Seeds of Peace to celebrate 20th summer of conflict transformation program

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Seeds of Peace is set to welcome young leaders from the Middle East, South Asia and the United States to the 20th season of the Seeds of Peace Camp.

Over 200 Afghan, American, Egyptian, Indian, Israeli, Jordanian, Pakistani, and Palestinian youth ages 14-17 will raise the Seeds of Peace flag on Wednesday, June 27 at 8:30 a.m. in Otisfield and open the largest-ever session of the Camp.

The flagraising ceremony will inaugurate a summer of dialogue, leadership development and community-building across national and cultural lines as the campers engage openly and critically with those whom they considered enemies.

Among the 210 Seeds are 32 Peer Supports—a select group of Seeds returning to Camp to engage in their own dialogue sessions with a focus on individual growth and specific leadership skills.

During the second session of Camp, close to 100 teenagers from across Maine as well as from Syracuse, New York will come together to tackle intercommunal tensions in their states.

Nearly half of this summer’s counselors and dialogue facilitators are former campers from the past two decades, and most of the Middle East dialogue facilitators are graduates of the Dialogue Facilitation and Conflict Transformation Course run by Seeds of Peace in Jerusalem.

Seeds of Peace has graduated over 5,000 Seeds and Educators from 27 nations since its founding in 1993. In addition to the Camp in Maine, year-round regional programs provide opportunities for Seeds to continue developing the skills necessary to advance peace within and between their societies.

This summer, Israeli, Palestinian and American Seeds will again return to the high seas off the coast of Maine as part of the Seas of Peace program, while in Ireland, 60 Seeds will examine approaches to international conflict resolution as part of the new “Game Changers” initiative.

Media interested in covering the flagraising ceremony on June 27 in Otisfield should contact Eric Kapenga at eric@seedsofpeace.org.
 
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