Hanan Al Hroub reports that her educational methods of healing trauma through play-centered learning and positive reinforcement source from her own family's experience. She remembers the trauma her children experienced as they witnessed a family member get shot and their father injured while walking home from school one day.

Al Hroub was a first year university student when the event took place. Now the author of a methodology and book called “We Play, We Learn,” Al Hroub says that upon seeing the healing effect her games had on her community, she changed her course of study to elementary education.

Hanan Al Hroub has been a passionate advocate of non-violence for the past 35 years, leading generations of young children on the path to peace.

Mother Theresa stated, “If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” Al Hroub echoes this statement:

“If children who suffer from violence are not given the assistance and support they need, they will be lost… From the very beginning, I make sure that the students understand that in the classroom we are a family – we belong to each other.”

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Her name was announced as the winner of The Global Teacher Prize by Pope Francis in a video message after he talked about the importance of education and teachers, especially for children who grow up amid war.