Seeds of Peace

Yousef Bashir, 22, lives with a bullet lodged near his spine. “When I imagine myself without the bullet in my back I ask myself would I be the same?” he said. “That bullet talks to me and I talk to it everyday. It is a very personal thing that I go through,” he continued. “I know that it was put there to destroy my life. I look at it and I say I am not destroyed yet.”

Original source: The Arabist
Original author: Jenifer Fenton
Original publication date: October 13, 2011
Original article: Click here

Twenty-year-old Mahmoud Jabari is a Palestinian photographer and journalist from the West Bank city of Hebron. He believes that youths will provide a way forward for the long-standing, seemingly perpetually stagnant conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

His hopefulness is a small island in a sea of dubiousness, mistrust, and frustration [...]

Seeds of Peace is an international summer camp in Maine that brings together youth and adult leaders from areas around the world marred by conflict to learn resolution skills and develop empathy for each other. Over the past 18 years, participants have come from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Cyprus, South Asia, and the Balkans.

Original source: Christian Science Monitor
Original author: Rachel Signer
Original publication date: September 30, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Charles Summers will meet with campers Thursday to discuss his role as secretary of state and the importance of civic duty.

Now in its 19th year, Seeds of Peace is a lakeside camp in Otisfield that brings together teenagers from conflict zones around the world in hopes of helping them move beyond deep-rooted hatreds.

Campers this season have included Israelis and Palestinians, as well as others from Egypt, Jordan, India, Pakistan and the U.S.

Original source: Associated Press
Original publication date: August 4, 2011
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Although they live less than 40 miles from each other, May and Milena would probably not get to hang out together back at home. That's because 18-year-old May is an Israeli living near Tel Aviv, while Milena, who's 16, is a Palestinian from Arab East Jerusalem. Every day this month, however, they're going sailing together off the Maine coast, as a part of a newly-established peace camp for teenagers.

Original source: Maine Public Broadcasting Network
Original author: Tom Porter
Original publication date: July 12, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | Eighteen-year-old Kamal was more than cooperative and apologetic. No, he said, he doesn't know much about America's NBA. He didn't recognize the names of the rookies who were just introduced Thursday to the Seeds of Peace campers.

Brandon Knight, the point guard from Kentucky who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons, was a stranger to him. So were Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie from Georgia and bound for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jordan Hamilton from Texas? Kyle Singler from Duke? Kamal's eyes said sorry and he shrugged his shoulders. He lives in Cairo and it is soccer, the world's game, that makes his heart beat faster.

Original source: Portland Press Herald
Original author: Steve Solloway
Original publication date: July 8, 2011
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Pistons draft picks Brandon Knight and Kyle Singler are among NBA players taking part in the Play for Peace Program at the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Maine.

The athletes conducted basketball clinics for nearly 200 campers from across the Middle East and South Asia, providing teens from regions of conflict a chance to learn the values of teamwork and cooperation.

"The reason I'm doing it is for the experience," said Singler, a second-round pick from Duke. "I thought it would be great to get a different perspective of how things are elsewhere."

Original source: Detroit Free Press
Original author: Vince Ellis
Original publication date: July 9, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | Only a small percentage of the thousands of children from around the world who apply to attend Seeds of Peace camp each summer are accepted.

When George, a 17-year-old Palestinian, learned he could be a part of that select group for a second straight year, he knew he couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"I came back because I knew coming back to this camp was worthwhile," George said Thursday prior to the camp's "Play for Peace" program featuring a half-dozen National Basketball Association players. "It's like a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a camper to come. A lot of my friends back home applied and did not get accepted. I feel sorry for them. This camp should be for everyone."

Original source: Lewiston Sun Journal
Original author: Randy Whitehouse
Original publication date: July 8, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | Tucked into a quiet corner of Otisfield, Seeds of Peace may look like any Maine summer camp. But that's where the similarities end.

On Wednesday, the camp opened its 19th international session. For the next three weeks, nearly 200 teenagers from the US and seven Middle Eastern nations in conflict will call the camp home.

They come with some big goals. In addition to the typical summer camp activities, they'll live with teens they've considered enemies, while attending dialogue sessions and conflict resolution activities.

