You searched for SAFe-SASM Test Prep 🦧 Exam SAFe-SASM Braindumps 🏧 SAFe-SASM New Dumps 😝 The page for free download of ⏩ SAFe-SASM ⏪ on 《 www.pdfvce.com 》 will open immediately 🧲Reliable SAFe-SASM Test Topics - Page 19 of 54

Search Results for “SAFe-SASM Test Prep 🦧 Exam SAFe-SASM Braindumps 🏧 SAFe-SASM New Dumps 😝 The page for free download of ⏩ SAFe-SASM ⏪ on 《 www.pdfvce.com 》 will open immediately 🧲Reliable SAFe-SASM Test Topics”

Maine Seeds participate in workshop on race in America

Nov 22, 2014 / No Comments

PORTLAND | In late November, 36 Maine Seeds attended the second in a series of workshops on race. Following up on discussions from their previous workshop, the activities and dialogues on November 22nd went deeper into conversations on privilege and power, and how they are related to race. The workshop helped the Seeds process their own emotions and reactions to the recent events across America, and more particularly, to the events taking place in the community of Ferguson.

The first activity that the Seeds participated in was an exploration of words like “Racism,” “Stereotypes,” “Power,” “Privilege,” and prevalent phrases and hashtags like “#handsupdontshoot.” Afterwards, one of the Program Coordinators led a short session on the difference between societal and personal power. The Seeds investigated what they could do to alleviate injustice in their home communities and on a peer-to-peer basis.

White Seeds and Seeds of Color also split into small group dialogues that were separated by race, because it allowed for them to carry on their discussions in ‘safe spaces.’ All of the Seeds then reconvened and engaged in conversations with a Seed of the opposite race, covering topics from law enforcement to their personal feelings about their place in society.

Throughout the day, many of the Seeds pushed themselves to step out of their comfort zones. It was evident by the end of the workshop that many of the Seeds had begun to find and embrace their own voices. The impact of the workshop has been evident in the community-based response of the Maine Seeds. Seeds in Lewiston are involved in a #blacklivesmatter movement at their school and have successfully had their protest posters approved by their administration. Seeds at Deering High School held a walkout and a die-in. Furthermore, Deering, Scarborough, and Portland Seeds are currently working on getting together to have a dialogue on race, and are hoping to eventually include superintendents, administrators, and teachers in that discussion very soon.

Seed Stories: Debate to dialogue

Jun 14, 2019 / 1 Comment

I’ve always prided myself on my ability to win an argument—in a class discussion, with friends, and especially with my parents. Although it meant being the sole 5th grader on the team, I jumped at the opportunity to join debate when I entered middle school.

I remained a ruthless competitor through my sophomore year, and at the end of that year, I was offered the position of captain for the Public Forum Varsity Debate team at my school. I was thrilled.

Debate was cutthroat. We gleamed with accomplishment when the other team misspoke. There was a winner and a loser. That structure felt safe to me—I needed its validation. At the same time, however, someone always left the room feeling miserable and sometimes, it was me.

As much as they could thrill me, debate tournaments always somehow left me feeling exhausted. I hated prepping. The topics seemed relevant, but I rarely connected with them. I felt like a robot: researching facts and statistics just to spit them back out.

Then, the summer before my junior year, everything changed. I attended the Seeds of Peace Camp. The entire experience was so unfamiliar to me; I didn’t know a single person getting on the bus the first day, and, needless to say, after my debate training, dialogue and active listening were hardly my strong suit. I was so used to fighting my case to win and only listening to the other side in order to pick their argument apart—it’s what I’d been conditioned to do.

From the second I stepped into the dialogue hut at Camp, it was clear how fundamentally different the two approaches—debate versus dialogue—were. The judge was replaced with facilitators who made every effort to unite us. No longer did I wear stiff “Western Business Attire” with flats that gave my feet blisters. Instead, we all sported the same bright green t-shirts and left our shoes at the door to avoid bringing in the “outside dirt.” Instead of sitting rigidly across from one another and approaching the podium each time we spoke, we sat in a circle. We set community norms which were directly at odds with the spoken and unspoken rules of debate.

At first I was skeptical that dialogue could work. It felt too simple, too idealistic. Quickly, I realized this was not the case; in fact, dialogue demanded more of me than debate ever had. Dialogue, I learned, meant letting my guard down, being vulnerable, and really listening. The reality is you don’t change people’s minds by exposing what’s wrong with their viewpoint. What does change minds, however, is personal stories.

Sitting in the dialogue hut the past two summers, I’ve heard stories that have reinforced ideas I’ve always thought to be true, and others that have deeply challenged my beliefs and fundamental values. All of them, however, in one way or another, have allowed me to put myself into someone else’s shoes.

As I’ve begun to call upon this skill more and more outside of the dialogue hut, I’ve found myself reflecting. The reality is, I didn’t “choose” dialogue as the superior way to hold a conversation. Rather, I’ve learned to be confident enough to no longer need to control a discussion the way I used to. Seeds of Peace gave me that confidence. No longer do I need the validation of a judge’s ballot; I’ve discovered a new way of dealing with conflict, one in which people leave feeling heard, not hurt.

