From Pain to Hope

AWT held its Annual Networking Conference in Amman, Jordan. Women from across North Africa and the Middle East came to learn how to move from pain to hope in leadership.

October 3 – 6, 2019

Amman, Jordan (ACCTS/AWT) – Amman, Jordan (ACCTS/ AWT) - ACCTS assembled and hosted Fifty-three women from eleven Arab countries attended the fifteenth Annual Network Conference which lasted for three days in Amman, besides a joyful opening session held in honor of our guests, the Board of Directors and some key figures. The conference titled “From Pain to Hope” aim at empowering leaders to manage and deploy pain in their lives.

Whether physical or emotional, the state of experiencing pain is a universal phenomenon. How one reacts to the pain varies from person to person. Many factors influence one’s perception of the pain one has felt. Healthy leaders are those who learned, or are in the process of learning, to see and understand their pain correctly. They adapt and can emerge from their pain to a place of hope. 

Moving from pain to hope is a developed skill, not one naturally inherited. This skill takes time, sometimes beginning from the trenches of one’s pain, as does the progression from pain to hope. Pain often involves hurt, whether self-inflicted or caused by others. Women trainees from across the Arab world gathered together to discuss the topic of pain and to learn needed skills to emerge from their pain. Two leaders led the sessions, addressing the issue of pain from a leadership, spiritual, and psychological view. 

Pain is hurtful, but it does not have to be harmful or associated with harm. Amid the pain, it is essential to distinguish between hurt and harm. Many women resort to distorted views of thinking because of not being able to differentiate harm from hurt. Such faulty thinking can result in negativity, passivity, a feeling of helplessness, self-protective rationalizing, one-solution thinking, and false-self thinking. All of these are detrimental to leaders and the person as a whole. From the beginning, AWT’s goal with these conferences has been to invest and equip leaders.

This year’s conference included two keynote speakers, one from Egypt and the other from Jordan. Their skills in leadership consultancy and counseling added a dominant element. In addition to one of the speakers, a trained counselor, AWT provided another licensed counselor who was available to speak to women privately. The level of interaction through games and activities, along with opportunities for networking, created an enriching atmosphere for all. Many felt it, and we hope the women in attendance came away with fresh hope from whatever pain they faced or currently face. 

We sincerely hope that our precious attendees went back home refreshed by new ideas, perspective shifts, changed mindsets, and quality time with each other, ready to bring forth change to their communities. While we already look forward to our next network conference.