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Egyptian Seeds respond to 2011 Revolution through media, activism, art

Feb 14, 2011 / 1 Comment

CAIRO | Whether by starting an NGO and engaging in dialogue with other youth, organizing events, or writing op-eds, Egyptian Seeds have been deeply engaged in many of the changes sweeping their country.

Mostafa Fahmy filmed a music video called The Voice of Freedom. The video has gone viral, receiving 800,000 hits in four days on its way to well over 1.75 million.

Another Seed, journalist Mona El-Naggar, has written or contributed to dozens of stories, many front page, in The New York Times about the protest movements in Egypt and Tunisia. Mona appeared on Charlie Rose on February 2 & 10, and authored a February 19 New York Times Week in Review piece, “The Legacy of 18 Days in Tahrir Square.”

Other Egyptian Seeds have initiated events ranging from fundraisers to information sessions and dialogue groups for young people.

Two Seeds organized a day-long clean-up community service activity in Cairo. They called on their fellow Seeds to join them, writing: “As you all know, most streets are not in the best shape it could be, after all the protests that took place. It’s going to take time and effort to rebuild everything that was destroyed.”

Egyptian Seeds have also been voicing their observations about recent developments. As one writes, “a healthy constructive dialogue is what we need now—we need to listen to each other.” You can follow more commentary from these young leaders on Twitter.

Read “Egypt’s New Era,” a Huffington Post op-ed by Egyptian Seed Ramy Nagy »
Read a letter from Seeds of Peace Director to Seeds in Egypt during the uprising »

Vote Leslie Nonprofit Leader of the Year | Newsletter

Jul 28, 2011 / No Comments

Dear Seeds, Counselors and Supporters,

It is our utmost joy, as two Seeds who are currently counselors at Camp this summer, to share with you the news that our beloved Leslie has been nominated as 1 of 25 finalists for the 2011 Young Nonprofit Leader of the Year Award! This is a great honor for Leslie, and an even bigger achievement for Seeds of Peace as an organization.

For more than a decade, we have had the enormous pleasure to get to know Leslie Adelson Lewin, first when she was a counselor, and now as our Executive Director.

She has an amazing way of energizing as well as nurturing our growing family of 4,500 Seeds, while sharing so much of herself with this organization and the world.

From the table cheers in the dining hall to announcing Color Games scores, from bringing new campers to Maine to visiting them as Seeds in their homes, from running the global offices and staff of our organization to raising a wonderful family—all at the age of 34—Leslie has a unique ability to inspire change and renew our sense of purpose.

We cannot think of a better candidate to win this award, so please join us now; VOTE LESLIE as the 2011 Young Nonprofit Leader of the Year »

To make sure your vote is submitted:

1) Scroll down to her “Young Nonprofit Leader of the Year” category.
2) Click “vote” next to Leslie’s name.
3) Click the “Submit My Ballot” button on the top right corner of the page to lock in your vote.

Thank you for voting, and for your continued support!

Dimitry Shvartsman & Hassan Raza

(Israeli Delegation 2003, 2005 & Counselor 2011)
(Pakistani Delegation 2002 & Counselor 2010, 2011)

PS Voting in the Classy Awards ends August 26, and we are up against strong competition. Please encourage your friends and family to add their votes today by joining our Facebook Event.

Seeds of Peace partners with mySomeday

Mar 29, 2010 / No Comments

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace is very excited to announce a new partnership with mySomeday, an online goal achievement platform that empowers people to achieve all of those goals and dreams they plan to get to ‘Someday.’

“When individuals and organizations state a goal publicly and then break it down into a plan with small, achievable steps, they are much more likely to see that dream become reality,” said mySomeday founder Joseph A. Satto.

Seeds recently posted an Expert Plan to share with mySomeday’s rapidly growing community. The plan outlines the steps Seeds of Peace takes each year to run the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine.

“It’s a great way for us to tell our story in a compelling fashion and it’s also the type of community with members that are likely to get directly involved,” said Seeds of Peace’s Tammy Sun.

