Join us for the intro episode of Learning to Listen to Palestine with Lani Lanchester. Discover how Lani's journey as a high school teacher led her to amplify Palestinian voices through storytelling, fostering understanding and peace. 

Tune in to hear more about her new book and the inspiring stories she'll share. Don't miss out on this powerful conversation about hope, patience, and the transformative power of listening.

because I've written a book called

Learning to Listen to Palestine

and I actually have that right here

so this is brand new

it's just released this week

and and it is really about me

and the changes

that have happened in my life

because Palestine

is a group of people

that I really didn't know existed

I thought I knew everything

about Israel and Palestine

but I knew nothing

and once I started listening

to the stories I realized that

the hope and the problems of

of the conflicts

that are going on

in the Middle East are largely

due to only one side being heard

and so it's really important

Lani Lanchester: for us to start hearing

their stories and for us to

be able to learn to love these people

and loving

listening is the first step in loving

and you have to have love

in order to have peace

Let's get started.

Richard Matthews: Hello and welcome to the very first episode here, the intro episode to learning to listen to Palestine. And I am doing a special co host with Lani Lanchester. Lani, are you there?

Lani Lanchester: I'm here. Thank you.

Richard Matthews: Awesome. Thanks for having me on today to do this introduction for your show. I'm really excited about this podcast and what you're going to be doing with it.

Lani Lanchester: Yes, my name is Lani Lanchester and I am so happy to be here. I am really interested in helping people to learn to listen because I'm a high school teacher. I teach high school science and what I've learned is that listening is essential for relationships and for learning and for building trust.

And as a high school teacher, I know that you cannot. Learn from somebody that you don't trust. So I've always been working on listening skills. Now, as I've started becoming interested in Palestine and learning about Palestine, I've been realizing that we don't have the listening skills to hear the stories of Palestine.

So this is what I want to work on. I want to help people learn to hear these important stories. About Palestine. And I believe that this is essential for us to reach peace to have hope in the world.

Like your curriculum is being used at a really high level here in America. Is that correct?

Lani Lanchester: Well, I teach high school science. And I just teach biology, chemistry, physics, engineering health. And I do help develop curriculum, but I develop it just for my district.

Richard Matthews: Yeah. So you're a You help develop curriculum for high school students, which I think is just like another level above just being a high school teacher, but which is really cool and really fascinating. So you're taking sort of that skill of being able someone who knows how to teach in a way that.

Lani Lanchester: Well, I started this podcast because I've written a book called Learning to Listen to Palestine, and I actually have that right here. So this is brand new. It's just released this week. And and it is really about me and the changes that have happened in my life. Because Palestine were, is a group of people that I really didn't know existed.

Richard Matthews: Absolutely. And I know again, because of our conversations before that your hope is that by telling these stories and by sharing the successes in other areas that have had conflicts like this in the past, that there is a model that we can move forward and actually help create peace over in that region.

It was like the worst things I'd ever heard. What was going on with the apartheid system there. And there were so many factions and everybody hated everybody. And I just couldn't imagine. And I just saw South Africa is like the worst place in the world when I was a teenager. It wasn't until I read this book that I realized that there was healing after apartheid fell.

And this is how South Africa healed. And it wasn't natural. It was very systematic. It was a process. It was a lot of work. And I find that. Everybody should read this book because everybody has these things in their lives that you can process through. And I think it's just remarkable.

Narrator: Like what you hear so far? Make sure you never miss an episode show by clicking the subscribe button now. Don't forget to check out Lani's book, Learning to Listen to Palestine. Now back to the show.

Lani Lanchester: Yes, I really want to start a peace movement here. And the peace movement has to start with listening. But we don't know how to listen, and we definitely don't know how to listen to Palestinians. This is an area where we have been misinformed so many times. There's so much propaganda out there that it's hard to know the truth.

And what I found for me, overcoming this. This block, it helps for me to talk to real people. What I did and how I wrote this book originally is I went to Israel and I drove around Israel in Palestine and then later Jordan, and I spoke to real people and they would tell me their stories. They'd ask you why are you here traveling all by yourself?

And we kind of know this inside ourselves that we have to tell somebody. What has happened, but they need somebody to listen.

Richard Matthews: Which I think is a great name for the podcast too, Learning to Listen to Palestine. And I want to touch real quickly for the audience you're going to be releasing a podcast every single week. Right. And you're going to be, I know you've got a couple of segments that you're going to be talking about.

You've got some some guests that you're already excited about having on. Do you want to give someone you know, people who might be listening to this little intro episode, give them a teaser of like what's coming in the first couple of episodes here? And also, if you're

Lani Lanchester: Well, it's very exciting because as I finished my book and I put my book out there and I really have been praying and hoping to be able to speak to some Palestinians and help

And right as soon as my book was published, somebody called me and says, I don't understand. Can you explain your book in your position? And so I did. I explained that, yes, I she said, how come you're willing to listen when most Americans are not? And I said, well, I think it's because my heart broke. I lost I my, my. Daughters had not been talking to me and then my dad died and my boss died and just my heart was broken and when this happened, I just was, I knew I could feel people's pain more, I guess, because I had so much that I was carrying myself. And so I, as I explained this to her, she goes, okay.

So, and she told me that she had moved from Gaza when she was young.

Richard Matthews: host

Lani Lanchester: spread out. They used to all be together in Gaza, but they're spread out in Texas, California, Egypt, and the family.

that did not leave Gaza. They're all dead. They've all been killed over time, and it all happened before October 7th.

Richard Matthews: to be one of your first guests on your podcast.

Lani Lanchester: Yes. Yeah.

Richard Matthews: So,

Lani Lanchester: Yes.

Richard Matthews: tuning in and listening, you're going to get the chance to hear some real stories from real people. And like I said, it's one of the things that

I believe storytelling is the path to all growth and healing and forgiveness and movement in our world.

And then if you know someone who has a story to tell, make sure you reach out to Lonnie. There'll be contact information on the website that you can get ahold of her and help get more stories in front of the audience that you're building here. Lonnie, I just wanted to, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing this work.

And putting this together do you have any sort of final thoughts before we tell people to, Hey, go up and check out episode number one. We'll be the next episode here. Before we before you hop off this intro episode,

Lani Lanchester: Yes, I would love to encourage people to buy the book Learning to Listen to Palestine. That will help me out a lot as well. And it gives you an idea of what to expect in the show. But also this book the The Book of Forgiving by Desmond Tutu. It really is a book that I believe is essential for the healing of the nation.

Richard Matthews: creating a better world for tomorrow and for our children to have.

So again, thank you so much for coming on and doing this intro episode with me. If you're listening to this, Go and hit that like and subscribe button. We'll put the links to those books in the in the link for this episode on the learning to listen to Palestine.

com or sorry, listen to Palestine. com. So they we'll have the resources there for you to pick up any of those things and thank you so much for being on here today, Lenny and look forward to seeing where you go with this podcast and the way that you're going to change the world.

Lani Lanchester: Thank you so much.

Narrator: Thank you for tuning in to this enriching episode of Learning to Listen to Palestine. I hope today's stories and insights touched your heart and opened your mind. If you found value in our conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this podcast with friends and family. Your support helps us reach more listeners and foster a global community committed to understanding and peace.

Until then, remember to listen, learn, and build bridges. Keep the conversation going and stay connected. Thank you for being part of this journey.