OTISFIELD | 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.
As part of that effort, about 32 young people from Maine are participating in the Maine Seeds program to address racial and socioeconomic tensions in their communities.
The idea to expand the Seeds of Peace philosophy to a more localized Maine Seeds program began 10 years ago when tensions began to rise, particularly in Portland and Lewiston where immigrants have settled.
“We have our own issues,” said Jack McAleer of Orono, a peer support leader in the Maine Seeds program. He spoke of the need to face and overcome prejudice against incoming foreigners to the state of Maine.
“We’ve had more than 300 in the Maine Seeds program,” said director emeritus Tim Wilson who now serves as senior international adviser. Wilson said the young people are selected from local high schools across the state, regardless of whether it is an affluent city like Scarborough or a poorer town in northern Maine.
“There are two Maines,” Wilson said. “People don’t want to talk about it, but there are two Maines.”
The students who are selected as campers and peer leaders show leadership skills. “It’s not necessary to be a goody-two-shoes,” he said.
The peer leaders who came back this year as peer supporters said it didn’t matter whether they came from Maine or a Middle Eastern country. They came with one impression and left with another.
“I came to fight,” Zain Halawani, a peer support leader from Jordan, said of her first year at the camp. She was not alone. “I didn’t want to hear anyone.”
But like other campers who came with the same impression, Halawani said one day she simply stopped and said to herself that she should listen. “There are two sides,” she said.
That revelation led her to a greater understanding and tolerance of her camp mates and to the desire to come back two years later as a peer support leader.
Time after time, campers spoke of the need to “open” their minds to other cultures.
There is no difference between countries when it comes to prejudice, McAleer said. It all has a “ripple effect,” he said.
Speaking about the immigration of Somalis, Sudanese, Iraqis and others to Maine over the past decade, McAleer said there is a need to find a “common space” for all to live together.
Representing the United States at the Seeds of Peace camp has not always been easy, Kayla Pincus said.
“It’s a very complicated role,” she said. “The American delegation struggles with more than most. We’re not there. We don’t belong here,” she said of the perceived feeling Middle East campers may have toward their American counterparts.
But Pincus said the United States plays a primary role in the Middle East conflict. “I think I belong here,” she said.
Youssef Basha of Egypt agreed. “Each had their own stories (of prejudice) to tell.”
The key to it, said Hanna Al-Alamo of Palestine, is to “open your mind and heart to accept other people.”
Read Leslie H. Dixon’s article at The Lewiston Sun Journal »