BY ANN S. KIM | OTISFIELD, MAINE Sapna Rasoul, a small ponytailed girl, enjoys making friends and playing basketball at the Seeds of Peace camp in the Maine woods, far from her native Afghanistan. But as other girls splash around by the swimming dock, she’s thinking about being somewhere else: school.
Rasoul, 15, started attending school just six months ago, after the Taliban’s rule came to an end. Education is a priority because she wants to help her people as a lawyer, or a judge, or a doctor. “I miss my school,” she said from a bench overlooking an idyllic evergreen-framed view of Pleasant Lake.
The Seeds of Peace camp brings together teenagers from warring regions. This year, the campers include a dozen from Afghanistan, a country that has been at war with itself for years.
The Afghan teenagers have never known peace. The Soviet invasion was followed by a bitter civil war, battling warlords and the restrictive rule of the Taliban. Now, coalition troops led by the United States are in their country, rooting out al-Qaida. The civil war flattened neighborhoods of the capital of Kabul, Rasoul’s home town, between 1992 and 1996.
The goal for most of the 160 campers attending the first summer session is to see the human face of their enemy. Those include Pakistanis and Indians, Palestinians and Israelis, all of whom bunk, eat and play together. For the Afghans, the aim is different.
“Ideally, we’re hoping for them to open up, to get used to the idea of expressing themselves frankly and not be afraid someone is going to do something to their family because they said something,” said Bobbie Gottschalk, executive vice president of Seeds of Peace.
The Afghan campers have had to adjust to a lot since they landed in the United States. For many, it was their first trip on a plane and out of the country. Three of the girls, Gottschalk said, arrived in burqas, the head-to-foot coverings required by the Taliban. A week later, they were outfitted in jeans, camp T-shirts and sneakers, and learning about camp activities.
On a recent afternoon, Rasoul, who learned English in a clandestine school before the fall of the Taliban, translated as a counselor explained how the campers were supposed to navigate a series of tire swings. The girls giggled as they watched each other swing and grasp for the next tire.
“You must be monkey!” 16-year-old Weda Saghri said.
“Very delicious! Very beautiful!” 14-year-old Abida Attazada Ayda chirped with approval.
Afterward, the counselor, Annie Kelly, sat the girls in a circle and asked them to talk about what they did well, what they could have done better and what they learned about each other. For campers from opposing sides of a conflict, these sessions foster teamwork and trust. Later, they tackle the nearby rock-climbing wall, where enemies entrust each other with their safety.
Their hair still wet from an afternoon dip, Roman Miraka and Mohammad Sanim Taib were bursting with talk. Taib, 14, struggled with his English but was eager to describe life under the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam.
“No television, no tape recorders. Just you go to mosque,” Taib said. “The time of Taliban not good. For man, (they asked) ‘Why you cut your mustache?’ He said, ‘You go to jail.’ ”
His mother, now a manager at a women’s hospital, was prohibited from holding a job. His father lost his job and came under suspicion because he had been a government finance official. Taib attended school, but English instruction was discouraged. His uncle taught him English secretly.
Miraka, also 14, described in rapid-fire English how his family moved from place to place, suffering through the years of fighting that followed the Soviet invasion in 1979. He said he was not afraid of the U.S. airstrikes after Sept. 11 because he was used to bombs and rockets. His goal, he said, is to forge relationships that will help shape a much different future for his war-torn country.
“I am so happy here. I have met so many people here, and they’re from many cultures,” the teenager said. “And when I go back to my country, I want to teach the peace.”