If you have goals for the future, register on mySomeday and take the first step toward achieving those goals. And when you join, please be sure to add the Seeds of Peace Expert Plan to your profile page to help spread awareness about Seeds and to help us raise donations. A number of mySomeday members have combined a personal goal with a fund-raising component. This is a great way to make your personal goals count and knowing that your efforts will directly benefit Seeds’ charitable cause can also give you that extra bit of motivation to cross the finish line.

Indo-Pak project grapples with versions of history
The Times of India

May 1, 2013 / 1 Comment

MUMBAI | Most schoolchildren in India associate the 1905 partition of Bengal with Hindus and Muslims uniting to oppose the division of the state along religious lines. They learn that Bengalis from both religions composed songs, marched barefoot to the Ganga and tied rakhis on each other in protest. In Pakistan, however, the partition of Bengal sparks off a different set of associations—those of furious Hindus agitating only because they couldn’t bear to see Muslims become a majority in East Bengal.

These divergent accounts of history have been put together in a book, ‘The History Project’, conceived in 2005 and compiled by youths aged 16 to 27 from both India and Pakistan. A core team of three Pakistanis, who were instrumental in creating the book, launched it last week at four Mumbai schools, two of them being J BPetit High School, Fort, and Gokuldham High School, Goregaon.

A note at the beginning explains that most of the book’s 30-odd contributors are graduates of Seeds of Peace, an international organization that brings together teenagers from conflict zones to a campsite in Maine, USA, for a few weeks every year. It was while debating history at this summer camp that most of the youngsters discovered the differences in their school textbooks. “We decided to make ‘The History Project’ … so that the reality that there are differences becomes literally inescapable,” said Qasim Aslam (27), a Pakistani entrepreneur and part of the book’s core team.

The project deals with the years from 1857 to 1947 and includes 16 historical events—such as the formation of the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, the Khilafat Movement, Direct Action Day and the Mountbatten Plan.

“The War of Independence (in 1857) seemed like a good starting point because that is where the first divide happens,” said Pakistani Ayyaz Ahmad, another core team member who is also a consultant with the World Bank in Pakistan. Since the Civil Disobedience Movement is omitted from Pakistani textbooks, that page in the Pakistani section of the book is left blank. The editors have also focused on questions that recur in Std X and XII exams, because “if you trace a line across those events all of a sudden you can identify a narrative”, said Aslam.

To steer clear of controversy, the book’s editors chose to reproduce information from textbooks but not introduce an alternative narrative. “We stayed well away from coming up with anything that says we are experts and know what history is,” said Aslam.

This non-committal approach extends to the artwork, which uses a faceless character to avoid clichĂ©d depictions of Indians and Pakistanis. “I wanted to illustrate the illustration of history (on both sides) without imposing my view on it,” said artist Zoya Siddiqui.

‘The History Project’ has only seven Indians among the 30-odd contributors. All five editors are Pakistani and more Pakistani than Indian texts were used. When asked about this, a core-team member said there was a shortage of volunteers from India and those who visited Pakistan took only three books. Besides Seeds of Peace, the book has also been funded by the British Council and Global Changemakers, an international youth network.

Read Nergish Sunavala’s article at the Times of India â€șâ€ș

Seeds explore tensions in Israeli
society around language, Mizrahi Jews

Jul 4, 2015 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | Israeli Seeds examined tensions and challenges associated with their country’s ethnic groups during two summer seminars.

On July 28, Israeli Seeds held a community dialogue with Mizrahi Jews, whose ancestry traces back to Muslim-majority nations, to learn about discrimination the Mizrahi have faced and continue to face in Israeli society.

The ten Seeds heard about the personal experiences of poet Shlomi Hatuka and author Ron Kakhlili, and the discrimination Mizrahi Jews encounter in Israeli media, pop culture, and politics. Participants held an hour-long discussion with the speakers and later held a dialogue session to reflect what they had heard.

“I had no idea that the discrimination was so existent these days,” said Hila, an Israeli participant. “I am so happy that my Seed friends shared their personal stories of pain, that I had never noticed, with me.”

