BY ZACH RUCHMAN | I admit it. Before this past summer, I had never actually opened the front section of The New York Times. Usually, I just scanned the front page headlines, then flipped to the Sports Section. However, after spending three and a half weeks in Otisfield, Maine, I not only read the newspaper every morning, I have a new mission: creating peace.
Otisfield, a town of about 1,400, is home to the Seeds of Peace International Camp, a conflict resolution program for teenagers from areas of violence throughout the world. The camp was founded in 1993 by an American journalist, John Wallach, who had a vision that one day an Israeli “seed” and a Palestinian “seed” would be the leaders of their respective nations and that they would cooperate to bring peace to the region. The very first Seeds of Peace summer hosted a total of 46 Israeli, Palestinian, and Egyptian boys. The program soon became coed and expanded to include delegations from other countries in the Middle East, as well as India and Pakistan, Greek and Turkish Cyprus, the Balkans, and most recently, Afghanistan. Today, each summer hosts 150 teens from these conflict regions in three separate sessions.
Seeds is not an ordinary camp as I quickly learned on a bus ride from Boston’s Logan Airport to Otisfield. Seated beside me was a 16-year-old boy from Kabul, Afghanistan. During the three-hour trip, I learned more about Afghanistan than I could ever hope to discover sitting in a classroom at school for days. And, I learned, my new Afghan friend, Matiullah, was just as curious about the U.S.
When the bus finally pulled into Seeds, we were greeted with cheering and loud drum playing. I had been to summer camp before, but nothing prepared me for this.
You can imagine what it might be like to put teens who have preconceived notions of their enemies in Middle East together in a room. This actually happens in 90 minute “co-existence” sessions in which historical hatreds and other misconceptions can be aired. Each “co-ex” group consists of approximately 10 “seeds” that represent both sides of a conflict. In a Middle Eastern co-ex, one might find about four Israelis, a few Palestinians, a couple of Arabs from other countries, and perhaps an American. The discussions range from who traditionally owns the land, to the right of return, to police brutality, or suicide bombing. No topic is taboo. Many “seeds” have never met somebody from the other side of the conflict. The “co-ex,” forum enables seeds not only to reveal their feelings about the enemy, but they must listen to the other perspective. Understanding eventually wins out.
And as one Seed observed, “Teens fly thousands of miles, all the way to Maine, to meet and see that their enemy has a face.”
My very first day, one of my Israeli bunkmates asked me, “What is life like in America?”
I paused, thinking about how I could answer his question, but before I could say anything, another Israeli bunkmate answered for me, “It’s just like Israel but without the bombs.” I stood there, my eyes open in surprise.
The tone for my summer was set. Sleep was sometimes hard to come by, as the still air was occasionally punctuated by loud arguing from other bunks. Deafening quarrels occurred almost daily. Gradually, the thundering that had been so prevalent in the first week settled down and the seeds began to climb the walls that separated them, seeing the world in a different way. They dropped their baggage of prejudices and stereotypes of the enemy and became seeds of peace.
The Seeds still have their differing opinions on politics, but they no longer see things from just one perspective. The big question is whether Seeds will provide a solution to the current conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. However, even if the program does not resolve the various struggles around the world, 2,500 Seeds have more tolerance and understanding, and their lives have been changed in radical ways.
As for me, I am no longer just another fairly apathetic teenager. I realize I have a personal stake in seeing peace brought to the areas where my friends live. We have come to learn that the enemy has a face, and those we are fighting could very well be our brothers or sisters. Together we can break the cycles of hatred and violence that has consumed so many peoples of the world for so many generations.