I am convinced that healing the past and building the future are two sides of the same coin: With climate change, the erosion of democracy, and the war in Russia, it is uncertain what our life or our coexistence will look like tomorrow. The future is uncertain. And at the same time, the past hangs over the present. I’ll say it with numbers: by the end of 2025, 117.8 million people had been forcibly displaced—traumatic experiences for both themselves and their loved ones. Added to this are those who experienced war without having been displaced. So many people are affected that it is likely that no one we know is free from trauma—experiences from the past that overshadow the present. Two areas of work, two tasks, mutually redeem each other: when we transform traumatic pain, we gain the strength to face an uncertain future; when we give shape to the future with vision and new perspectives, we redeem the shadows of the past. Working toward the future allows us to heal the past, and healing trauma frees us up to work toward the future.

Translation Laura Liska
Image Refugee camp in Syria, 2024. Photo: Salah Darwish / Unsplash