On July 3, Israeli Seeds, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, explored the streets of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, where they discussed what language means to them, how they feel about the other side’s language, and how language has the potential to cause fear.

The ten participants in the Language Day seminar met with Facebook icon Hanin Majadle, who runs a page for Hebrew speaker to learn Arabic.

“The two Arab Seeds shared their fears of speaking Arabic in some places,” said Seeds of Peace Program Coordinator Hagai Efrat.

“The others seemed surprised to hear that they are intimidated about speaking Arabic in some scenarios. Everyone later laughed when Hanin mentioned how ridiculous it is that people are afraid simply by hearing a man calling his wife saying that he got milk from the store.”

The day concluded at the Bikurei Ha’Itam Center in Tel Aviv with a reflective discussion on the language used in Seeds of Peace activities and how the choice of language affects these activities.

Alumni Profile: Pooja
Humanizing and supporting refugees

Aug 6, 2018 / No Comments

Our alumni are working in ways small and large to make an impact in their communities. This “Alumni Profiles” blog series will feature some of our over 7,000 changemakers in 27 countries around the world who are working to transform conflict.

In 2015, the Syrian War and ensuing refugee crisis were making headlines. Social media allowed people around the world to follow this conflict in real time like never before. It was this phenomenon that inspired Pooja, a 2018 GATHER Fellow and Seeds of Peace Camp counselor from India, to do whatever she could with whatever she had to humanize refugee communities.

“It was the first war in our time that was livestreamed through social media and it really bothered me how we could just watch it happening and not do anything about it,” she says.

“Also, the fact that more than 50 percent of the victims were kids—it just hurt me. The very fact that we are so used to treating these large-scale humanitarian crises with frivolity—I just wanted to do something about it.”

She founded the Letters of Love initiative with the goal to connect communities, give people a global perspective, and humanize the “other.”

Letters of Love began as just a “Facebook page with a bunch of friends around the world,” who were united around the idea that something as small as a handwritten letter could connect communities, build empathy, and make a real difference.

It has since grown into a youth-led non-profit that connects children around the world to peers in refugee communities through writing and delivering letters. It is also an official member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees #WithRefugees Coalition, the United Network of Young Peacebuilders in the Hague, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Youth Network.

In just three years, Letters of Love has delivered handwritten postcards to more than 30,000 Syrian, Iraqi, Yazidi, Palestinian, Afghan, Kurdish, and Rohingya refugee children, and has effectively engaged more than 20,000 youth.

“We empower refugee children with joy, laughter, and psycho-social support, and we use empathy-centric education as a tool to sensitize school and university students about the ongoing refugee crises,” says Pooja.

Even before becoming a GATHER Fellow or a Camp counselor, Pooja’s connection to Seeds of Peace was essential to making Letters of Love a reality. When her husband, himself a Seed, mentioned the initiative at Camp, a counselor took note. That counselor reached out to Pooja and became her mentor as she began to develop Letters of Love.

Pooja says that her involvement with Seeds of Peace over all these years has been a transformative experience, one that has shaped her personally as much as it has her professional mission.

“I’ve witnessed the value in connecting communities that are indoctrinated to hate each other, and I’ve seen the value of communication and dialogue.”

Pooja says that the GATHER Fellowship has connected her to a diverse community at the crossroads of social innovation and conflict transformation. This has given her access to potential partnerships, some of which she has already pursued, which she says has helped increase her impact both qualitatively and quantitatively.

“Being part of the Fellowship enables me to become a part of this ebullient community, share best practices, learn various aspects of setting up an organization, and also derive a multicultural and international perspective on various social issues.”

An experience Pooja had as a counselor at Camp also inspired the Pen Pal Project, an offshoot of Letters of Love that uses strategic mapping dependent on age, interests, and other factors to connect high school students to peers in refugee camps in a more deliberate way, and on a more long-term basis.

“In my bunk, a Palestinian camper was freezing at night, and this Israeli camper put a blanket over her. The next day the Palestinian camper didn’t know how to thank her, so she wrote a letter in Hebrew with the help of a few other Israeli campers and handed it to her first Israeli friend. It was such a powerful moment.”

