JERUSALEM | Four counselors who have worked past summers at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine have moved to the Middle East to run a program for Israeli and Palestinian Seeds focused on leadership through journalism and creative expression. Will, Kaela, Aaron, and Alia kicked off the summer program with regional Seed meetings to gain feedback about Seeds of Peace’s after-Camp programming in the region.
At one of their first meetings, a Seed said “the media thinks for us, and they never tell the whole story!”
In response, the counselors developed “Special Activities,” which aim to fight this problem by empowering Seeds to become their own media. The Special Activities are the central projects that run throughout the summer program, and they are intended to help the Seeds become stronger leaders by way of being voices for their communities.
The counselors formulated four groups for the Seeds to select from: photography, film, journalism, and creative arts. Each group will work within their communities and use their chosen medium to document the stories they think are the most important for the world to know.
Seeds will get a chance to share with each other stories from their communities when they all meet at a binational event at the end of the summer.