We continue to mourn those who we lost as we witness the pain and grief of the suffering that is unfolding in the Holy Land and is felt deeply right now across the Seeds of Peace community.
We, as staff, feel the pain and horror of these days too, and are together with you in this shared moment of fear, shock, and helplessness as so many in our community shelter and seek to survive.
We are a global community driven to support young people in creating a more just and peaceful world. Our stance as a community is rooted in shared values:
We reject the belief that you can kill your way to peace, to security, to freedom.
We stand firm in our rejection of the killing of civilians.
We call for an end to all forms of systematic violence.
And we reaffirm our belief that all people deserve freedom, justice, equality, and the right to live in safety.
We ask ourselves and our governments to rally for an immediate end to this cycle of killing through a ceasefire and release of hostages. The freedom and protection of all civilians at this moment is our priority call.
This is a tough period for our staff as well, especially for our Middle East team. We are not immune to what is happening and we are learning to navigate these times together.
For those of you in Palestine and Israel right now, and for all of us as a global community, it might feel hard to do this right now, and we hope that sooner or later we can all find our path to choose to stand with each other in solidarity at this moment.
Here’s how we are trying to show up for each other:
- Be present for each other
- Choose our words carefully so as to de-escalate rather than incite or inflame
- Be cautious about our choices and responsible about our voices
- Show up in solidarity with one another, even in the hardest of times
Seeds of Peace is an evolving community of courage-full humans, 30 years in the making. We find our strength in our humanity and in being able to truly hold each other in our hearts every day.
We remind ourselves that the experiences we had in our time in Seeds of Peace were real. It was all real. We can show up for one another, we can hold one another, and we can work for change in times of calm and also when in pain.
We, the global Seeds of Peace staff, are here for you if you want to reach out, be together in this moment, mourn together, or imagine a better future.
Sign up to attend a community meeting (virtually or in person) that will be organized by your country directors so that we can connect with each other and move through this time together.
Seeds of Peace Program Staff