The campers told Pooja that they wanted their friends back at home to be able to connect with “the other” in the way that they were able to at Camp. Although Pooja, through Letters of Love, could not address the Palestinian and Israeli communities directly because of political barriers, she found another way to create an exchange of perspective and foster what she calls “unimaginable friendships.”

Through the Pen Pal Project, 350 students in India were connected to 350 children who were Syrian refugees in Turkey, internally displaced children in Syria, and Palestinian children in a community center in Gaza.

More than anything, Pooja hopes that participating in the Letters of Love initiative inspires young people to have more of an impact in their own communities.

“It’s about highlighting the potential of each young person as a change agent in society.”

Chicago Seeds take part in restorative justice training, action planning

Feb 27, 2017 / No Comments

CHICAGO | Eleven Seeds and peers took part in a two-day training on restorative justice that introduced them to supportive community members in order to deepen Seeds of Peace’s roots in Chicago.

The “Intro to Restorative Justice and Peace Circles: Transforming with Our Young People” program took place on February 25 and 26 at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law’s Center for Negotiation and Mediation.

Restorative justice in the school environment is a process that emphasizes community accountability, safety, and skill development in an effort to collaboratively create a more peaceful and inclusive climate.

Center for Negotiation and Mediation Director Lynn Cohn commended the Seeds on the important and inspiring work they are doing in Chicago.

The program also helped the group plan the next steps in the Chicago community action plan. The plan was formulated by the Seeds at the Seeds of Peace Camp last summer to spread opportunities for informal dialogue with their peers in neighborhoods across the city. The plan builds on the successes of the Lab-Woodlawn Partnership, a monthly gathering initiated by Seeds between students of different backgrounds from the University of Chicago Lab School and Woodlawn Charter School.

During the peace circles portion of the program, participants shared personal stories of struggle and resiliency and reflected on sources of inspiration.

“I heard so many eye-opening stories from the Seeds that attended, just by the way they described the current state of their neighborhood or a challenge that they had once gone through, said Jackson, a Seed from Chicago’s North Side. “I feel like the two days changed my perspective.”

India, a Seed from Chicago’s South Side, reflected on the safe space created during the program.

“It’s safe for me because [this] is a place you can be very vulnerable,” she said. “It’s a place that you can get many things off your chest and not be judged by it.”

Seeds of Peace Chicago Coordinator Ben Durchslag reflected on how he took the energy and empathy-building from the peace circles training into his life as a school social worker.

“I never realized that my school could benefit so much on such personal levels from the work I am doing with Seeds of Peace,” he said. “My school district supported me to become trained as a circle keeper in 2013, and since then, I have envisioned uniting Seeds of Peace and Restorative Justice Communities in Chicago.”

“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
Medium

Aug 19, 2018 / No Comments

As seen on Medium on August 19, 2018

Describing Seeds of Peace as a place where the magic happens is an underestimation of the amount of mesmerizing work that occurs within the camp because magic isn’t real.

Nonetheless, the love seed that’s planted in every camper’s heart is the most authentic feeling a person can experience. That love seed is not only planted but also watered every day by all of those who attend camp, from directors and counselors to other seeds.

When talking to a friend of mine whom I met at Seeds of Peace, Nghi, a Syracuse seed, she was talking about her encounter with the undiscovered side of her life at Seeds. She said, “It was as if my life was a coin and I just found the other side of it.” Using such intriguing words, I felt the urge to ask, “How did you feel about the other side getting flipped?” Nghi answered my question with a struggle she’s facing that I have been trying to deal with as well as other seeds, “It feels weird now that I’m home. At camp, I’ve been thriving on that side, but now that I’m home it seems like I’m juggling between my old habits and my new ones; my old mindset and my new one. It’s like when people spin coins,” and I couldn’t feel anything but a strong, aggressive sense of agreement. Acknowledging the inspiration that came from Nghi’s sense of experience, I felt the motive to share my similar feeling about being back home, “The world feels colorless; it feels like if my heart was colorblind for all the colors except green and blue.” After our brief conversation, I knew for sure that the counselors were right when they said that they “will make this place [our] home.”

