Seeds holds first National Integration Camp for youth from across Pakistan

LAHORE | Fifty students and ten educators from the four provincial capitals of Pakistan——Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta——as well as from Islamabad gathered for five days to tackle stereotypes and learn about the similarities and differences between their cultures.

The National Integration Camp (NIC), held at the Divisional Public School in Model Town and managed by youth members of Seeds of Peace Pakistan, featured programming designed to maximize interaction between students and teachers from each provincial delegation.

Facilitated dialogue sessions focusing upon various issues that exist among the provinces as well as upon potential solutions to those issues took place alongside group challenge and sports games.

Students’ Program

Students delved right into crucial topics, discussing the values they thought ought to be present in an ideal country and the link they perceived between the provision of free education and national safety and prosperity.

Dialogue sessions on Day 2 focused specifically on cross-province education; students from each region presented about their cultures and described the social, political, and economic issues their province faces. The evening brought additional presentations with a broader focus that incorporated individual as well as inter-provincial issues; before performances that garnered media coverage from a local TV channel, participants discussed the notion and implications of interdependence.

Alongside basketball matches and preparations for a talent show, students spent their third day at NIC in dialogue about important issues such as the continuing effects of the feudal system, potential changes in provincial structuring, and the water dispute between provinces, particularly with regard to water conservation and methods to use water to combat Pakistan’s ongoing energy crisis.

Campers reflected upon their experiences during the program so far on the fourth day, discussing the power of youth in helping build a strong nation and how they would use their new knowledge and understanding when they returned home. The Flag Lowering Ceremony took place at Wahga Border and proved to be an emotional experience for all participants.

The fifth day’s focus was on follow-up programs, an essential component of the National Integration Camp. All five delegations came up with two innovative yet practical ideas that, when implemented with Seeds of Peace’s help, would help bring about national change regarding the issues they had learned about over the previous four days. These included awareness campaigns, social work projects, outreach programs, workshops, and camps mimicking the NIC model.

Participants’ reflections and comments on exit surveys showed the impact that the camp has already had on their thinking and commitment to interprovincial social endeavors.

Showing how the camp could lead to unified efforts to create national-level change, Ayesha of Lahore said that she came to understand not only “how pointless stereotypes about provinces are” but also “the problems other provinces are suffering from.” Altogether, 81 percent of the campers acknowledged that NIC had changed their views about people from other provinces; 81 percent considered that a friendly relationship between provinces is highly possible; and 90 percent wanted to continue participating in activities such as NIC in the future.

Educators’ Program

The 10 educators who had accompanied students to the National Integration Camp also focused on illustrating similarities between people from each province and learning to dismantle existing stereotypes.

They spent the first day discussing their hopes and the things they wished to learn from each other as well as the problems and issues that Pakistan currently faces. Educators analyzed the problems and effects of provincialism that are particular to each region on the second day, and the third day brought presentations of cultural knowledge during which they described their customs, values, and festivals for their professional peers.

On the fourth day, the educators undertook the difficult task of discussing stereotypes that existed about residents of each province and clearing out any lingering misconceptions.

Following a wrap-up session on the last day, the educators rejoined their respective delegations, assisting them with the planning of follow-up programs.
 
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