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Rookies ready to help at Seeds of Peace International Camp
NBA.com

Jul 31, 2009 / No Comments

Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington aren’t sure what to expect out of this camp and they’ve each attended plenty of others in their day. The former college rivals and recent first-round picks are taking part in the Seeds of Peace International Camp with an open mind.

The same goes for the campers.

“I’ve never gone to camp like this,” said Henderson, a Duke product and Bobcats rookie. “I always went with the same kids and always played basketball. I’ve never thought about who I was camping with and what they were going through in their lives.”

Former Tar Heel and Timberwolves’ choice Ellington added: “I want to go and learn more about this. I know a little about the Middle East conflict. It’s definitely an experience that’s worth going to and take some time doing.”

Henderson and Ellington are taking part in the Play for Peace basketball clinic Monday, along with 140 Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and American youth. Also scheduled to participate are Seeds of Peace veterans Brian Scalabrine (Celtics) and Jordan Farmar (Lakers), rookie Tyreke Evans (Kings) and former WNBA star Barbara Turner.

Arn Tellem, agent of both Henderson and Ellington, recruited the two rookies to take part in a camp close to his heart. Tellem is the president of Wasserman Media Group Management and a Seeds of Peace board member. The yearly camp, which focuses on leadership and conflict resolution, is located in Otisfield, Maine.

“At a critical moment in the Middle East with renewed interest in diplomacy, it’s important that the players do their part to advance understanding and coexistence,” Tellem said. “Every year, this visit becomes an experience as much for the players as it is for the camp participants.”

The Obama administration has placed a great deal of emphasis in the Arab-Israeli peace process, in addition to outreach initiations in Arab and Muslim communities. Such politically-charged issues are not often associated with the NBA, which does take great pride in its humanitarian efforts, including NBA Cares, around the world.

“Honestly, I’m not involved in politics as much as I should,” Henderson said. “When I heard about what goes on there it was something I wanted to be involved in and see for myself.

“I’ve always been involved with going to hospitals, clinics or summer camps, but nothing where it’s a little about basketball, and more about the kids and learning about new cultures. Hopefully through basketball we’re able to bring them together. I’m looking forward to it.”

The basketball clinic will focus on team-building exercises, giving the campers up-close and personal interaction with players at the highest level.

“Sports, and in particular, basketball, is a very important part of the camp experience,” camp director Leslie Lewin said. “The visit of the NBA players helps teach the importance of cooperation and trust, and helps draw attention to the courageous efforts of our campers.”

But what the campers learn from the NBA players is only part of the mission.

“The kids might not know too much about each other,” Ellington said. “All they know is the conflict. It’s a chance to get to know each other and unite and find that they had more in common than they thought.”

Read Art Garcia’s article at NBA.com »

Seed Stories: Finding a home in the field

Jun 3, 2019 / 1 Comment

Twenty-five years ago, I was born in a refugee camp in Kenya after my parents fled the civil war in Somalia. My parents struggled to keep my brothers and I secure, fed, and sheltered.

Our struggle became even worse when my parents decided to divorce, divide the children they had together, and go their separate ways. I went with my father.

By the age of 6, I already had the responsibilities of an adult. I had to cook, clean, and look after my little brother while my father left to search for food. The shelter we lived in was slowly tearing apart. Every day, wild animals like hyenas and lions would dig, rip, and damage it, exposing us to the elements. Hope was slowly leaving our hearts.

But then, a miracle happened. After years of feeling hopeless, we learned that the United Nations had selected our family for resettlement to the United States. Friends and neighbors spoke highly of America and told us we were going to a place that was heaven on earth. We were extremely excited for the opportunities our new life was going to offer us. We had been given a second chance.

In September 2005, we were resettled to Syracuse, New York, one of the poorest cities in the nation, especially for black folks. We were nervous and unsure how to make use of the resources that were available. Paying monthly bills was a new idea to us. We did not know where to look for food and when we found it, our bodies rejected much of it. The only thing that tasted familiar was candy. It was a completely new world.

We were given a home in an area Syracuse people know as the Bricks. It was also known as the hood or the projects. We didn’t know what the “hood” was or what it meant to live in one, but we were confident that it was going to be better than the refugee camp we came from.

I was excited to go to school. Unable to speak the English language, I used basic senses to understand and communicate with my peers. After my first week of school, I was bullied by a classmate. At the time, I was naive and did not realize I was being bullied. I comprehended the situation as a way Americans communicate and thought that it was a weird way to make a new friend.

From the time I began school, to the time I went to college, I lost count of the number of times I was attacked. I soon learned that the people attacking me were affiliated with gangs. They had guns and were not afraid to use them. At night, I would hear gunshots near my house. In the morning, as I walked to the area where the bus picked me up for school, I would see a trail of blood on the pavement from someone who had been wounded.

As I began to understand English, I realized I was not safe from verbal attacks either. I was treated like a criminal based on my skin color. People called the cops on my friends and I, when we hadn’t done anything wrong. I learned to avoid looking like a Muslim whenever there was an attack on American soil. l was made to feel that coming to America as a refugee who seeks asylum is the worst thing you can be. People automatically concluded that you had come to take away their American Dream. All of the ignorant, negative stereotypes that were associated with coming from a refugee camp in Kenya were hurled in my direction. Once, a fellow classmate scraped cookie crumbs off of her desk and into her palm after eating a cookie and tried to hand me the crumbs, suggesting I should eat them. It was the most dehumanizing incident I’ve ever experienced in my short life, one I still struggle to forget.

This was not the America I was told about back in the refugee camp. I began to hate who I was and where I came from because of the way people treated me. As a result of these experiences, a small, negative voice developed in my mind, which gradually got louder. It was saying things such as ‘You are nothing. You deserve nothing. You are a burden to people; you are worthless.’ I could not turn it off. I was feeling mental pain that hurt more than physical pain. I didn’t know what it was but I wanted it to stop.