***

For those of you who don’t know Seeds of Peace, it’s an international camp that was founded by John Wallach in the intention of bringing together young leaders, especially those from Israel and Palestine, to unfold conflicts and find a civil way to talk about them and suggest solutions to those problems.

The camp was founded in 1993, when 46 campers attended Seeds of Peace from the United States, Egypt, Palestine, and Israel. Seeds celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017, and at the end of the 2018 second session, Seeds announced the completion of 7,000 alumni.

“I finally learned how to face my emotions, bring my opinions into the light and make friendships stronger than those ever before. It was life changing to be so vulnerable as I was, yet at the same time strengthened by the people around me in order to share my life story without censoring myself to what I thought society wanted to hear. Seeds of Peace gave me another home,” said Elsa DiGiovanni, a Maine seed.

As a first-year camper, I walked towards the coach bus going to Seeds with a nervous smile, sporty outfit, and heavy heart. I was thinking to myself during the approximately one hour drive to Lewiston, “Zainab, this is a big deal. Don’t screw it up!” At that time all I knew about Seeds was what I’d heard from the people around me. I still remember the minute I saw Sarah B. and Tim Wilson, current, and former camp directors, during the orientation in April I knew for a fact that this experience was going to be special. However, I was missing the emotional assurance of what life’s like at camp.

I was also frustrated because I was about to give Seeds my phone, and being without it for two and a half weeks was certainly a big deal for me. At that time I didn’t know that being without my phone was another factor of “the way life could be.”

I can picture myself waking up after a power nap to the Paradigm Shifters (PSs) teaching first-year campers Seeds of Peace chants on the bus, and how two minutes before our arrival they announced that first-year campers should get off the bus first because “the PSs have experienced this feeling during their first year.” I was thinking about what feeling they were talking about.

Minutes later, we arrived and people started getting off the bus. The second I put a foot into that place I felt a breeze of an enormous amount of love and happiness that I wasn’t ready for; a majestic feeling of the bodies around me dancing and singing. I was walking between a group of counselors who formed a line with their bodies, then Sarah, a counselor, and a lifeguard welcomed me with a smile and asked to take my backpack. I was worried that it was too heavy and I was asking her if she’s sure, but she answered me with an even bigger smile, “I’m sure. I’m happy to help,” and I thought to myself, “Apparently this is what it feels like to be at a peace camp: peaceful interaction and respectful communication.”

Today, on August 17th, I sit in my room writing this article, reflecting on what all of this meant. I’ve also been thinking about the differences in my life before and after camp, and many things come to mind. However, one difference has stood out to me: Now, I can taste, smell, see, touch, and feel the word peace whenever someone says it, while before camp it was only a word of five letters and one syllable. I can define peace from a different perspective, and instead of using Merriam-Webster to define it I can use my “experiences dictionary” to do so.

***

“Through dialogue SOP gave me the chance to understand that someone’s views and opinions may be different than my own views because of the experiences they’ve encountered, SOP also taught me a lot about neutral conflict and many spectrums revolving around gender, sexuality, and diversity,” Amina Salahou, a Syracuse seed said.

Seeds of Peace is a camp that focuses on personality and team building factors. However, its primary focus is unfolding conflicts during dialogue. Campers have two hours of dialogue every day, while PSs have dialogue all day long instead of going to activities that campers participate in besides having dialogue.

Dialogue is very much a safe space where campers can share their experiences. However, it’s a place where they can also stretch themselves mentally and step up; a place they can use as a learning platform to feel uncomfortable and be comfortable with that feeling.

Community norms are usually brainstormed on the first day of dialogue, and in my dialogue group, we needed to be reminded of those norms once or twice during the beginning. However, dialogue taught me in some way that those norms weren’t only a part of those two hours a day, but they instead became a habit that took part in our daily, breakfast conversations. Each norm became an action rather than remaining a sentence written on a brown paper that’s glued to a wall.