Original source: WGME.com
Original author: Catherine Parrotta
Original publication date: June 29, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD, Maine | In the last year, we've seen a lot of changes in the Middle East, especially in Egypt, where a revolution overthrew the government.

At Seeds of Peace, that's change counselors encourage in their young campers. The 3-week-long summer camp brings together teenagers from a number of different countries including Egypt, Israel, and Palestine; the hope is to open up conversations about their different cultures and how to help create peace.

It's a message many of the campers take home, like Kenzi Elbassiouni, from Egypt. She went through Seeds of Peace last year, and during the revolution, felt more confident to object and call for peace.

Original source: WCSH6.com
Original author: Amanda Hill
Original publication date: June 29, 2011
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | About 180 campers from some of the most troubled areas of the world will raise a flag symbolizing world peace on the shores of Pleasant Lake on Wednesday morning when the Seeds of Peace opens for its [19th] season.

“The first session will have delegations from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan and the United States,” Director Emeritus Tim Wilson said. This year because of Ramadan there will be only one session of the Middle East, he said.

The opening ceremony for the first of two summer sessions will provide a time for the campers to come together to celebrate their unity for the short time they will be together. Each delegation will sing its national anthem, followed by the raising of the Seeds of Peace flag.

Original source: Lewiston Sun Journal
Original author: Leslie H. Dixon
Original publication date: June 28, 2011
Original article: Click here

Bobbie Gottschalk, 68, has more than 2,600 Facebook friends. A handful are family, the rest are from around the world, mostly in South/Central Asia and the Middle East. So when thousands of Egyptian youth and young adults united against longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak last January, Gottschalk, A.M. ’66, did what any avid social media user would do: She went to Facebook and Twitter to check in on her friends. Her message to those in Egypt? First, “Are you okay?” And second, “We believe in you.”

Read the rest of the story »

Original source: University of Chicago SSA Magazine
Original author: Patti Wolter
Original publication date: Spring 2011
Original article: Click here

Have you ever wondered what it would be like living in the Middle East? Each day brings new struggles, which can be frustrating. However, there are many high school students in the Middle East who have to live with the fear of not knowing what will happen and have courage to face it.

Luckily, these kids attended an international camp called Seeds of Peace, where teenagers from the Middle East come together for three weeks to exchange ideas.

This is a chance to hear all sides of the story and hopefully, to create a step near achieving peace.

The Middle East conflict has more depth and breadth than we can imagine, which is why these kids from the camp volunteered to give us a glimpse of what goes on in the Middle East from a new perspective.

Original source: The Trinity Voice (Fla.)
Original author: Nausheen Rajan (Seed, 2010)
Original publication date: May 2011
Original article: Click here

Every summer in Maine, a group of teenagers from the Middle East and South Asia gathers at the Seeds of Peace summer camp to experience something they can't find back home: an environment where they can openly and peacefully engage in dialogue with kids they might, under different circumstances, consider enemies.

Founded in 1993 by journalist John Wallach, Seeds of Peace prides itself in "empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills to advance reconciliation and coexistence." Kids who enter the program (or "Seeds," as they're called) are given the opportunity to forge relationships that ultimately alter their worldview, connecting to cultures that previously seemed diametrically at odds with their own.

Original source: Worldpress
Original author: Joshua Pringle
Original publication date: May 19, 2011
Original article: Click here

MUMBAI | Even as the world is abuzz about Osama Bin Laden's death, students from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan get together at a tri-nation conference to promote understanding and debate on various issues.

Original source: Mid Day
Original author: Sudeshna Chowdhury
Original publication date: May 3, 2011
Original article: Click here

MUMBAI | Sixteen-year-old Kabul resident Mortaza would have loved to wear his traditional Afghani kurtas to school, but the institute’s rules, created by its American administration, compel him to wear only jeans or pants.

In Mumbai this week, the Class 10 student had the opportunity to express his views through a multi-media project on ‘Western apathy to Asian culture’, a topic that his team members—one Pakistani and one Indian student—feel for equally.

Mortaza is part of a group of 31 teenagers from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who are in the city for a tri-nation conference organised by non-profit organisation Seeds of Peace (SOP).

Original source: Hindustan Times
Original author: Aarefa Johari
Original publication date: April 30, 2011
Original article: Click here