, to cultivate calmness, reduce police stress and create change in work culture.
Jesus Daniel Quevedo, a Playa del Carmen police officer, is encouraged by the positive effects the program has had on him personally.
“I think it has also greatly influenced my colleagues who have taken these workshops, because I see a police force that is different. All the bad things that are said about the police – I think it’s changing,” says Quevedo.
Watch this documentary to hear these “peace officers” share their experience of the Peace Education Program and their vision for the future of law enforcement.
A Force For Change
In Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, the stress level of officers is extremely high. After all, they feel as if they are going into a war zone every day. According to Maria Elena Morera, president of Causa en Común, “It’s easy to kill a police officer in Mexico.”
Officer Quevedo reinforces the reality of the challenges that police face:
“This city is very, very, very violent — so many assaults, robberies. So a police force that is well-prepared physically, mentally, emotionally, will be able to have a more peaceful society,” says Quevedo.
Fortunately, the new documentary highlights how the Peace Education Program is helping prepare officers such as Quevedo for the demands of their work. The program can help reduce police stress by providing tools that work on a fundamental level, according to Quevedo and other participants in the film. As such, participants may experience a positive internal shift that supports their emotional and mental well-being. It is also helping improve the way officers relate to their community, they say.
“Historically, the police have tended to work separately from the people. The culture of the Peace Education Program helps with the challenge of that approach because it seeks to first transform this element – me, the policeman – being at peace with myself.” – Valentín Contreras, Police Training Director
Undeniably, the film shows how the program is facilitating positive transformation in Quintana Roo. Many are praising its benefits.
One participant, Yadira Trejo Hernández, who noted that it was now possible to come to work with a smile on her face, also had this to say:
“I would invite police forces in other countries to take the course and implement it, because it works. It worked for me, and I guarantee that your life will be better.”
No Cultural or Social Borders
The program has been warmly received by police officers beyond Mexico. In another uplifting documentary video, you can see a group of enthusiastic police in Cusco, Peru join with school administrators, teachers and students as they use the Peace Education Program to help calm violence and build a new culture in their community.
The Success is Growing
Thousands of police have now taken part in the Peace Education Program. Interest in the program is growing as news about its success spreads. Certainly, many reports of the positive effects on reducing police stress are central to this growing interest.
Here are key locations where the program is having an impact on law enforcement participants:
PEP started in Taylors in March 2015 at the Taylors Hostel Management unit. This was the first PEP workshop conducted in Malaysia. With about 20 students attending the workshops over the 10 sessions,, 9 completed the course. Simultaneously the program was also conducted for the Hostel management staff in English with some translation in Malay to help some of the participants understand the content better. 14 staff members completed the course.
Prem Rawat accepted an invitation to speak to these students and the faculty in September 2015. Subsequently a few more rounds of the program were conducted for the students from the main campus. Some trained to be facilitators and conducted some sessions for their peers. Prem Rawat accepted an invitation to speak at Taylors University for the second time in October 2016.
The PEP in MAB started in 2017. It was conducted in English for the staff. Out of 12 who attended the course 7 completed it. The PEP 1 workbook and articles were them transcribed into Braille with the help of the MAB staff and sent to TPRF.
Following the successful completion of these workshops the PEP was extended to the students in Malay. It was discontinued after the 6th workshop due to a change in the students’ timetable and the difficulty in conducting the workshops at a suitable time.
The facilitator of the program who started teaching English at MAB in August 2018 incorporated the use of the program materials in his English lessons. The students were exposed to some selected videos from different themes. The full 10 workshops were not carried out for them. The animation stories were used (as were stories from the book “Splitting the Arrow”) Two students from MAB took part in the Kifubon story telling competition in 2018.
Myskills foundation is a non-profit organization formed in 2011. It is a transformational canter that aims to transform the lives of at-risk youths.
At the end of June 2018, the PEP team was given the go ahead to conduct the program at MySkills Campus in Kalumpang by Mr Pasupathy, one of the Directors of the Foundation. At that time their new campus was only partly completed and was still under construction. The place is an hour away from Kuala Lumpur towards Ipoh.
In 2019, PEP was conducted for the female students at the girls hostel in Dang Wangi, KL. During the MCO in 2020, the workshops were conducted online via zoom.
A total of 17 staff members from Pelitacom attended and completed the PEP modules. Initially the sessions were conducted face to face and during the MCO the workshops were a combination of face to face as well as online (hybrid).
A total of 17 staff members from Pelitacom attended and completed the PEP modules. Initially the sessions were conducted face to face and during the MCO the workshops were a combination of face to face as well as online (hybrid).
Prior to the Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony the PEP workshops were conducted for the senior officers of the Malaysian Scouts Association over 2 days at the Scouts Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. About 30 officers attended including the then acting National Chief Scout cum National Chief Commisioner of the Malaysian Scouts Association YB Major General Professor Dato Dr Mohd Zin bin Bidin.
