BY STEPHANIE L. ARNOLD | Over the last two years, a group of teenagers from the Middle East and other war-torn areas has been working to change the world. Its most recent stop: Haverford. Its mission: Get students thinking about how people from different cultures can live in tolerance and understanding, even in the midst of war.
The teens are alumni of Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization with an international camp in Maine that helps young people from areas of conflict put a human face on those they were raised to hate. They, along with about 25 students from Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges and Villanova University, discussed issues of acceptance and tolerance through dialogue and an interactive game at Haverford College’s Sharpless Auditorium last week.
In the game, used to gauge participants’ perceptions of their identities, each person was given a sticker. The students then were asked to find the groups they “belonged” to, without talking. At the end of the game, because no rules on assembling had been given, participants were asked why they had chosen people with stickers of the same color.
“This was really interesting. It really got me thinking about my identity and the way we think about ourselves,” said Katie Campbell, 19, a Haverford freshman. “We should have discussions like this more often.”
The discussion was led by Terek Arow, an Arab student from Israel, and Ma’ayan Poleg, an Israeli student, both 17-year-old interns at Seeds of Peace who help design its programs.
“Today was great. It gave me an opportunity to talk to American students, to hear from them,” Arow said. “We’re usually engaged in dialogue with people from other war-torn countries, but this was something different for us, too.”
Students said the timing of such a dialogue was relevant. The Seeds of Peace alumni were exploring ways to help U.S. students deal with their mistrust of other cultures, which has been heightened since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The event was sponsored by a handful of college and university organizations that seek to promote diversity and tolerance.
Lillian Lehmann, 19, co-president of Haverford’s International Student Association, one of the sponsors, said she was impressed by how mature the 16- and 17-year-old foreign students were.
“They were fun,” Lehmann said. Participants also talked about the preconceived notions they had had about people from other countries.
Tulsi Mehta, 16, of Bombay, India, recalled how she had thought a Palestinian woman was supposed to dress, until she met one.
“I saw this woman in jeans and a T-shirt, and I was shocked.”
Aaron David Miller, Seeds of Peace president, left the crowd with a phrase one camper used about dialogue.
“In order to make peace with the enemy, you have to go to war with yourself.”