One of the most significant learning moments for me that resulted from dialogue is that those two hours are dialogue hours, not debate hours. Acknowledging such fact made it easier for me as a participant in dialogue to only discuss the issues, share my opinions, and present my side instead of trying to convince others that I am right.

My dialogue facilitators also taught me that now is the moment. They taught me that whatever I think and whatever I want to say now is the most important. As a person, I am vulnerable when my thought is still fresh and newly generated which makes it the most honest. I remember them asking us, “What’s alive to you now?” And I’m beyond grateful they put that emphasis on the “now,” because my experience wouldn’t have been the same if I wasn’t straightforward with those around me and honest with myself.

I always felt that dialogue was the mood-setter of the day. For instance, if I was frustrated in dialogue, usually during the rest of the day, I’d be thinking about what I said and what I heard, which could make me even more frustrated.

During those two and a half weeks, I learned that what I put in dialogue was what I took from it, even if that meant getting frustrated and angry.

Today, I can say that bringing my full self into the space (Chipmunk Dialogue Hut) and sharing personal experiences with other seeds even when no one was, made me feel more comfortable with my skin; it made me think that my existence is more relevant to what’s happening in the world I live in. I started feeling that I am one of the 7.6 billion human beings on this Earth, instead of feeling that I’m just one of the 7.6 billion humans.

While stepping up is the most common struggle among teens, I’ve always struggled with listening to others without thinking of a rebuttal in my head while they’re talking, and Seeds has definitely taught me how to actively listen without multitasking and forming an argument at the same time.

I still remember one of my table seeds once mentioned another concept of being engaged. He was talking about struggling with being involved in the sense of stepping back and listening, and I realized that I’ve never thought of listening as a form of participation. This is only one example of many moments when counselors, camp directors, PSs, or campers have taught me something new.

To me, Seeds of Peace is not only a place where campers come to seek peace, but also a place where they make peace. I believe that Seeds has taught me how to deal with the world when there’s peace and my role is to spread it, and when there’s no peace and my part is to create it.

Within the boundaries of camp, Seeds gave us various ways to express ourselves. Those ways can be activities and group challenges like sports and art, but they can also be during meal times in the dining hall.

Whenever someone wants to share something or express themselves, there’s always a time and space for them to do so.

Such an announcement or request can be as serious as sharing a poem about societal issues, and as fun as debating whether water is or is not wet.

The Talent Show is one event of many where seeds come as individuals or in groups to express themselves and share their journeys with others using their talents. The show included various performances: rap, dance, spoken words, original poetry, singing, comedy, and much more.

As a seed, every time I shared a piece of who I am during events like The Talent Show, I felt that I was heard loudly and who I am is someone important to this community and this world. I also realized that I cannot bring peace to this world if I’m not at peace with who I am, and every time I stood in front of other seeds and counselors I thought to myself, “You’re here. This is your chance. Make them remember you,” and every single time I felt at ease and peace with my soul.

What’s Next?

“When I told people about it, they didn’t understand. They said ‘it’s just a summer camp,’ but Seeds of Peace is so much more than that — it’s a safe space, a stretching place, and a home,” Amy Fryda, a Maine seed said during a conversation about what SOP means to us, seeds, and what it means to those who haven’t experienced the feeling of being there.

During the two and a half weeks, all of our attention, or at least my attention, was limited to what’s only in front of me at the present moment. I tried not to think about “What’s next?” However, the spoken words theme at The Variety Show was “What’s next?” And I had to brainstorm, feel, write, and share my answer.

I had no problem with the format or being on stage, but I had a problem with going back to reality. Even though during and outside of dialogue we discussed the most relevant issues about the world we live in, I focused on how to fix this world from an outsider’s point of view. I thought of Seeds as another world where I can live and look from where I am at the real world where five-year-olds alienate those who are different from them, and seventy-year-olds think that being Muslim is taking an oath to kill someone at least once in a person’s lifetime.

I thought about what’s next, and I found myself writing about the realistic ugliness of this world. The “cellular racism” and “ecosystemic sexism;” I found myself using science as a tool to describe how this wounded world treats me as an outsider, while even when I feel like one, I’m still trying to suture those wounds, to advocate for peace and keeping humans in one piece.

