Seeds of Peace

 
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Hannah - Then and Now

  • Job: First Year in the MPA in International Development | Harvard Kennedy School of Government 
  • Regional Programming: 2005 Summit, Facilitation Training in Cairo, New York City fundraisers
  • Years at Camp: 1999, 2000; Counselor: 2003, 2004, 2005
  • American Delegation
  • Age: 26

In what ways has your Seeds of Peace experience impacted you as a person?
Seeds of Peace changed the trajectory of my life. Looking back ten years later, I think that my interest in the Middle East and then in international development wouldn't have taken the path it took if it weren't for Seeds of Peace. Maybe I would have studied and lived abroad or done the Peace Corps. But I might not have.  The interests and underlying motivation were obviously there, but Seeds of Peace put my work, my passion and my motivation in a certain light that connected me to real people and a real purpose and then opened my world up beyond what I had imagined it would.

As you embark upon your professional careers, how do the lessons learned at Seeds of Peace inform your ambitions?
I try to let the lesson that every story has many sides and that you need to listen to, truly listen to, people who disagree with you or who have other ideas inform everything I do.

I also try to remember the unlimited possibilities for creative solutions to different challenges.  There are so many people out there with innovative ideas, with different ways of looking at the world and with lives that are so complicated and full. If I can take the time to be a little humble and learn from them, my world can open up.

When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia, I would often just sit and watch.  I saw women doing everyday things—making peanut butter, washing clothes, taking care of children. Though they obviously had things they could learn from me, they were so strong, and just watching their daily routines allowed me to understand who they were so much better.  In the end, hopefully it also allowed me to do my own work more effectively because I better understood what they needed and what they already had.