But then another miracle happened. I learned about Seeds of Peace. I didn’t know what it was, but I liked the word ‘peace’ in the organization’s name. My brothers told me it was a place where we could water-ski and play soccer every day. I went to the introductory meetings held after school. It sounded amazing and just what I had been yearning for and from the moment I set foot on the Camp’s grounds, I knew a journey of self-discovery and transformation had begun.

In the dialogue hut, I was given the space to unbottle all of the things I had bottled up over the years. I allowed myself to venture out of my comfort zone, to try new activities and to learn more about myself and others. Although I am normally a reserved and shy person, I found myself singing and dancing in front of people in an uninhibited way. I bonded with people from different socio-economic, racial, and religious backgrounds over bonfires and s’mores. I was made to feel that I was enough, and that my difference was beautiful. It was the happiest three weeks of my life.

There’s a saying at Seeds of Peace: out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. I learned that people in this field look beyond labels of society. They use the “I” statement when they speak and not “they” or “them.” They delve into the most challenging topics fearlessly in the hope of growing past their comfort zone. They listen with their whole bodies even when they disagree with what is being said. They love with their whole hearts and help each other dismantle and heal from past experiences. This was an unreal experience. Unknowingly, it was what I had been searching for my whole life. It refurbished the hope that had been damaged by the outside world. Seeds of Peace became the place I call home.

Today, I work as a substitute teacher in the public schools of Syracuse and use every opportunity to mentor, educate, and empower students to become more than what the hood offers. I am on the board of directors for a non-profit that connects new Americans to the resources that help them transition into their new life. I am also on the board of a local non-profit credit union that helps fight off big banks that make poor communities poorer and works to keep the community’s money within the community. And I am working on a documentary that helps people understand what it means to be a refugee in America.

For as long as I walk this earth, I plan to keep what Seeds of Peace made me feel in my heart and use it as a hope for what this world can one day become. No matter where life takes me, I plan to live by the late Camp Director Wil Smith’s words and do “whatever I can, with whatever I have, wherever I am.”

Excerpt from remarks delivered at the 2019 Spring Benefit Dinner on April 30 in New York.

Seeds survey: 76% contributing to conflict transformation​

May 24, 2018 / No Comments

The stats behind our alumni impact

It’s hard to look at the state of affairs in the world and feel hopeful—especially in the places that Seeds of Peace works today: the Middle East, where the peace process has largely been declared extinct; South Asia, where violence continues to flare in Kashmir and talks between India and Pakistan remain stagnant; and the US, which is experiencing the most intense period of polarization in a generation.

Yet while ‘peace’ may still feel elusive, a new survey of Seeds of Peace alumni offers hope that there is a rising generation of new leaders pushing progress forward. As we approached our 25th year, we set out to quantify our impact—not determined by whether or not peace on earth exists, but against our stated mission of developing new generations of leaders who have the skills and desire to transform conflict.

While it may not be possible to put a number on something as tenuous and fragile as peace, you can calculate the number of people you’ve touched over the years, and then assess the impact they in turn are having in their communities.

The method

With guidance from experts at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, we sent out a comprehensive survey last summer to our Seeds across the globe, asking about where they are today and the impact they are having in their societies. We started off with a representative sample of Seeds who went to the Seeds of Peace Camp between 1993-2009, currently ranging in age from approximately 22-38 years old. From this sample, we drew a randomized pool of respondents relative to their regional demographics. Their responses held both the statistical confidence and margin of error levels acceptable in the broader field of social science research, which allows us to make conclusions about our broader alumni community based on this data.

The math

  • A whopping 76% of our respondents stated that they were contributing to conflict transformation through economic, social, or political change, either professionally or through activities in their personal lives.
  • 62% stated that this work is through their primary occupation. Alina (Israeli Delegation, 2002) and Shico (Egyptian Delegation, 2003) are great examples of Seeds who are having a political and economic impact in their careers.
  • 61% reported involvement in volunteer work that contributes to conflict transformation. And of this group, 61% said that they held leadership roles in these peacebuilding activities, initiatives, or movements.
  • Respondents reach and impact an average of 1,893 individuals through their work, and 29% said they reach 5,000 individuals or more.*
  • 40% of Israeli and Palestinian respondents claimed to have cross-conflict relationships. In comparison, a 2015 PEW Research Forum report found that only 2% of Jews and only 15% of Muslims in Israel alone maintain relationships with people outside their own religious group. (Given the challenges and constraints in connecting Israelis with Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza, it can be assumed that the levels of connection between these groups would be even lower than the levels reported between Arabs and Jews within Israel.)
  • 89% of respondents considered themselves supporters or ambassadors of Seeds of Peace, and 99% said they’d recommend Seeds of Peace to members of their community.

*The specific numbers reached by those working to transform conflict cannot be generalized to the broader alumni population.

The mission

Seeds of Peace boasts 6,698 alumni from 27 countries. But we have a singular mission: inspire and cultivate new generations of leaders to transform conflict. We believe that true peace isn’t made on pieces of paper, but through building meaningful relationships between people across lines of conflict. Our research now shows that our Seed community around the globe is working, dreaming, and living the values implanted at the start of their Seeds of Peace journey. They are taking steps to enact the kinds of economic, social, and political change necessary to transform conflict and build peace.

How are you becoming the change you want to see in this world? Share your story of impact with us!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: Seeds of Peace “is the future”

Sep 23, 2014 / 4 Comments

NEW YORK | In a speech on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas outlined his vision for peace and pointed skeptics to Seeds of Peace.

“To those who say peace between Israelis and Palestinians is impossible, I say, let them visit America. I say, let them visit Maine,” he said to an audience at Cooper Union college on September 22.

“In Maine every summer, young Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, Arabs, and others meet in a camp called Seeds of Peace, founded in 1993. They build the very world I am calling for in Palestine.”

“It works. It is real. It is the future.”

