Seeds of Peace

LAHORE, PAKISTAN | Schoolchildren under the banner of “Seeds of Peace” will raise funds across the globe for the flood-hit people of Pakistan.

The Seeds of Peace (SoP) is a New York-based non-government and non-political organisation which brings together children from various conflict-torn regions around the world for about four-week activities designed to promote peacemaking and hone conflict resolution skills.

“Moved by the flood devastation in Pakistan, the schoolchildren (seeds) have decided to raise funds in their countries for the affected people,” Eva Gordon, director of Strategic Initiatives of Seeds of Peace, told Dawn.

Original source: Dawn
Original author: Staff Reporter
Original publication date: August 28, 2010
Original article: Click here

This past Thursday, a collection of athletes from across the sports spectrum came together for the 9th annual Play for Peace program at the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Maine. Legendary soccer player Mia Hamm and her husband, former baseball All-Star Nomar Garciaparra, joined NBA players such as Xavier Henry, Brian Zoubek and Brian Scalabrine (participating for the eighth time), and Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Teresa Edwards to conduct sports clinics for more than 150 campers, but this wasn't your typical camp experience.

Original source: Tonic
Original author: Marc Hertz
Original publication date: August 2, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Nomar Garciaparra and his soccer star wife Mia Hamm stop by the unique camp Thursday.

›› Watch the video.

Original source: ABC Portland
Original author: Travis Lee
Original publication date: July 30, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD, Maine | Former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, his soccer-dribbling wife Mia Hamm and a cadre of NBA players put on a clinic for Seeds of Peace campers in Maine.

More than 4,000 campers have attended Seeds of Peace in the western Maine woods since 1993. Its original goal was to bring together Israeli and Palestinian teens in hopes of moving them beyond deep-rooted hatreds. Now there are teenagers from many other countries, including Afghanistan.

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Original source: Boston Globe/Associated Press
Original publication date: July 30, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | They hail from nine countries, mostly geographic neighbors but divided by invisible walls that might as well extend a million miles into the heavens.

Thursday morning they wore the same colors—the green Seeds of Peace camp t-shirt—and spoke the universal languages of sports and music.

One hundred fifty teenagers sang and rapped to Journey, Run-DMC and Sugarhill Gang as their songs, written and performed long before the kids were born, thundered from the sound system.

They whooped, hollered and high-fived as camp director Wil Smith introduced a record-long list of athletic dignitaries.

Original source: Sun Journal
Original author: Kalle Oakes
Original publication date: July 30, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | Brian Scalabrine might be able to coexist with one O’Neal and continue his career with the Boston Celtics.

Whether or not that run as a mainstay on the NBA Eastern Conference champions’ bench and active contract talks with the team would endure the arrival of a second O’Neal—this one a lock for the hall of fame — remains to be seen.

Scalabrine, 32, played out the final minutes of his five-year, $15 million contract during the Celtics run to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Needing frontcourt depth to compensate for Kendrick Perkins’ catastrophic knee injury in Game 6 of that series, the Celtics signed 14-year veteran Jermaine O’Neal to a two-year deal this summer.

Original source: Sun Journal
Original author: Kalle Oakes
Original publication date: July 30, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD | Cool sunglasses masking his eyes, microphone in hand, Wil Smith worked his audience, priming them with introductions of the visitors. By the time Smith reached Mia Hamm, his campers at Seeds of Peace were beyond delight.

Teenage boys and girls, mostly from the Middle East, were heading to a new level of excitement. Waiting for his wife after his own noisy welcome, Nomar Garciaparra didn't try to hide his smile.

So this is why his agent kept inviting him to this former boys camp on the pine-lined shore of Pleasant Lake. Actually, Arn Tellem's reason was only beginning to reveal itself.

Original source: Portland Press Herald
Original author: Steve Solloway
Original publication date: July 30, 2010
Original article: Click here

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Young people from Maine and the Middle East say they have something in common: the need to respect others' opinions.

Sitting under a shade tree at the entrance to the Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield early Wednesday morning, six young people from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Maine agreed that unless they listen to each other and respect their differences, peace efforts will not be successful, whether in the Middle East or Maine.

The group of peer leaders were among the 155 campers who arrived Monday for the 18th annual session of the Seeds of Peace camp. They began a three-week dialogue they hope to carry back home in their efforts to create a peaceful coexistence and reconciliation in their home countries.

Original source: Lewiston Sun Journal
Original author: Leslie H. Dixon
Original publication date: July 22, 2010
Original article: Click here

While governments can do important work to promote it, peace, tolerance and understanding come mostly from people. That's why the South Asian Seeds of Peace participants will be important messengers in countries back home—Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.

This week, teenagers complete a three-week camp program in Maine designed to promote conflict resolution and mutual understanding. They were joined at the camp by Palestinian, Israeli, Egyptian and American teens.

“During your weeks at camp you established new friendships that cross borders and barriers,” a State Department official told the campers in a gathering on Wednesday.

Original source: GoodNewsNetwork
Original author: Stephen Kaufman
Original publication date: July 16, 2010
Original article: Click here

WASHINGTON, DC | Green t-shirts flooded the State Department yesterday, during an event that celebrated the graduation of teenage “Peace Ambassadors” from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, out of a programme aimed at promoting cross-border understanding in the leaders of the future.

Original source: The Hindu
Original author: Narayan Lakshman
Original publication date: July 15, 2010
Original article: Click here

I have been in New York the last few weeks working on a movie. In the audience of one of my presentations I encountered a remarkable friend who I knew from my ABC TV days.

I was reminded that if her work were to be replicated more widely in China and elsewhere, our world would be a decidedly better, safer and more harmonious place to live and coexist.

In 1993, the friend in the audience, Janet Wallach, author of eight books, along with her late husband, John, an award-winning newspaper and television journalist, founded a very special summer camp in Maine for teenagers on the opposite sides of conflicts: Seeds of Peace.

Original source: Global Times
Original author: Harvey Dzodin
Original publication date: July 11, 2010
Original article: Click here

STANDISH, MAINE | Students from all over the world got a hands-on look at Maine farming on Wednesday.

St. Joseph's college opened up the Pearson Town Farm to campers from Seeds of Peace to explain how the farm sustains itself and people in the town. Seeds of Peace is a camp that brings together young people from the Middle East, Europe, And Asia, as well as here in Maine to help them bridge cultural differences.

At the farm, they learned how it helps people less fortunate by donating fresh produce to the Catherine Cupboard Food Pantry. From the farm, the students went on to the Catherine Cupboard Food Pantry to help hand out some of the produce grown at the farm.

Original source: WCSH6.com
Original author: Amanda Hill
Original publication date: July 7, 2010
Original article: Click here