Problem: Two boys, George and Issa, put a bug in Shireen’s hair.

Intervention: Bisan and Giselle see Shireen crying. They learn the reason. Then they bring the two boys and Shireen together for a peer mediation session on the playground benches.

Resolution: George and Issa apologize to Shireen. They promise not to do it again.

Result: Two happy boys join a soccer game. One satisfied girl now laughs with her friends.

Scenes like this—where fifth-grade students help solve their peers’ problems—are now a typical occurrence on the playground at Talitha Kumi in Beit Jala, a school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.