Full remarks

President Bharucha, Mr. Clark, distinguished faculty and guests, religious leaders, dear students and members of the Cooper Union community, thank you for this opportunity to speak at one of the world’s most distinguished colleges.

From Cooper Union I would like to say: thank you America for extraordinary efforts that you have made to create peace in Palestine. And in particular to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, for their endless trips, back and forth, in search of peace.

What President Obama and Secretary Kerry did took courage. Just as it took courage for Abraham Lincoln to stand at this very podium to argue for the end of slavery.

I am honored today to stand in front of you at this podium, where eight men who were or became American Presidents have stood and announced their programs and platforms.

This great hall has been instrumental in furthering the Abolitionist Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, American Labor Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Native American Rights Movement. These walls have heard men and women speak far more eloquent than me; I ask their accommodation for the next half hour, to also hear me.

I come here today to convey to you the greetings of my people in Palestine who aspire for peace and justice. Palestine is a country in the heart of the Middle East. A country in the Middle East where Christians and Muslims live in harmony. A country in the Middle East, the birth place of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem, where I pray with my follow Palestinian Christians three times every year. A country that hopes to live in peace and security side by side with its neighbor, the State of Israel.

I come today to pledge to create the new peaceful State of Palestine. I come here to ask you to rethink Palestine.

This may especially be seen by some as an odd and hard place for a faithful Muslim to talk peace. Here, almost in the shadow of Ground Zero, where thousands of innocent American men, women and children were also victimized on a quiet September day.

But today in Cooper Union, I stand on the same place where Abraham Lincoln stood over 150 years ago and condemned the scourge of slavery, to state, loud and clear, that we the Palestinian people condemn terrorism, we condemn what happened on 9/11, we condemn the treatment of Christians and non-Christians by ISIS. I am speaking on behalf of 99 percent of the Muslim peoples around the world. Here, today, nearly in the shadow of Ground Zero, I state to the world: the barbarians of ISIS and Al Qaeda who kill innocent people are not faithful Muslims. And to the children and families of the victims of 9/11, I say as a Palestinian Muslim, I am sorry for your pain. These murderers do not represent Islam, we all stand against them to defeat their evil plans.

At the same time we must work to end the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state, for we cannot fight terror only by the gun.

Recently at the Vatican, Pope Francis, Shimon Peres, the former President of Israel, and I prayed together for peace. We prayed together because though we come from three different religious traditions, we all pray, in fact, to the same one God of Abraham.

Our holy book the Quran says: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah the most righteous of you.”

I am older than you. 79 years old to be exact. My life has been largely lived–for better or worse. So today, I come to tell you young people what I prayed for in the Vatican. I prayed for different world.

I prayed that day for an end to the occupation of my country Palestine, and my people. I prayed for a free and independent Palestine that will live side-by-side in peace, security, and prosperity with its neighbor, the State of Israel.

As you may know, Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully together in Palestine for centuries. So peace between religions runs through the heart of the most sacred City in the world, Jerusalem. Peace between the world’s religions runs through Jericho the Oldest City on Earth. Peace between the world’s religions runs through Palestine.

I prayed with the Pope that day for a Palestine and Israel that build bridges together instead of walls.

I made a prayer that someday I will be able to enforce the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, which I have signed, and that we can make our new state of Palestine a model of women’s rights in the Arab world.

I also prayed that Israel will finally, after a long wait, live next to Palestine as a good neighbor and not as an occupier. So we Palestinians can continue to build our institutions for a modern and open state and society.

I made a prayer for an America that is a real friend of Israel, not a false friend. And just as real friends do not let friends drive drunk, so too a real friend of Israel would not let them engage in the widespread killing of women and children, including bombing United Nations schools and hospitals, such as we just saw in Gaza.

Just as real friends in America do not let friends break the law, a real friend of Israel would not let them advance 15,000 new illegal housing units while at the same time claiming to engage in peace talks.

Just as real friends in America don’t let their friends abuse their neighbor’s children, America as a real friend of Israel wouldn’t let them routinely arrest, beat and jail without charges Palestinian children, which has been well documented by both journalists and by independent human rights groups.

And so today, I come to ask you, the students of Cooper Union, I come indeed to ask all of the students of America and the world: Will you join this old man in his prayer? Will you help me to build a peaceful world? I am sure your answer is “yes, we will!”

Will you build this world I prayed for, and in fact, a better world than that, because, as the Christian Arab philosopher Khalil Gibran once said: “the future world of our children is so magical that an old man like me can never visit it, not even in my dreams.”

The people of Israel live today as our occupiers, and without a permanent vision of a peaceful coexistence with their very closest neighbors. This is not acceptable.

My people in Gaza live under siege by Israel, without freedom of travel, or of trade, with 80 percent of them now reliant on foreign aid, and in constant fear of being randomly bombed. They live locked in an open air prison. This is not acceptable.

To date, Israel maintains control of Gaza’s air space, territorial waters, electromagnetic sphere, population registry and the movement of all goods and people. The relatives of the very people in Gaza that Israel just killed even have to apply to Israel to obtain their death certificates. Is that a free people? This is not acceptable.

My people in the West Bank and East Jerusalem live under Israeli occupation, with segregated highways, behind huge walls, travelling through constant internal checkpoints, a large number of them with no running water, a large number of them still in refugee camps for decades, with no right to a fair trial and no right to post bail, often physically beaten and abused upon arrest, and with little hope for the future. Palestinians today have far fewer rights than African Americans in America had in the 1950s. This is not acceptable.

I ask you to rethink Palestine. You are smart. Study us carefully. Find the truth. Contrary to what is so often portrayed in your media, in the last decade we have done our part.

We tried for many months to begin serious negotiations with Israel. We said to the Prime Minister Netanyahu, since you openly state to the whole world that you support the two-state solution, why can’t we agree on a map for two states on the basis of 1967 borders? Despite many, many requests, we have never gotten a map.

