BY MELISSA EVANS | The Arabs thought all Americans were fat, rich and drove around in big cars. The Americans thought the Arabs might look and act like the terrorist-types they had seen in movies. When they came together for athletic competitions, group talks and team-building activities, the high schoolers realized they were both wrong.
“Just because we’re from different countries doesn’t mean we can’t be friends,” said Sharif Kadri, a Santa Barbara High School junior who was selected with 61 others from around the world for a program called “Beyond Borders.”
Funded by an organization called Seeds for Peace, the program pairs 33 U.S. teenagers with 28 Arab teenagers from the Middle East for a two-part meeting that will continue this week in Jordan. It will be much different from the camp-style games the groups participated in last summer in Maine, but Mr. Kadri is excited. Part of his family is from India, but this will be his first trip abroad.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my friends again,” he said.
The group will participate in discussions, hear lectures and tour a number of sites around Jordan, including Jerash, Mt. Nebo, the Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum. The students will also visit a number of schools in Amman with adult educators. At the end of the trip, they will create a Web-based educational project to promote worldwide peer-to-peer dialogue and cultural exchange.
Mr. Kadri heard about it through his participation in other youth leadership activities. He was the only teenager selected from Santa Barbara County, and one of four from California.
Now in its 13th year, the program has brought 3,000 youths together since its inception in 1993. Seeds of Peace raises money in the United States and Arab countries to pay for the students’ travel and living expenses. The first part of the program lasted for two weeks in August at the Seeds for Peace International Camp in Maine. The youths shared cabins and meals; they swam, canoed, and participated in drama and music lessons.
The students from the Middle East came from Yemen, Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan and elsewhere. They are selected by their respective governments, and many go on to high-ranking careers, organizers said.
Mr. Kadri said he hopes to pursue a career as an international diplomat. For now, he is set to enjoy a few weeks off school for a real-world lesson in human relations.
“It makes a difference when you see people and how they live their lives,” he said of his Maine trip. “It was eye opening. Despite all the things we see in movies … we’re all human beings.”