How two Maine Seeds are leading change in their communities

Mar 28, 2018 / No Comments

After returning from Seeds of Peace Camp to the Maine Girls Academy in Portland, sisters Naissa and Pricillia noticed a lack of civil discourse in their school.

Along with the increasing sense of division they felt in the world at large, the girls realized there was no space in school for students to talk about difficult topics with respect and an open mind. This stood in stark contrast to what they had just experienced at Camp and it bothered them. So they decided to do something about it.

“What’s happening around the world has an impact on the way we move, the way we think in this building,” said Naissa. “We need to respect everybody’s differences. Everyone has so many different experiences, and invalidating them is just really wrong. I said, ‘hey, let’s have a dialogue.’”

Maine Seeds Pricillia and Naissa

Over the last two years, they worked with their classmates and faculty to make civil conversation the centerpiece of life at the Maine Girls Academy. The sisters first approached History and Social Humanities teacher Brendan Curran with their plan to create a forum for meaningful dialogue within the school.

Explaining what sold him on the idea, Curran said, “Part of it is developing empathy, part of it is being compassionate listeners, part of it is learning how to talk about something that’s hard and to consider other viewpoints. The goal is not to come to any type of consensus.”

Working together, the sisters and their teacher developed the program into CivilTEA (the name’s an inside joke, say the students.) Now, it’s part of the school’s regular curriculum.

The topic for each CivilTEA is chosen by students working together with adult facilitators. The conversations are led by students who have been trained to facilitate (and who continue their training throughout the school year).

The discussions first start in small groups, usually beginning with a presentation or guest speaker. From there, the facilitator-guided groups dive into challenging conversations where students not only voice their opinions and questions, but listen carefully when others do the same.

One goal is that everyone involved has a safe place to listen and be heard. “A lot of times in high school, only certain people have found their voice,” said Deb Bicknell, a CivilTEA facilitation trainer and Seeds Educator Program facilitator who helped Maine Girls Academy form its own dialogue course. “In these groups it’s really about how to talk and listen in a respectful manner. A lot of what the girls learn is about being present.”

Another goal is to help students develop their personal voice, discover their own values, and gain skills in discourse for use later in life. “Having these dialogues at school gave me the opportunity to voice my opinion and show that I have an understanding of why these conversations are important to have,” said Pricillia, now a college student.

Through CivilTEA, students and faculty alike are able to discover things they may not have learned at home or in the classroom. Perhaps more importantly, they’re developing a better understanding of one another.

If you’re a Seed working on a meaningful project—no matter where you are in your journey—please let us know. We’d love to share your success story!

Game Changers brings 60 Seeds to Ireland to explore conflict transformation

Jul 15, 2012 / 3 Comments

DUBLIN | This July, approximately 60 Seeds from the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States are coming together in Ireland to learn about past approaches to international conflicts, with an emphasis on peace-building processes between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.

While focusing on the people, events, and ideas that lead to a “game-change” in situations of conflict and war, delegates at the week-long international conference consider practical ways to apply the lessons they are learning to their own regions. The program represents the first collaboration between the Irish American Peace Foundation and Seeds of Peace.

Daily Schedule

Arrival at Headfort School | July 10

After many hours of travel—many of our journeys were over 24 hours—and a few glitches, we all made it safely to Headfort School, our host institution in the beautiful countryside of the Republic of Ireland where we are to spend most of our time. The family estate, built in 1770, was transformed into a private boarding school in 1949. A small and welcoming staff team is taking good care of us, and Graduate Seed and counselor Ghassan has been keeping everyone energized and entertained with different team-building activities throughout the day.

Exploring conflict past and present | July 11-12

The first full day of “Game Changers” started with introductory remarks from former Irish Minister of Education and European Commissioner Richard Burke, who was kind enough to deliver a few words of welcome and provide us with an overview of Irish history and identity, setting the context for the rest of our week: an exploration of the lessons of past peace processes and a consideration of practical steps that could move Seeds’ communities toward peace.

The 60 participating Seeds, who hail from the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States, continued the morning with an opportunity to learn about the different conflict areas Seeds come from. Graduate Seeds Sawsan and Tal presented their respective national perspectives and personal experiences regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Yama, Shyam and Sana, from Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan respectively, also shared their narratives on the conflicts that touch their communities. The Seeds took advantage of this unique chance to ask each other questions, learn about other conflicts, and understand and reflect on their own conflicts more intimately.

We then divided the Seeds into inter-delegation working groups of about 15 each, which rotated between four workshops aimed at exploring some of the root causes of conflict and building an understanding of history and current issues. Seeds of Peace’s current director of Israeli programs, Eldad, himself a Graduate Seed, led a workshop on the historic role that foreign involvement—such as colonization and military interventions—has played in sparking or perpetuating conflict around the world. Tamer, another Graduate Seed and Israeli program coordinator, and Feruzan, director of Indian programs, jointly led a workshop focused on rights and civil justice.