I ask you to rethink Palestine. Help us stop the illegal stealing of our land. This week I will propose to the United Nations a new timetable for peace talks. The key is to agree on a map to delineate the borders of each country.

I say today to Prime Minister Netanyahu: end the occupation, make peace. A quarter century has passed since the Palestine Liberation Organization officially endorsed the two-state solution. In a historic decision, that has since been accepted by all the Arab states, Palestine recognized the State of Israel based on pre-1967 borders, conceding over 78 percent of historic Palestine.

Rather than accepting 78 percent of the land in question, the current Israeli government has chosen to use the peace process as a smoke screen for more colonization and oppression. We still wish to believe that our Israeli neighbors do not expect the Palestinian people to live under a system of apartheid. The desire of peace and freedom-loving nation for independence can’t be eliminated by force.

We are the only people on earth, who still live under occupation. This is not acceptable.

The fact is that the Arab League has presented a complete regional peace plan, the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002. This plan, which still stands, offers Israel full recognition and normalization of relations by 57 member countries of the Arab League and the Islamic Conference, in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 border and a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, based on UNGA Resolution 194. So our Nakbah can come to an end. If anyone ever again tells you that the Arab countries are the primary barrier to peace, that is simply false. And it has been this way for over a decade.

Rethink Palestine. Help us stop the illegal stealing of our land. Prime Minister Netanyahu, end the occupation, make peace. The Eighth Commandment says “Thou Shalt Not Steal.” America itself directly asked Israel to stop building illegal settlements on Palestinian land. But then Israel did the opposite: during the last nine months of negotiations sponsored by the United States, after being asked to freeze settlements, Israel advanced housing units for 55,000 new settlers in occupied territory, bringing to 600,000 the Israeli settlers population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Isn’t stealing land covered by the Eighth Commandment? Under international law Israel has no right to take that land. Israel’s constant confiscation of our land is our most pressing and fundamental problem. It obstructs the achievement of a just and lasting peace with Palestine. This Israeli conduct reminds us of the wise words of late President Kennedy:

“We cannot negotiate with those who say, ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.’”

When Palestine exercised its long-overdue right to seek recognition of statehood before the United Nations in 2012, it was not in an attempt to bypass a negotiated peace. Instead it was to allow us to be a leader for peace and human rights in the Muslim world, mainly through access to multilateral treaties and international organizations. The worldwide vote to make us an observer state was in our favor by count of 138 to 9.

138 to 9 in our favor.

Only 9 countries in the entire world opposed our application; the dozens of other countries who all voted for us found that we were well-qualified to join the peaceful community of nations. These countries have all rethought Palestine, just as you must now do.

We ask that the international community stop hiding behind calls for “resumption of talks,” without holding the Israeli government accountable for its stealing of our land. The international community has the responsibility to protect our people living under the terror of settlers, an occupying army, and a painful siege.

The attitude of the international community toward the Israeli government must be related to holding it directly accountable to international law and human rights.

On behalf of the brave Palestinian people, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela, I still come here to deliver a message of peace and justice to Israel and the rest of the world.

Security requires justice and an end of occupation. We cannot understand how the Israeli government can be so misguided as to fail to understand that the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza that kills hundreds of women and children only sows more hate.

As the President of the Palestinian people, I remain totally committed to the vision of a two-state solution, so we can live in peace with our neighbor, Israel. This is the reason I joined Pope Francis, together with President Peres, in our prayer for peace.

Now, I have told you about my world. The world of this old man. But you are young. In the language of youth, there is no such word as tired. In the vocabulary of youth, there is no such word as failure.

In Maine every summer, young Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, Arabs, and others meet in a camp called Seeds of Peace, founded in 1993. They build the very world I am calling for in Palestine. It works. It’s real. It’s the future. To those who say peace between Israelis and Palestinians is impossible, I say, let them visit America. I say, let them visit Maine.

In closing again, at 79, I do not know for certain if I will ever hold in my hand and taste the sweet fruit of peace. But I do know this for certain. I have held in my hand, and seen with my own eyes, the seeds of peace. The seeds of peace are the young Palestinians, Israelis, Americans and others all over the world who form peace groups on college campuses like J Street and Students For Justice in Palestine. Those are the seeds of peace.

You are the seeds of peace. Do not underestimate the power of your youth.

It was the young people who marched in Birmingham, Alabama, with Martin Luther King, who caused race relations in America to be rethought. It was the young people in America whose protests on college campuses against the Vietnam War forced that war to be rethought. It was the young people in America whose protests on college campuses against apartheid caused that injustice to finally end. And I say this to you: you have the power to convince the American people to rethink Palestine.

Wisdom may come from the old, but passion for justice is the province of the young. The old ask: what day will justice come? But for the young, the time for justice is always NOW. In the vocabulary of youth, the time for justice is always RIGHT NOW. And so it should be.

It was to the young, that Nelson Mandela, a great friend of Palestine, once said that South Africa could never be fully free until Palestine was free.

Now will each of you seeds of peace start tonight to build the world I prayed for with Pope Francis?

Will you seeds of peace create the world of tomorrow, where there will be no more Palestinians or Israelis killed?

Will you seeds of peace create a world that supports the 99 percent of peace loving Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and reject violent radical religion?

Will you seeds of peace rethink Palestine and ask others to rethink it?

Will you do that, for the sake of Palestinians and Israelis?

Of course you will. Because here at this magnificent college—the Cooper Union—where magical things are created, as at colleges across America, religious and ethnic diversity already exists. You have already created in your universities a model of the very world of interreligious coexistence and peace and love that the old people try to tell you is impossible in my country.

Despite all Israeli attempts to make our nation accept a reality of exile and apartheid, we continue our peaceful march toward freedom. Paraphrasing our late poet Mahmoud Darwish “standing here, staying here, permanent here, eternal here, and we have one goal, one, one: to be.” And I say, yes we will be.

