Connecticut Jewish Ledger

WOODBRIDGE — When Andre Bello met the Battat family in Jamaica, they were the first Jewish people he had ever met. Trinidadian-born Bello and his wife developed such a strong connection with the Battats that they recently stayed in their Woodbridge home to share in the celebration of Sivan Battat’s bat mitzvah.

“What I saw at the bat mitzvah could have been a duplication of a Trinidadian celebration. There was closeness of the community, and an understanding of the importance of the event in Sivan’s life,” observes Bello, an MBA with extensive experience in the financial sector and with multinational companies.

Bello is also the author of “The Sword and the Spirit,” the first book published by KIWI Publishing, a new business venture of Eytan and Stacey Battat.

Eytan, a travel agent and conference planner, was featured in the Ledger following his February 2005 climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. Stacey, Dean of Students for New Haven’s MAKOM program, recently accompanied the New Haven delegation on the “March of the Living” to Poland and Israel. The Battats are members of Congregation Or Shalom in Orange and parents of Ezra students.

The Battats were inspired to start Kiwi by their children - Yoni, Sivan and Nadav.

“We were trying to figure out how to reach out and get people excited about their own potential,” reports Stacey. Stacey notes that her seven years working with high school teens and their parents inspired in her an increased awareness of a need to help families. Promotional materials for KIWI (which stands for Kids, Inspiration, Wisdom, Integrity) report that Kiwi Publishing “is dedicated to becoming the worldwide leader in providing innovative products and publications for the enrichment, empowerment and inspiration of individuals and families of the world.”

Bello’s book, subtitled, “Learn How Ten Negotiation Skills that Saved a Fabled Kingdom Can enrich Your Career and Transform Your Life,” is part fable, part instruction book in negotiation. According to Lawrence Susskind, Bello’s professor in the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard Law School, “The way that the kingdom of Cyden deals with the threats posed by its neighbors, the Apanites, illustrates more clearly what we mean by a ‘mutual gains approach to negotiation than 100 repetitions of the theory could accomplish on their own.” Bello reports, “I used to be a very competitive negotiator. I have changed to be a more collaborative negotiator.” Bello has found the story-telling format to be a very effective way to teach negotiation principles. Bello recently returned from a European conference on new techniques in negotiation through storytelling.

He has recently been leading seminars on negotiation in various locations in the northeast. Participants receive an overview of negotiation and study complex negotiations and case studies.

The Battats have many exciting plans for KIWI - including a guide for parents, a book on intercultural negotiations, and a book by Eytan Battat himself.

When Eytan left for Kilimanjaro, he had many fears. Battat’s story of personal transformation became the impetus to compile stories for “The Thin Threads of Overcoming Your Fears,” a series of motivational short stories from real people who have experienced life-altering decisions or events. As Stacey explains, “Thin threads are circumstances or events in your life which transform you and bring you to a new place in life.” The Thin Threads Project seeks to obtain such stories. Members of the Amity High School Creative Writing Club will be interviewing senior citizens on their thin threads. Readers interested in submitting “thin thread” stories or to get involved in the Thin Threads Legacy Project may visit the http://www.kiwipublishing.com website or email Stacey Battat at stacey@kiwipublishing.com