Daily Times

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life across the world to a halt, forcing people into isolation in their homes, and shutting down countries. In midst of this global lockdown, a virtual plaza – https://CoronaPlaza.LIFE – has emerged to provide an opportunity for interaction between sequestered individuals, and offer them tools and techniques to connect and to seek wellness.

Created and sponsored by Focusing Initiatives International (FII), a US-based non-profit committed to community wellness around the world, this virtual plaza is dedicated to promoting wellbeing and building healthy communities.

In less than a month since its launch, CoronaPlaza.LIFE has drawn the attention of more than 3,000 visitors from over 15 countries. It has successfully conducted over 40 video workshops, webinars and interactive meetings in various languages on a wide variety of topics. A key feature of this virtual platform is that all of its webinars have been open to anyone and are offered free of charge.

“Focusing Initiatives believes in delivering the best of humanity to everyone, irrespective of nationality, financial status, race or creed,” said Pat Omidian, co-founder and director of the organization. “A large number of our beneficiaries are from the developing world, and do not have the resources to pay for such training programs, which makes our work indispensable for those communities,” she said.

Dr Omidian, a medical anthropologist with over 30 years of experience in regions affected by violence, poverty and disease, is currently offering a series of webinars on Psychosocial Support for Humanitarian Workers to a group of Nigerian health workers fighting on the frontlines of the COVID-19 epidemic. She heads the program side of the organization, and advises on the webinars offered by international facilitators associated with this virtual plaza.

But the scope of e-workshops and webinars on CoronaPlaza.LIFE is much wider. Martin Vremec, its founder and webmaster based in Italy, says the website’s goal is to bring humanity together and make available those resources which were lost due to isolation and quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the virtual plaza had so far witnessed e-workshops on writing, poetry, Chi Gong, daily life creativity, internet security, trust-building, and a variety of Focusing therapy and sessions for adults and children.

Speaking about the upcoming features, Martin said the website would soon offer topic-based discussion and chat rooms, and a multilingual feature which would make CoronaPlaza.LIFE available in Spanish, French, Portugese, Italian, Urdu, and Persian. He said the website was constantly being upgraded to include new and better features, and to effectively respond to the needs of its users.

The instructors and facilitators on CoronaPlaza.LIFE are based in various countries around the world, such as the United States, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Pakistan, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The platform encourages volunteers from around the world to join its cause by enlisting online, and share their knowledge and skills with others.

“We have a growing number of instructors and facilitators from many countries who are willing to offer e-workshops in different languages,” said Melinda Darer, FII co-founder and director who leads FII’s administrative and financial wings. “We are a donor-driven and volunteer-supported organization, and we depend on the generosity of our supporters in continuing our mission to build healthy communities worldwide,” she added.

FII provides consultation, collaborative program development, and support for communities and organizations to apply the methods and wisdom of Focusing practices to the specific needs of their local situation. Through workshops, trainings and webinars, FII works to empower people and communities to connect with each other, to problem solve together, and to recognize commonalities in the face of differences.

FII has over 50 years of accumulated experience working in the warzones, especially with communities dealing with poverty, violence, natural disasters, and epidemics. In addition to working in North America and Europe, it has reached communities in Africa, the Middle East, and South and East Asia.

The writer can be reached at ali@focusinginternational.org