So you already know how to build the road to future peace, and you know that it runs through Cooper Union, it runs through America and yes it runs right through Jerusalem and Palestine.

We have all made mistakes. But today, I say, let us move forward. Let us forgive not seven times, but as Jesus himself said, 70 times seven times.

Martin Luther King once said, “The arc of the moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Today I say: the arc of fear is long, but it circles back to love. I intend to close that circle, and today I humbly ask you, the students of Cooper Union, of America, and of the world, to be part of that change. Rethink Palestine.

A voice from the field: Tension Release
University of Chicago School of Social Services Administration Magazine

Jun 8, 2011 / No Comments

Bobbie Gottschalk, A.M. ’66, helps Seeds of Peace defuse international conflict by making it personal

Bobbie Gottschalk, 68, has more than 2,600 Facebook friends. A handful are family, the rest are from around the world, mostly in South/Central Asia and the Middle East. So when thousands of Egyptian youth and young adults united against longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak last January, Gottschalk, A.M. ’66, did what any avid social media user would do: She went to Facebook and Twitter to check in on her friends. Her message to those in Egypt? First, “Are you okay?” And second, “We believe in you.”

Egypt’s uprising, in other words, was especially fascinating for Gottschalk, the co-founder of Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings youth from regions in conflict, such as Israelis and Palestinians, together in an intensive summer camp in Maine, where they learn to talk through their differences and see mutual goals, intelligent risks and shared fun as tools for peace. The teenagers return to their home countries, which include Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Cyprus and the Balkans, but they are forever linked to Seeds of Peace. They lead workshops, attend conferences, publish their own magazine, continue cross-cultural education programs, and ultimately build a lasting web of “Seeds” that promote peace across borders, oceans and conflicts. “At the most basic level, one of the most important things that Seeds of Peace does is that it humanizes everyone involved,” says Seed Serena Kefayeh, who was a camper in 1997 and 1998 and then a camp program leader in 1999. Kefayeh grew up in Jordan and today is the director of Georgetown University’s Master’s in Journalism program.

“When campers first arrive in Maine, they have their guard up and have little or no intention of listening to what the ‘others’ have to say. Over the course of the camp, you begin to see the other campers as individuals and as teenagers just like you,” she says. “You start to understand that they’re people who might not be as bad as you initially thought, and that there’s more to them than just their nationality. And Bobbie has been the driving force that has helped keep the Seeds of Peace mission alive and strong for all these years.”

After almost two decades in action, there are some 4,500 Seeds, most of them under 30. Gottschalk is in regular communication with close to 3,000 of them. “From the beginning I have tried to keep the group together,” says Gottschalk, who served as the organization’s executive vice president until 2006, when she transitioned to being a board member. “I am still the consistent person as far as the Seeds are concerned.”

In Egypt, one of the Seeds and his friends created a music video filmed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square (the center of the demonstrations) that received more than 1.4 million views online, and they helped lead cleanup efforts in the square after the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators dispersed. “While this may have been a very internal issue for Egypt, it does show how we can empower young people to make a difference,” says Leslie Lewin, Seeds of Peace’s executive director.

“One of the things that scared me to death was when the Internet was cut off [in Egypt],” says Gottschalk. “That’s the way we keep in touch with these kids. My Facebook page was all about getting the Internet up. And I asked the thousands of other Seeds to post to Seedbook [the Seeds-only social network] and Facebook to encourage their Egyptian counterparts, so that when we got the Internet back, they would see we were all supporting them. When one group of Seeds or even one is in trouble, we rally to their sides. It’s not a political matter; it’s a human matter.”

Providing that personal, deep connection has been a key role for Gottschalk since Seeds of Peace began. She’s attended every one of the summer camps, and she is a common thread for the Seeds. “Every one of our Seeds knows her, which is a unique and special role for her to play,” Lewin says. “She puts an incredible amount of time not only on her own contact with our campers post camp but also their contact with each other.”

Bringing the “human factor” to solving conflicts is what Gottschalk has been trying to do since she first started in social work. She remembers her first field placement with what is now known as Metropolitan Family Services in Chicago’s old stockyard neighborhoods while still studying at SSA in the mid 1960s. “The first client walked in and I wasn’t fully trained yet. I realized I could reduce the impact of that [lack of training] if I related to people as equal human beings,” she says.

Gottschalk’s second placement was with the Chicago Childcare Society, where she worked with foster kids and adoption services. “I had foster children who got placed in adoption. It was great. They were all being given a boost in life they wouldn’t have already had otherwise,” Gottschalk remembers. “With Seeds of Peace we work with kids from Gaza and the West Bank, Afghanistan…these kids also have very few opportunities. And any time we can offer them opportunities for scholarships to universities or a boarding school in the U.S. I feel like we are giving them the same kind of boost, the same way you feel when you place a hard-to-place child in a loving adoptive family.”

More than 40 years since she graduated from SSA, Gottschalk says she is still influenced in her daily work by two mentors from the School. “Helen Harris Perlman would say, ‘Don’t go any further than the client is willing to go,’” she says. And Joy Johnson gave Gottschalk the principles she applies to the group work she does with Seeds campers. “[Johnson] gave me four things that had to be advanced for a young person to want to be in a group. There has to be somebody who demonstrates they like that person. It has to be safe in the group. There has to be a benefit for that person. And there has to be something the person can give back to the group. I have found these thing to be true of all human beings in every group,” Gottschalk says.

After graduating from SSA, Gottschalk moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked with the Jewish Social Service Agency. There she started one of the first Jewish residential programs for adults with disabilities, as well as a mental health clinic for people who are deaf.

Starting Seeds of Peace came about as a happy coincidence. Journalist John Wallach had written a book about Palestinians that Gottschalk’s book group was reading. She invited Wallach to come and talk to the group, during which he mentioned he had an idea for a special camp to bring Israeli and Palestinian youth together. Gottschalk, then between jobs, volunteered to help.