Mohammed, a Graduate Seed and current director of Palestinian programs, explored the ways in which media can perpetuate or mitigate conflict, focusing in particular on the use of enemy images, censorship, propaganda, and political agendas. Lastly, Ashleigh, director of Graduate programs, and Yama, an Afghan Graduate Seed, presented a workshop on the role that resources—both natural and human—can play in relations between communities. Each encouraged the Seeds to critically assess the roles that different forces and concerns have played in the history of their conflicts as well as how they continue to shape present-day reality.

On Wednesday night, we were lucky enough to tour the capital city of Dublin. The rain did not stop us from enjoying the downtown area and spending an hour in a souvenir shop buying all things green!

The next morning, Professor and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Coexistence and Conflict at Brandeis University Mari Fitzduff delivered a remarkably engaging talk on the historic conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, theories and models of conflict transformation, and the connections between diverse cases of intra- and international conflict around the world. She left us with a renewed sense of hope, civic responsibility, and passion for change.

Belfast | July 13

Armed with a basic understanding of the historic conflict on the island of Ireland as well as with new insights into sources of conflict, we set off to Northern Ireland. Friday brought a tour of Belfast; we saw everything from the construction site of the infamous Titanic to the murals on the wall separating the predominantly Protestant Unionist Shankill Road from the majority Catholic Nationalist Falls Road.

We were privileged to hear from a diverse range of speakers during our stay in Belfast. Tommy, a former member of the Ulster Defense Association, shared his personal experiences and journey from being a UDA member to becoming a community peace worker, while Michael, a Republican Parliamentarian, touched on how the conflict continues to play out in government offices. Adree shared her work with a community foundation in underprivileged neighborhoods of Belfast, Michael spoke of the role that education can play in perpetuating or mitigating conflict between divided communities, and Gareth, a former Loyalist combatant, shared his story of transformation and the work he continues today with ex-combatant youth.

Our hosts are all active in their communities, and while they remain in profound disagreement about certain issues, they insist on the importance of cross-community work and the necessity for a peaceful transformation of the conflict. Their life stories and words of wisdom and encouragement left our Seeds with deep insight into the type of work that diverse communities undertook in Northern Ireland as part of the peace process—one that we have come to learn is multifaceted and continuing even 15 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the peace agreement that officially ended The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Engaging with narratives | July 14

An early Saturday wake-up and a short bus ride soon had us in the beautiful northern town of Derry/Londonderry, where our exploration of the conflict in Northern Ireland—and of our own conflicts—continued. We learned about the dynamics of division and unity that exist within the city through two guided tours, one with a Protestant Unionist and one with a Catholic Nationalist. The two narratives of identity, struggle, and power had the Seeds in genuine reflection about the roles that narratives play in their own lives.

We spent the afternoon at The Playhouse, an arts space in the old downtown area, hearing from a group of three community activists who spoke on the value of working across divides and engaging with the most difficult issues and constituencies. The day in Derry/Londonderry ended with an interactive workshop where we explored the power of personal storytelling and witnessing through theater.

Our ride back to Headfort featured beautiful scenery, farm animals left and right and, finally, some singing and dancing as we drove through the gates of a place some of us now refer to as our Irish home.

Reflections | July 15

We used our first morning back at Headfort to debrief our packed two-day trip in Northern Ireland. Through quiet personal writing, one-on-one sharing, and larger group processes, we reflected on the many things we learned, saw, and felt in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry. Seeds shared that beyond just learning about the conflict in Northern Ireland, they also noticed similarities and differences when comparing it to their own conflicts. This prompted a diversity of complex feelings and questions and, for the most part, left our Seeds feeling hopeful about the situations back home.

Our afternoon consisted of delegation meetings, a good long game of Capture the Flag, and an Open Space session that encouraged our Seeds to organize and lead their own activities. These ranged from lessons in basic German, traditional dances, world accents, and martial arts to a discussion about the importance of education and a time for ‘honest conversations.’ Open Space allowed the Seeds to share their many talents, to learn from each other, and to demonstrate and enhance their leadership skills.

Looking ahead | July 16

With only one full day left together, we made the most of our collective brain power to start talking about a difficult yet crucial question: What comes next? What do we do after the seminar? How do we take the lessons learned here and apply them to our own contexts? What are some concrete ways in which we can engage one another and our communities and create positive change?

During a group brainstorm session, we looked back at the many concrete measures of peace-building that were taken in Northern Ireland and categorized them into five main groups. These diverse players and fields—media, politics/economy, the public, youth, and outside influencers—have the potential to positively affect conflict and bring about comprehensive peace. We thus deemed it important to explore them more profoundly. Seeds chose the committee of most interest to them and, in inter-delegation groups, came up with different project ideas within the field that could potentially bring about change in their own communities. They then presented these ideas to the larger group and received applause, positive critique, and encouragement. Some of the ideas presented included mixed schools in Israel and Palestine to combat the discrimination and stereotypes children learn at a young age, a video campaign featuring people’s stories about meeting ‘the other side’ for the first time, and many other context-specific projects our Seeds plan on starting soon or sometime further down the line.

After another creative Open Space session, we were ecstatic to video chat with Leslie and Wil from Camp. Camp and lake nostalgia settled in under sounds of ‘awww’ from the 60 Seeds and 15 staff members present, many of whom are Graduate Seeds themselves. Especially happy were members of the Blue Team after Wil announced who had won Color Games. (N.B. the author of this post maintains the inherent superiority of the Green Team, regardless of who jumps in the lake first.)