I wrote pages about how Seeds of Peace is a world of advocacy, peaceful leadership, and youth; a world of those who know that strength is next, problem solving is next because we are the ones who solve the complex.

“What’s next?
Next is me
Walking with my mom without someone holding tighter to their children
Without treating us like if we were vampires, carrying blood bags with our groceries”
— What’s Next? Original poem by Zainab Almatwari.

Back to this moment: I’m still pressing on the keyboard keys as fast as I can, so I can verbally hold on to every thought that has ever crossed my mind. Now, I know that Seeds isn’t another world, but it’s the version of this wounded, ugly world that I strive to live in; the version that every seed gets prepared to work towards.

The first time I read “the way life could be” on a wooden house on Seeds of Peace arrival day, I had no clue what that life was to me.

Today, I know that Seeds of Peace is the way life could and will be.

“There can be no more initiative than bringing together young people who have seen the ravages of war to learn the art of peace. Seeds of Peace is certainly an example of the world the United Nations is actively working for.”
— UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about Seeds of Peace.

Read Zainab’s article at Medium â€șâ€ș

Sowing the Seeds of Peace: Israeli and Palestinian kids refuse to give up
Ha’aretz

Jun 20, 2003 / No Comments

Ten years after the first “seeds” witnessed the historic handshake between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn, Seeds of Peace—an organization that brings Israeli and Palestinian children together in order to promote peace, coexistence and mutual respect—today finds itself swimming upstream in a region often fraught with despair and mistrust. Still reeling from the untimely death of its founder and visionary John Wallach, Seeds of Peace is continuing and expanding its programming in the U.S. and here in Jerusalem at its Center for Coexistence.

Children around 15 years of age enter the program through International Camp, in Maine, U.S., where they spend three summer weeks together in a “neutral, supportive environment” living in cabins, sharing meals and participating in activities such as canoeing, arts and crafts and computer classes. The core of the three-week program is the coexistence sessions—led by professional facilitators—where the teens have a safe space for expressing themselves while gaining a deeper understanding of the other.

But International Camp is just the beginning. While the camp provides kids with the basis for coexisting and mutual understanding, those skills can be difficult to put to use upon returning to the region. That’s where the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem comes in.

The Center’s co-Director, Suzan Khatib, explains: “The camp does great work. There is a good mix of the fun and the serious, but when they come back here they’re coming back to reality. For the Israelis that means suicide bombers, for the Palestinians its closures and curfews. Sometimes when the kids come back they are frustrated, they are not connected, they think camp was a dreamland. Here at the Center in Jerusalem, we help them and support them and give them a secure environment where they can discuss tough issues and continue connecting [with the other side].”

The Center is a safe, neutral home base where Israeli and Palestinian seeds can meet. But the main event at the Center is the coexistence sessions that consist of 12 three-hour long meetings every other week. “Usually we have twenty kids—10 Palestinians, 10 Israelis—and two facilitators—one Israeli and one Palestinian,” Khatib explains. “We help them understand the other side without giving up their identity. They’re learning how to have sympathy and empathy for the other side.”

Aaron Miller recently left the U.S. State Department—where he helped formulate U.S. policy on the Middle East and the Arab-Israel peace process—to become President of Seeds of Peace. He sees the coexistence sessions as an essential component of the ongoing peace process. “All the peace processes we know of—even the peace made between Egypt and Israel—are transactional; they are deals made between governments, not between people. We need a peace process that is transformational, which means people need to build relationships with each other so they understand the needs and requirements of the other side. Breakthroughs are always made by a leader coming out ahead of his people. In a generational conflict such as this one, it’s important that we have young leaders with the skills critical for making connections that are beyond the transactional level.”

Walking in to the Center leads through a photo gallery of what seems like an era gone by: images of that handshake at the White House in 1993; Jordan’s King Hussein and Queen Noor happily chatting with children; kids enjoying a trip to Egypt. It’s a timeline that abruptly stops in the late 1990s. But the determination of those inside the building belies what at times has been a conflict that has challenged the most hard and fast optimists.