In four months, the pair had the first camp up and running, with Gottschalk serving as the sole employee. “It was a huge departure from working under the umbrella of the Jewish Social Services,” Gottschalk says. They had to solicit donations, barter with providers for food, airfare and other camp basics, and appeal to their U.S. representative for help getting 501c(3) status. “The hardest part of starting was that it’s scary. You are out on a limb. It was international—I wasn’t just calling up my friends,” Gottschalk says. “Often I thought, ‘What’s a nice Jewish girl doing chasing after Yasser Arafat?’”

Gottschalk is quick to point out that Wallach was the charismatic visionary of Seeds of Peace until his death in 2002. Her leadership role was to help shape how the program could succeed. For example, Lewin notes that the pathbreaking component of the summer camp—the 90 minutes every day the campers spend in conflict resolution with teens from other countries is largely influenced by Gottschalk’s social work background. “Bobbie helped create the co existence program,” Lewin says. “She and John thought from the beginning that we should embrace these difficult topics rather than avoid them, and Bobbie offered a lot of leadership in that aspect of our curriculum and its development.”

For campers, Gottschalk’s role in mediating conflict is essential to their experience. Iddo Shai, an Israeli Seed from the camp’s first summer in 1993 and now a content developer in Los Angeles, remembers clearly how Gottschalk helped him through early sessions in which a Palestinian youth started saying the Holocaust never happened. Members of Shai’s extended family had died in the Holocaust and the other youth were demanding proof.

“It was a lot to handle for a 13-year-old,” Shai says of himself. “I shut myself out to anyone who came to talk to me. Then Bobbie came to me and she was very honest. ‘You have to understand where he is coming from and that some people don’t have an emotional connection to the Holocaust,’” Shai remembers her saying. “She wasn’t trying to sugar coat it. She said, ‘People think like that and that’s why we have these camps. At the end of camp he may feel differently, but you have to talk. You have to listen and learn from that experience.’ That’s the moment Bobbie and I clicked.” Shai says he still talks to Gottschalk on an almost weekly basis.

Today Seeds of Peace runs year-round programs for continued leadership development and dialogue across borders and has full-time staff in offices in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Lahore, Mumbai and Kabul, with additional staff in Gaza, Cairo and Amman. Gottschalk says that never did she imagine Seeds of Peace would grow as it has. “I thought it would be an experiment we would always point to. But once it got going, John and I both wanted it to be international, not just the Middle East.”

The Seeds who attended the first Seeds of Peace Camp in 1993 are now in their early 30s. As they and the other Seeds have grown up and moved on to careers, they became journalists in their home countries and abroad, international lawyers, educators, film producers, heads of NGOs, even members of the official negotiating teams for the Palestinians and the Israelis. Some are involved in new websites like Palestine Note; others are working on a new planned community in the West Bank called Rawabi. Two Seeds are Israeli TV anchors, another is a Cairo correspondent for The New York Times who covered the events in Egypt this winter. “These are extremely talented young people,” Gottschalk says.

Gottschalk’s role at Seeds of Peace has evolved to the bigger picture tasks of a board member, such as fundraising and reporting to the executive committee. Over the years she has won numerous awards for her work, including a Medal of Honor, presented by King Hussein of Jordan in 1997 and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Franklin Pierce University. But she still sits in on the monthly international staff phone conference call and attends every summer camp.

“Her historical perspective and ability to understand all aspects of our growth is absolutely invaluable,” Lewin says. “She has an incredible heart, as big as they come. And at a place like Seeds of Peace, you see that play out on such a huge scale.”

Read Patti Wolter’s article at The University of Chicago »

South Asia Seeds launch Voices of the People project, online platform

Aug 24, 2011 / No Comments

MUMBAI | There is an essential need for understanding and communication on the most critical issues perpetuating conflict and preventing reconciliation within and across borders in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In order to embolden a citizen-led movement for peace, there needs to be well-coordinated people-to-people initiatives that create opportunities for Indians, Pakistanis and Afghans to encounter each other in positive humanizing ways; build trust and understanding of each other’s perspectives; and foster cooperative efforts to address shared issues of concern. In utilizing a new media approach to this issue, an interactive online educational site was created under the project title “Voices of the People.”

Thirty-one Seeds from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan came together for a week-long conference in Mumbai, India in April 2011 order to develop multi-media online content that would generate awareness and understanding of varying perspectives and views on core divisive issues. The video, visual and written interviews conducted during Voices of the People has been organized and featured in a user-friendly way that humanizes the most critical issues to reconciliation.

“Our countries are not inherent enemies and I believe if we interact with each other, we will find that we can co-operate and be friends,” said Noorzadeh, a Pakistani Seed whose group chose to study the disparities in Mumbai’s education system.

“My Pakistani and Afghani friends have been fascinated by the way religious communities co-exist in Mumbai,” said Sridhar, and Indian Seed who believes Seeds of Peace is a great opportunity for the youth to rid themselves of prejudices.

Read coverage in The Hindustan Times or Mid Day »

Partners in the Field | National Conversation Project

Apr 10, 2019 / No Comments

National Conversation Project (NCP) seeks to mend the frayed fabric of America by bridging divides one conversation at a time. We love to meet others whose missions align with our own work, and were happy to have a conversation (had to say it!) with Jaclyn Inglis, NCP’s Partnership Director.

Tell us about National Conversation Project. What problem is it working to solve and how does it go about doing so?

Many of us sense greater division in America today than ever before, a reality confirmed by experts and data. Disagreement has become deeply personal, and it is getting worse. A promising solution is to ignite positive conversations across divides and among diverse opinions to reveal better solutions and new paths forward.

That goal is what fueled the creation of the National Conversation Project. The new National Conversation Project is built on the existing work of 200+ organizations encouraging conversations across divides. NCP is designed to elevate the mending of our frayed social fabric from under the radar into the mainstream. NCP will amplify existing conversation work while inviting many new partners and participants to join a movement of conversations in which we listen first to understand.