We celebrated the end of our week together with a big BBQ outside, for which the sun and rain were pleasantly cooperative. One of our Irish host’s children treated us to a stunning bagpipe performance, the chef made Neveen, a Jordanian Seed, a large chocolate cake for her birthday, and Seeds took the time to spark conversations they hadn’t had yet, to take pictures, and to simply enjoy one another’s company.

Departure | July 17

Departure days are always difficult at Seeds of Peace. Our day started with the American delegation leaving us on a 6 a.m. bus and ended 12 hours later with final goodbyes to Headfort as a bus of Pakistanis and a few staff members drove away. It’s hard to believe that the Game Changers Seminar is over. We are grateful to have learned all we did and to be returning home with newfound knowledge, insights, skills, and friendships. We’ve had an incredible experience and hope you’ve enjoyed it vicariously through these reports and pictures of us. This is what 80 members of the Seeds family learning about comparative conflict in Ireland looks like!

GAME CHANGERS PHOTOS

U.S. Seeds facilitate dialogue in Detroit

Feb 27, 2012 / No Comments

DETROIT | At the end of February, five American Seeds traveled to Michigan to lead dialogue sessions and continue learning about the role that facilitators can play in conflict resolution.

Over the course of two days, which served as the second portion of the American Seeds Advanced Dialogue Program, they reinforced and built on training and experience they received in the fall.

On February 24, the Seeds played a crucial role in Cranbrook Schools’ annual World Affairs Seminar, CultureSpeak, by facilitating dialogue about culture, race, religion, politics, identity, and community.

The Seeds designed the format and content of the dialogue sessions themselves during a special advanced training conducted by professional Seeds of Peace facilitators that took place on November 27 as an extension of the 2011 American Seed Thanksgiving Conference. Each session began with an activity focused on trust and relationship building before turning to the discussion itself; Seeds also left time after the main discussion for participants to reflect on the difficulties, discomforts, surprises, and benefits of engaging in dialogue.

Seeds’ skills were tested by the wide range of emotions triggered by the sessions, particularly when discussion focused on bullying and what it means to be a “real American.”

Participating Cranbrook students appreciated that the Seeds created a safe environment in which they felt free to share their experiences and were grateful for the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with peers outside of their own friend groups.

“This has been really interesting,” one student said. “No offense, but I didn’t know a lot of people in this group and wouldn’t have had a reason to meet you. Now I know you’re all right. I’ll say hi to you in the halls now.”

Following each dialogue, the American Seeds debriefed with each other and with the professional facilitator who had led the training at the Thanksgiving Conference, giving and receiving constructive criticism and putting into words the lessons they learned from real-life implementation of their new skills. In working through the challenges of the sessions, Seeds gained confidence and began to see themselves as true facilitators.

“As a camper, I had experienced and had come to trust ‘the process’ and thus wished to instill this trust in youth just like me,” said Blake, a Seed from Los Angeles.

“I had experienced firsthand the stereotypes and prejudices one feels against his or her enemy as well as the environment of security, absence of fear, and respect for another’s practices and opinions that results from facilitated dialogue,” he said. “Therefore, I wished to assist others in finding common ground.”

“When it was over, I felt extremely proud because I successfully played the role of facilitator and some of the activities I helped lead had had a profound emotional impact on some of the kids—one girl broke out in tears and another left with a radiant smile on her face.”

On February 25, the Seeds’ program continued with a tour of the city of Hamtramck led by Dan and Sharon Buttry, both professional facilitators. Hamtramck gained national attention in 2004, when the city called for a referendum on an amendment to a city council noise ordinance allowing for places of worship to use amplifiers to broadcast calls to prayer.

Dan and Sharon, who successfully used facilitation to unify the city’s various religious communities in favor of the amendment, took Seeds to several mosques that were involved in the debate and then invited the group to their own home for further discussion. Dr. Karen Majewski, currently mayor of Hamtramck, joined the conversation in order to explain the role she took as chair of the City Council during the reconciliation process.

The ultimate goal of the American Seeds Advanced Dialogue Program is not only to train American Seeds to facilitate dialogue, but to empower them to initiate and lead dialogue sessions in their home communities.

Upon returning to Los Angeles, Blake independently proposed a program to his rabbi as well as to the imam of a mosque in the area and subsequently co-founded the Muslim-Jewish High School Leadership Council, “a select group of Muslim and Jewish high school students looking to build their leadership skills, create lasting relationships across faith boundaries and have an impact on important social issues in Los Angeles.”

Other Seeds likewise have created or expanded projects that will increase communication among people with varying backgrounds and viewpoints.

“From my experiences in New York and Michigan, I learned just how rewarding being a facilitator could be,” said Blake. “I will always treasure the facilitation skills I have learned and will utilize them regularly as I go about conducting my own interfaith dialogue sessions in my community.”