While the intifada affects the programming at the Center, it also motivates the staff to double their efforts. Program Coordinator, Jen Marlowe, says that when the intifada began “all our programming here at the Center went out the window. It was a tidal wave of crisis. One of our seeds was killed in the first few days of the intifada. So for the first six months of that year, we completely abandoned our programming and did a lot of trauma counseling. We spent hours a day calling kid after kid talking to them trying to help them through the fear and anger.”

Sixteen year-old Israeli Adir Yanko had his own doubts over the past year. “During the year I questioned why I am involved with Seeds of Peace. Camp was great, but was it a fantasy? When I came back, it was still the Middle East, you know. But I concluded that I have to continue. I have to be a dreamer, if I dream, maybe we can make the camp’s reality here.”

Amani Zuater, 15 from East Jerusalem agrees, “the escalation of the conflict doesn’t make me want to leave Seeds of Peace. If I don’t stay, how will we come to understand each other?”

Even with the progress made at camp and at the Center in Jerusalem, the facts on the ground still often dictate the relationships between the kids. Yanko says he made good friends at camp but only keeps in touch with them via sporadic e-mails and at the sessions at the Center. “I don’t have a chance to see them because I’m afraid to go there. I know the Palestinians I know aren’t average; anyway, my parents would never allow it.”

As the intifada vacillates between war plans and peace plans, Marlowe says “it’s still a lot harder to bring the two sides together, both psychologically and logistically [than before the intifada]. It’s getting better as the kids’ coping skills have kicked in and this reality is not so new anymore. There was a period of time when they needed to retreat into themselves. But more and more I’m getting calls from kids who two years ago said `I don’t want to talk to anyone from the other side,’ now saying, `hey I want to come to the Center, I want to help plan an event.'”

New this year at the Center in Jerusalem are coexistence sessions for parents. “The kids asked for this,” says Khatib. “The parents want to not only understand what their kids are doing but they want to experience it for themselves. We had a Hanukkah-Ramadan party at the Center this year that included the parents, and everyone learned about the traditions of the other side.”

Ten years after he started Seeds of Peace, the last thing founder and visionary John Wallach—who passed away a year ago—would have hoped for was an escalation in the very conflict he so yearned to see end. In a letter just days after his death, John’s son Michael wrote the Seeds of Peace staff: “Now the job lies with all of us. We are his life continued, and more than that we are his dream.”

Miller says he’s pleased that Seeds of Peace has been resilient over the past few difficult years. “Of all the organizations that sprang up in the hopeful 1990s, Seeds of Peace is the only one that is continuing to grow. These kids just won’t give up.”

In the end, the success of Seeds of Peace comes down to the seeds themselves becoming leaders and spreading the ideal of coexistence in their own communities. Amani Zuater says she believes in the “whole idea of dialogue; not like the politicians making deals. Even before I started Seeds of Peace I knew that there would be differences. I knew that what I call a freedom fighter, they call a terrorist. But I also know and understand now, that when I hear Israelis’ feelings and ideas and worries, it’s a good thing.”

Letter to Egyptian Seeds

Feb 3, 2011 / 1 Comment

Dear Seeds in Egypt,

You have all been in my thoughts over the last week, and in the thoughts of your fellow Seeds around the world. I hope you and your families are safe.

We have all been watching closely as developments have unfolded, and while communication has been difficult, our staff are working on getting in touch with all of you.

Please let us know how you are doing when you can, and know that you will continue to be in our thoughts.

We talk a lot about leadership at Seeds of Peace. This is a pivotal moment in Egypt’s history, requiring true leadership. As tensions increase, I trust you will remember that respect and communication are signs of true leadership. I hope you are able to listen, hear opinions that are different than your own, and take responsible action.

I also hope that you will reach out to and support each other during these difficult and historic times. Please know that everyone in the Seeds of Peace family is here for you, worried about you, and hopeful that Egypt will emerge from this strong and united.

Stay safe.

With love and respect,
LeslieLeslie Adelson Lewin
Executive Director