Why is this important to you?

I believe there is no way forward when we are standing still and screaming at each other. So we need to learn again how to move into the center of chaos and engage in conversations where we #ListenFirst to understand and learn from each other.

#ListenFirst is a response to what seems to be continuously fortifying divisions in the US, and a cultural paradigm of responding quicker with hate or vilification than with compassion or curiosity. The movement is built on the belief that, in order to most productively move forward, we need to recognize that the diverse perspectives of all who are affected by a problem could help fuel better solutions. Therefore, we believe we need to engage in conversations where we #ListenFirst to understand each other, and each organization in this movement is facilitating, engaging in, or promoting those types of conversations regularly.

Has the notion of discourse and dialogue changed over time? Is there something unique about this moment in history that makes this issue more acute?

I can’t comment on the situation before 2016; I simply became aware of the extent of this problem around the election of 2016. Just after the election, on social media, I watched as my own friends, those who fought so vehemently against hate, spewed it at people they had never met.

I luckily had a unique perspective on “the other side” and after the election, instead of pointing fingers, I looked inward, realizing it was my own naïveté that was the problem. And this could only be solved when I crossed divides—specifically into geographic territory I hadn’t cared enough to explore before—and engaged in conversation. But as I saw so many fortify their divisions and scream at each other from afar, I realized that engagement and conversation may be a critical gap in finding better political and cultural solutions going forward. And more than that, it was a gap that impacted our personal relationships, our work relationships, and our individual ability to learn and grow.

Where do you see promise?

Every organization that is part of the #ListenFirst coalition has endless case studies of positive engagement and conversations across divides. Every time I talk with a new partner, I am encouraged and hopeful for the future!

One great example from the 2018 National Week of Conversation was ListenFirst in Charlottesville where people from across the country came and spoke about important topics in response to the events that happened there the year before. The webpage that was created after the fact still shows the keynotes and conversations that happened as part of that event and I encourage others to watch—it was wonderful example of coming together for respectful and productive conversation after an awful tragedy.

What are three things that people can do to transform conflict or improve communication in their own personal relationships or as a society?

1) Engage. This is the hardest step—simply opening conversation or continuing conversation when there is disagreement.
2) Stay Humble. We can’t walk into these conversations believing we are the smartest in the room, simply trying to change minds. We should enter these conversations hoping to learn something new by the time they conclude.
3) #ListenFirst. In order to have the most productive conversation, we have to hear another person in their own words describe their viewpoints. If we respond with our own assumptions or without fully listening, we are simply talking at each other instead of talking to each other. Listening is a key component of any engagement on any topic—personal, political, or anything in between. Make sure to check out some tips on how to #ListenFirst!

The National Week of Conversation is April 5-13, 2019, and NCP encourages people to join or promote conversations by visiting www.nationalconversationproject.org.

Seeds of Peace Camp relocates to coastal Maine

Jul 26, 2024 / No Comments

BATH, MAINE | The Seeds of Peace Camp, known for bringing together young people from conflict regions, has relocated to Hyde School in Bath this summer.

The Camp convened 84 teenage campers from the Middle East (Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan), South Asia (India and Pakistan), the United Kingdom, and the United States to take part in dialogue and leadership programs that inspire and equip them to work in solidarity across lines of difference to create more just and inclusive societies.

The two-week program, which ran July 8-22, was hosted by the Hyde School for the first time. Over the past three decades, the Camp has been held primarily in Otisfield on the grounds of the former Camp Powhatan, which is closed for renovations. The plan for the Camp to be hosted outside Las Vegas, New Mexico, was scrapped a week before it was scheduled to begin after flooding contaminated the region’s drinking water.

“We are incredibly grateful to the leadership at Hyde School, particularly Laura Gauld, Tom Bragg, and Rich Truluck, and their staff, for their generosity in hosting us this summer,” said Seeds of Peace Camp Director Tim Wilson. “The entire school welcomed our campers with open arms, as did the wider community of Bath. We couldn’t have landed in a better location.”

This summer marks the 31st anniversary of Seeds of Peace, which has graduated over 8,000 young people who are uniquely positioned to lead change.

View photos of this 2024 Seeds of Peace Camp ››

Read the daily 2024 Seeds of Peace Camp Reports ››

Pakistani Seeds offer free medical clinic

Dec 3, 2011 / No Comments

LAHORE | As part of the Seed Ventures program in partnership with Ashoka Youth Ventures, a team of Pakistani Seeds organized a free medical clinic in the Green Town area of Lahore on December 3.

The clinic drew 300 people, 65 percent of whom were female, for health screenings and medical checkups.

“We wanted to provide basic health screening and create awareness about the importance of health and hygiene in the underprivileged community, which cannot afford private consultants,” said Rana, the student in charge of the clinic. “These people only visit doctors when they have reached the last stage of terminal diseases.”

Ten students from various educational institutes volunteered at the clinic, alongside 15 Seeds. Pakistani Graduate Seed Mahak Mansoor was also one of the four doctors who volunteered for the day.

Dr. Mansoor, who is a practicing gynecologist at Mayo Hospital, said that the women’s interest had highlighted the need for counselling women from rural and impoverished areas about reproductive health. She said that such programs were also essential for incorporating a sense of social responsibility in youth.

The clinic offered free diabetes, cholesterol, calcium and eye tests, as well as free consultation by OBGYN and other specialists.

Seeds gave health and hygiene awareness talks and demonstrations in Urdu and Punjabi to those in attendance.

US Consulate Cultural Affairs Officer Kathryrn Kiser was among the observers who toured the clinic.

Read about the clinic in The Express Tribune »
Learn more about South Asia Seeds Ventures »
 
EVENT PHOTOS

Students meet sower of Seeds of Peace
Atlanticville

Mar 23, 2010 / No Comments

Reading lesson prompts visit to seventh-grade class

Middle school students came face to face last week with a person whose inspiring story was the subject of their reading lessons.