Read about the first half of the American Seeds Advanced Dialogue Program »

Seeds of Peace: It’s not just for kids
Washington File (US Department of State)

Aug 21, 2002 / No Comments

SUSAN DOMOWITZ | OTISFIELD, MAINE You’re never too old to go to camp, at least not when the camp is Seeds of Peace, in Otisfield, Maine. Seeds of Peace, founded by American journalist John Wallach in 1993, provides a peaceful place for teens from conflict areas to learn how to coexist. Every summer some 450 young people from conflict areas around the world, including the Middle East, the Balkans, and South Asia, come to Maine to participate in Seeds of Peace. They are accompanied by adult delegation leaders who come to Maine with them, and who share many of their camp experiences.

The young campers do all the usual things that kids at any summer camp do—sailing, tennis, swimming, and getting to know each other. But at Seeds of Peace, summer camp also includes sessions on learning to coexist and resolve conflicts, and both campers and delegation leaders participate in this process.

For the delegation leaders, who are appointed by their governments, the encounter with the enemy is an uncomfortable, but ultimately transforming experience—much as it is for the teen campers. Two delegation leaders—one Palestinian and one Israeli—readily agreed to talk to the Washington File about their experiences at Seeds of Peace. But because the delegation leaders have professional and family responsibilities in their home countries in the conflict region, they said they prefer not to have their names used when sharing their experiences.

“I was scared about coming to camp,” admits an Israeli delegation leader, “and I didn’t really know what to expect. But meeting Arabs was a good experience. This was a great opportunity to talk with each other.”

To the Palestinian delegation leader, Seeds of Peace is a unique experience. The conflict is still there, he says, but he now sees possibilities. “The walls are still there, but now they’re a little lower.”

“Look,” he says, “fifty-five years of fighting have brought no solution. It’s time to try another way.”

While the teen campers are learning to share a bunkhouse, meals, and activities with “the enemy,” the adult delegation leaders are going through much the same process. They share meals and cabins with the delegation leaders from the other side of the conflict. They participate in coexistence sessions. They learn to trust and help each other through the grueling group challenge of the Outward Bound program on Hurricane Island. And at the end of their three weeks in Maine, like their teen charges, they must cope with the return to a region in conflict.

“We live with a lot of tension and fear,” says one of the Israeli delegation leaders. “This (coexistence) is not going to be easy. But we’ve been breaking down stereotypes at camp, and I hope we can spread these new insights to the people around us.”

During the three-week camp session, in addition to their own coexistence activities, the delegation leaders are also serving as advisers to the teens, and liaisons to their governments. The adults hold bi-weekly delegation meetings with the campers from their country. These meetings are the only occasions at camp where English is replaced by the campers’ own languages, and they provide an occasion for the teens to air their concerns within their own country delegation. The delegation leaders also provide a helpful reality check to the teens, who will confront very difficult and dangerous situations when they return to their home communities.

The coexistence sessions, they say, are difficult. But they agree that the results are worth it. One of the Palestinian delegation leaders says he would like to tell both sides in the Middle East that “we can have a dialogue. There is another way to resolve this conflict.”

The delegation leaders’ program is coordinated by Dr. Barbara Zasloff, a clinical psychologist who specialized in child custody issues for 25 years before becoming full-time Vice-President of Seeds of Peace. Zasloff sees similarities between child custody battles and the hard issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians. “For these parties (Israelis and Palestinians), the fighting is as intimate as a family fighting over the children. And in a sense, the adversaries in these conflicts are ‘family,’ too.”

The Outward Bound survival course on Hurricane Island, which teaches trust and team building to the delegation leaders, is really an opportunity for the adults to realize that “you can do things you never thought you could do,” Zasloff explains.

At the end of the three-week camp session, Zasloff says, the delegation leaders are ready to discuss the most difficult issues. During the course of these discussions, they must explain to the other side why it is so difficult for them to compromise on a given issue. Each side gains an understanding of the other’s view of the situation. Delegation leaders are given a specific topic to work on during camp.

As an example, a Palestinian and an Israeli delegation leader described a project in which all the delegation leaders were asked to see if they could agree on “what is needed for a safe, decent life in the Middle East.” Arab and Israeli delegation leaders found that they agreed on 20 of their 24 requirements for “a decent life.” These 20 common points included such things as open borders, democracy, the rule of law, free access to holy sites for all religions, safety and security. The four points on which they differed included—to no one’s surprise—some of the major sticking points in the Middle East conflict, among them the status of Jerusalem, and the right of return.

The delegation leaders say that because they realized that they already agreed on so much, they could begin to discuss the more difficult issues. And while they did not come to any final agreement on these hard issues, they felt they had learned to understand the other side’s point of view.

Delegation leaders have a role to play after camp, too. They help develop an infrastructure of support for the teen “graduates” of Seeds of Peace, and they stay in touch with each other through workshops at the Seeds of Peace center in Jerusalem, and through annual delegation leaders conferences.

An Israeli delegation leader said that staying in touch with delegation leaders from the other side was important, and that she hoped Seeds of Peace would support their efforts to maintain contact. Her Palestinian counterpart agreed, and said he hoped Seeds of Peace could support follow-up in neighborhoods and local associations on both sides of the conflict.

“You have to have hope,” he said. “We hope we can eventually get our political leaders to follow us.”