Joseph Katona arrived at the Long Branch Middle School on March 18 to share his story with the seventhgrade class that reached out to him after reading of his efforts to send a Middle Eastern youth to college in America.

“In my reading class, I give them articles to read that hopefully inspire them,” said Candice Bidner, the teacher responsible for bringing Katona to Long Branch last week. “Sometimes we write to the people we read about because we think a word of thanks can go a long way.

“We emailed him 28 emails in February.”

Katona said the visit coincided with his plans to visit New York this week, and the influx of letters from Bidner’s seventh-grade class persuaded him to stop by.

“I had planned a weekend in New York City, and I was so humbled and flattered by the letters and emails from her students that I decided to come speak to them,” he said. “I never thought I’d be speaking to 300 students today; I thought I’d be speaking to 28.”

Katona is hoping that his words will resonate with the students.

“They are going to go home and tell their families and tell their friends and hopefully spread the word,” he said. “If that raises money, that would be great, but it is more about inspiring these dreams.”

Katona’s efforts to help a friend have been profiled in national and local publications.

The friend, Omar Dreidi, a Palestinian, and Katona, a student at the University of Virginia, spent two summers together at the Seeds of Peace (www.seedsofpeace.org) camp in Maine, which eventually led to Katona raising money for Dreidi to fulfill his dream of attending an American college.

Katona explained the camp in an interview before the assembly.

“I participated in a summer program called Seeds of Peace in the summers of 2004 and 2005,” he said. “Seeds of Peace brings teenagers of regions of conflict from around the world together.

“We go to the summer camp in Maine to represent how life should be. Very peaceful, serene, it is actually on Pleasant Lake.

“It is a normal summer camp with sports activities, arts and crafts, water activities,” he added.

Katona said the camp differs from others because it tries to bridge cultural gaps between teenagers from countries around the world, including Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan and India.

“Every day we engage in these two-hour dialogue sessions,” he said. “Here kids who otherwise think of each other as enemies have an opportunity to face each other and talk about the issues important to them.”

Katona explained why American teenagers are also included at the camp.

“The idea of the organization is in order to bring peace to the Middle East, that Americans play such a role that they need to be there,” he said.

Founded in 1993, Seeds of Peace is dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence, according to the website. The organization is actively working in the Middle East and South Asia.

Katona and Dreidi spent both summers together, but he said their relationship started out on rocky ground.

“Omar and I were not very good friends in the beginning at all,” he said. “We both had a crush on this girl at summer camp.”

During the second summer, they bunked together and developed a friendship that led to Katona helping Dreidi achieve his dream of attending college in America.

“That summer, we both were applying to colleges,” he said. “He is a fantastic soccer player, and we filmed a video of him playing soccer and sent it out to 117 different universities across the U.S., hoping someone would take a chance on him.”

Katona said the video got Dreidi a look by some Division I programs, but none of them would commit.

“Some schools paid for him to come on a recruiting trip to the U.S.,” he said. “He looked at some big schools.

“At the end of the day, none of these schools were willing to make this $350,000 gamble on him,” he added.

One of the issues was getting Dreidi clearance to visit America.

“There were a lot of immigration issues,” Katona said. “He’d often fly out of Amman, Jordan, and be sent back because he didn’t have the right visa work.”

Katona said that Seeds of Peace had a relationship with Division III school Earlham College, which led to Dreidi getting a shot with them.

“Seeds of Peace had this great relationship with Earlham College, this Quaker school in Richmond, Indiana,” he said. “They offered him a half-merit scholarship to go there based on his academic performance.”

Dreidi was placed in a work-study program, but the funding for his education still was a daunting task for him.

“It still wasn’t going to be possible,” Katona said. “At the time, with the work-study program he would need about $10,000 a year.”

Katona didn’t think raising $10,000 a year would be much of a challenge for him.

“I don’t know why, but at the time, as a 17- year-old, I thought that would be easy,” he said.

Katona tried soliciting funds from people he knew, but Dreidi’s financial situation would soon become dire.

“It turned out his work-study fell through, and he ended up needing much closer to about $90,000 in total,” he said.

Katona, who has been raising money to fund his friend’s education, said he is currently about $10,000 away from his goal of $90,000.

“I have now raised $79,765,” he said. “I get a new check just about every day in the mail.”

Dreidi is currently one of the leading scorers on the Earlham soccer team and has also played for the Palestinian National team.

Katona said that Dreidi’s soccer prowess has made him a local celebrity.

“He is kind of the big man on campus there,” he said.

Katona said he has never met the majority of the people who donated money.

“It really has ballooned to this project of 180-plus individual and family foundation donors,” he said. “Of the 180 donors, I probably know 50.

“Some are anonymous, but most are people who read stories about us in local newspapers and online blogs across the country and world. Without knowing me, they’ve sent me checks ranging from $10 to $4,500.

“I received consistent $2,000 or $3,000 checks for the last two years from people I’ve never met before. I oftentimes made efforts to try to get in touch with these people,” he added.

Katona said his work goes beyond just trying to put Dreidi through college.

“Something that has been much more about spreading awareness of the cause than putting one kid through college,” he said. “The fact that I have the energy to do this proves to other people that they can achieve their dreams.

“It has been very difficult, and I’m not there yet,” he added.

Katona was the subject of a People magazine “Heroes Among Us” article, but he credits local coverage as a bigger help in raising money.

Katona and Dreidi both are on schedule to graduate this May, and he said that his time helping Omar financially is coming to an end.

The two have visited each other at their respective colleges and homes, but it was Katona’s visit to the Middle East that may have opened his eyes.

I visited him twice in the Middle East,” he said. “It was really important for me to stop hearing secondhand what his life was like and experience it for myself.”

Katona said that anyone interested in donatingmoney toward Dreidi’s education could contact him at Josephkatona@gmail.com.

Read Kenny Walter’s article at Atlanticville »