Pakistani Seeds break digital, cultural boundaries with EPIC programming

Jun 23, 2020 / No Comments

LAHORE | Even in the best of times, it takes a lot of planning, care, and skill to create a space where people can grow; where they can challenge their perspectives, make mistakes and know that their peers—even those whom they barely know—will pick them back up.

To build that type of trust across lines of difference, and hundreds of miles of distance, is a whole other challenge.

This spring, eight Pakistani Seeds from Lahore and Karachi showed that not only were they up for the task, but they were ready to take on more. In April, they held the first edition of Evaluating Perspectives, Identities, and Cultures (EPIC), a free of cost, Seed-led program centered around dialogue exploring different provincial identities in Pakistan. It went so well that they’re currently planning a second edition for July, 2020.

“The first successful run of the program was mind blowing to me,” said Ali Haris, a 2018 Seed. While he said he previously believed that dialogue couldn’t effectively be conducted online, “seeing people’s lives impacted and changed toward the end of the program broke the false notion I held.”

Over the course of five days, the Seeds led participants in activities and dialogues that were designed to help participants engage with their identity and question their preconceived notions.

Approximately 150 teenagers applied for the April program, and the selected 28 attendees spanned different socio-economic lines and identities from four different provinces in Pakistan.

“We live in an environment that heavily affects who we are and who we become,” read the students’ description of the program. “Our identities are a reflection of not only the micro environment, but also the macro environment, and it’s absolutely essential to understand who you are through the lens of culture, values and norms that are shaped provincially and nationally. We invite you to have a dialogue around it, and do it, the Seeds of Peace way!!”

Despite the students having schoolwork, internet connectivity issues, other personal commitments, and even family members battling COVID-19 infections, the Seeds worked tirelessly to pull off the program, and the students showed up every day to delve into difficult questions.

“It was one of the better virtual programs I’ve seen among 14- to 16-year olds,” said Hana Tariq, head of curriculum for Beyond the Classroom, which partners with Seeds of Peace to run local programs in Pakistan. “I feel that it started with awkwardness on the first day and ended with hope to meet each other as soon as the lockdown ends. There was willingness to learn, to experience, and to open up.”

While having to run the program virtually came with its challenges, it also made the program accessible to students who might not have been able to participate otherwise.

“Probably 70 percent of the participants wouldn’t have come had it not been online because they would have had to travel so far to attend,” Hana said.

Highlights of the week included learning directly about what it means to live in Kashmir under occupation from a student who had spent much of his life there, as well as a day where Seeds from India were invited to participate in dialogue.

For Ali Haris, another particularly impactful moment brought him back to Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine.

“One of the participants who previously held a conservative view about an issue actually challenged herself and went to educate herself on the topic,” he said. “That was one moment when I realised how similar it was to the light-bulb moments that happened to me at Camp, and showed me that you can definitely make a huge impact through a virtual connection.”

If the participants’ feedback were any indication of the program’s success, the Seeds, who attended the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine in 2015-19, clearly hit the mark. Multiple participants thanked the Seeds for creating a safe space, “where you can talk out your heart and without fear,” wrote one participant.

“The facilitators did such good work in collaborating with us and making us think critically and innovatively … the way they made us question ourselves—our perspectives, identities, conscience, and ideas—it has made us more confident about our true identities,” the participant wrote.

The team members (which includes nine Seed this time: Xainab, Awais, Ali Haris, Fatima, Mariam A., Mariam R., Samir, Rameez, and Taniya) were part of a group of Seeds that traveled to Turkey last year to participate in a facilitation and mediation course.

The EPIC course was formed out of a desire to pay forward what they learned from that four-day workshop, Hana said, as well as an exercise in leadership: a chance to see how projects come together, to learn how to express an idea, to work through disagreements within a team, and to try —and succeed—in challenges they previously didn’t think possible.

“Neither me nor any of the team members had any prior experience designing curriculum,” said Xainab, a 2017 Seed.

“We had to be thorough and careful. It required long hours and re-reviewing everything a 100 times! But our expectations were exceeded in terms of how much the group grew in only a span of five days! Seeing those speak up who didn’t speak as frequently and seeing some of the participants who did speak frequently create space for others, for example, was something that was very rewarding for us to see.”

Learn more about our South Asia programs ››

Nomar, Mia visit Seeds of Peace: ‘You see the joy’
Portland Press Herald

Jul 30, 2010 / No Comments

Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra are among this year’s guest stars at Seeds of Peace Camp.

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.

“You know the lives they’ll go back to, but you look in their faces and see the joy,” Garciaparra said Thursday morning. “They’re giving me much more than I can give them.”

This is Seeds of Peace, the oasis away from the world’s centuries-old battle for hearts and minds and land in the Middle East. Children from other places where fear and danger are constant companions also arrive here each summer.

It’s a universal mission: Dialogue can affect peace better than terror. Plant that seed.

“I go to sleep, thinking of my problems,” said Brian Scalabrine, a free agent after four seasons with the New Jersey Nets and the past five with the Boston Celtics. “What’s my future hold? Where will I play? Will my kids be safe? And then I think of the kids I’ve met here. What are their futures?”

Scalabrine was a rookie in 2001 when he first came to Seeds of Peace with Tellem and another rookie class of the agent’s clients. Unlike most of the others, Scalabrine has returned every year since. “In my lifetime, I want to see peace in the Middle East,” he said.

On Thursday, Nets rookie Brian Zoubek unfolded his 7-foot-1 frame from the SUV that also brought Xavier Henry (Memphis Grizzlies) and Scottie Reynolds (Phoenix Suns) to this place. Teresa Edwards, the forever young, 46-year-old Hall of Fame player from Georgia, also came. She was a five-time Olympian, winning basketball gold four times—the youngest at 20 in 1984, and the oldest at 36 in 2000.

“I’ve been blessed with a career that’s allowed me to travel the world,” Edwards said. “I know what’s out there.”

She didn’t know what to expect Thursday. Breaking for lunch, she was still trying to get her arms around the hellos and the smiles and a growing feeling of wonder. That she was able to get her arms around individual campers went without saying.

The task wasn’t to solve problems, but to let young men and women know they mattered. A smile works. Simple questions and simple answers, the tools of conversation, work too.

This wasn’t a USO troupe dropping in to entertain the troops. Believe it or not, March Madness and Major League Baseball don’t reach deep into the Middle East. The campers understood and appreciated that these men and women were stars. Wil Smith, the camp director, told them that.

The campers reached out to their guests on a far easier and more relaxed level. Nomar and Mia, Scalabrine and Edwards and the others responded the same way.

Maybe an American Seed, as they’re called, or an American counselor asked Garciaparra what he thought of the Red Sox chances this year. Maybe not. Those Seeds from Gaza or Jerusalem didn’t care. They were more interested that the man helping Hamm was her husband.

Some Red Sox fans saw Garciaparra in one dimension: He could play shortstop better than most and he could certainly hit. If they bothered to peer into his soul, they would have found an intelligent, compassionate and friendly man.

“I kept telling Arn I wanted to do this, but after I retire. Well, I’m retired.”

Tellem was a camper here more than 40 years ago when Seeds of Peace was Camp Powhatan and Tim Wilson was his counselor. Wilson was the first Seeds of Peace camp director. He’s retired but that doesn’t keep him away.

“We look for people who can make a difference, even if it’s just for one day,” Tellem said.

Someone came over to tell Garciaparra he had been picked for a soccer team for the next 15 minutes. The Yankees. He grimaced. And laughed.

“This is all hard to put into words,” Hamm said during a break. “It’s beyond my expectations. Everyone is so committed. Watching (the Seeds) talk to each other, play together … it’s emotional.”

Nearby, Zoubek, the former Duke basketball star, left the court to sneak into the soccer net to play goalie. Someone lined up to take a shot. The laughter was loud.

Read Steve Solloway’s article and view John Patriquin’s photos at The Portland Press Herald »

Seeds of Peace camp welcomes first Afghan participants
Washington File (US Department of State)

Jul 12, 2002 / No Comments

BY WENDY ROSS | OTISFIELD, MAINE Following six years of traumatization under the Taliban regime, and years of war in their country, twelve teenagers from Afghanistan—six boys and six girls—are now discussing those days in daily sessions mediated by trained facilitators at the Seeds of Peace lakeside camp in rural Maine.

It is the first time that Afghan youth have been included in the Seeds of Peace program that each summer brings 13- to 16-year-old young people from war-torn areas of the world—principally the Middle East, South Asia, and the Balkans—to this bucolic site. The participants stay for several weeks, living together and discussing the tensions between their nations.

The Seeds of Peace program, founded in 1993, is funded primarily by private and corporate donors, with some help from the U.S. government. The U.S. State Department, in conjunction with Seeds, is sponsoring the Afghan youth under a pilot program.

Including the Afghans, there are 166 participants at the camp’s first session, which runs from June 26 through July 17, and culminates with a visit to Washington, D.C.

The program for the Afghans, said Bobbie Gottschalk, the program’s executive director, “is a little different from what we have done before.” They are not at the camp to discuss differences among Afghanistan’s ethnic groups, but rather to share with each other the experiences they went through for so many years, she said.

Here, she said, there are people who can help the kids understand the trauma and help them make some sense of it, because what they went through was “crazy.” Under the Taliban regime, “they couldn’t do all the things that children usually do,” she said.

“Most of them were kept inside and the girls couldn’t go to school. They had underground schools. Their parents were arrested, their parents lost their jobs, their English teachers were shot because they taught English. Just all kinds of horrible things like that,” said Gottschalk.

When they first arrived at the camp, the Afghan kids did not talk very much, and did not understand very much, she said. “But we have some staff members who speak Farsi and that’s close enough to their own language, and also some of them speak Urdu, and that’s what the Pakistanis can speak to them in. So they’ve had a chance to get things explained and connections made. And I think everybody here is very welcoming to them,” she said.

“I have pictures that I have taken of them from the first days and all through the time and you can see the openness emerge on their faces,” Gottschalk said.

The Afghan program is a completely new initiative, said Marieke van Woerkom, a facilitator at the camp and fulltime Seeds staffer, who has been with the program for seven years.

“With the Afghan kids, we have them all together daily in one session,” to discuss their recent history, she said, “with two facilitators, one who speaks Farsi.”

“There are conflicts within the Afghan group itself,” she noted, “because the kids, even though they all live in Kabul now, are from different parts of the country. Some of them are from refugee families that ended up in Kabul. So the different conflicts, different ethnic groups, within Afghanistan are also represented within that group.”

The Afghan campers, she said, “are working on sharing their stories of what it has been like to live under the Taliban; what it has been like to live in a country that has been destroyed by war on so many different levels.”

Just to be able to talk together about their experiences, their fears, and their oppression in an environment that is nurturing and safe, is wonderful for them, van Woerkom said. “The girls especially have so many stories of what it was like for them to live under the Taliban. What it was like to not be able to go to school, and the way they were oppressed,” she said.

“Initially they said they were not going to swim, even though we have a separate swimming area for girls and boys. But three of them decided they would swim, so we got them long tights and long sleeved shirts and they swim in those. And it’s wonderful. They are learning how to swim. They are as happy as can be in that regard,” she said.

Aside from holding daily discussions together, the Afghan youth in every other way are part of the overall camp population. They share cabins with boys and girls from India and Pakistan, are assigned to dining tables with campers from all the different nations, and they participate in all the camp activities together with the other kids.

Coming to the United States was “a very big shock for them,” said Megan Hughes, education coordinator for the Seeds of Peace program. For six years the girls were not allowed to attend school under the Taliban regime, she said, and as a result “their English is not as good as that of some of the other campers. But they are doing well.”

When they first arrived at the camp “they were probably among the campers that felt the most intimidated by other campers, by their surroundings, by what was expected of them. I think they didn’t really have a clear idea of why they were here. But over the past few weeks there has been a huge transformation,” Hughes said. “Just yesterday we had a girls’ dance party that was going on during general swim time, where the Afghan girls and the Pakistani girls knew the same kinds of music, so they were teaching all the other girls their traditional dances which are very similar. So you can see in little ways how they are starting to feel more acclimated, how they feel more comfortable being here.”

An example of that is fifteen year old Sapna Rasoul of Kabul, one of the six female campers from Afghanistan, who was able to explain in broken English how much she likes the camp and how much she will miss it and her new friends when she returns home. Sapna said she “is so much happier” now that her country is free, and she can go to school, and speak out openly. She is now in the ninth/tenth grade, she said, and wants either to be a physician or a lawyer when she grows up so she can help her people.

When she first arrived in the United States, she said, she was shocked by the way women dressed, since in Afghanistan under the Taliban, women had to be completely covered whenever they left their homes.

Fourteen year old Mojibullah (Mojib), also from Kabul, said his time at the Seeds of Peace camp has been “very useful” to him, despite the fact that he was initially wary of coming to it. His parents, a Red Cross worker and a housewife, he said, were instrumental in sending him, but he objected at first. But as soon as he disembarked from the airplane in New York “after a very long and very hard trip,” he said, he knew his parents had made the right choice for him.

Mojib says he enjoys the camp “very much because we learn about peace and friendship, so that we can help our people when we return home.”

Asked about the plight of girls under the Taliban, Mojib pointed out that when he first began school, his big sister took him by the hand to school. She was in the sixth class and he was just beginning school. “Now we are both in the same class,” he said, because under the Taliban she was not permitted to go to school for six years.

“That’s amazing,” he said. “She was studying at home by herself, and now when the education starts back both she and I are in the same class.”

Mojib said both he and his sister want to become engineers so they can help in the rebuilding of their country after years of war. “It is impossible to forget quickly what happened,” he said.

He pointed out that the Seeds of Peace program he is participating in lasts 24 days, compared to the 23 years of war his nation has endured. “For 23 years we had a war in our country, so they gave us 24 days here,” he said, but that is not long enough to forget.

“We cannot forget 23 years of war in 24 days,” he said.

He said he is “very thankful” that the U.S. government and Seeds of Peace made a place for the Afghan kids this summer. He said he is sad at the thought he will be leaving the United States soon and added that he hopes he can return one day to study here where the educational opportunities are better than in his own country.

American Seeds hear from New York Times documentary filmmaker about women candidates in Saudi Arabia

Feb 27, 2017 / No Comments

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace partnered with the Producers’ Club for the second installment of the Leaders² Speaker Series, held on February 26 in New York City.

The event brought together 20 Seeds, Seed parents, board members, and members of the wider Seeds of Peace community for a film screening and question and answer session with New York Times reporter, documentary filmmaker, and Egyptian Seed Mona.

The documentary, Ladies First, chronicles three women running for office and voting for the first time in Saudi Arabia. The event provided an opportunity for the Seeds to gain deeper insight from an alumnus on topics such as reporting in Saudi Arabia, challenges facing democratic reform in the country, as well as women’s rights in the Middle East.

Mona also shared her personal experiences of making the film.

“The Seeds were keenly interested in her perspective,” said Seeds of Peace’s Clarke Reeves, who organized the evening. “Having an intimate setting with which to learn more from Mona, understand the criticism she faced, and see how her Seeds of Peace experience influenced her, provided them with a unique viewpoint into the process of using reporting as a tool for social change.”